Individuals involved in Emergency Management issues have traditionally come from the ranks of the first responders; firemen, policemen and the military. For example, the current Administrator for FEMA, Craig Fugate, started his careers in fire service. Added to this primary mix, an intensified recognition of the value of hazard mitigation has brought engineers, architects and land planners into the picture as well.  However, even with this “design, planning and construction” inclusion, there is historically still something missing in the plan… something that consistently prevents the recovery process in a disaster from going smoothly and it is something that the “traditional first responders” in charge, through no fault of their own, have overlooked all these years.    A missing component…  The challenge idea is to make local Building and Safety departments a more crucial part of disaster preparedness and to include the building inspectors, plan examiners and code compliance officials in not only emergency management training exercises but also charge them with becoming active members of the “prepare for” emergency management team, thus offering a much needed link to every community’s road to recovery.

The suggestion is a simple one. In the interest of emergency management, take a here-to-for underutilized organization within the City or County business composition, the offices of Building and Safety and use the well established capabilities of the department, the technical knowledge and community familiarity to augment the recovery of a community in the aftermath of a declared national emergency.   The personnel in inspections and code compliance are invaluable for their awareness of the actual physicality of damaged structures and the code compliance of the community in general. They are the ones with genuine firsthand knowledge of the buildings and infrastructure of their own communities. They can navigate the streets with no signs and are often the ones who have done the original building or code compliance inspections. The FEMA assistance that arrives immediately on the scene, though technically proficient and armed with the knowledge of proper procedures, are generally at a loss regarding the logistics of the damaged site, especially if it covers many square miles. As a group, these FEMA cadres are not on a first name basis with community leaders, local responders, builders, vendors or mutual aid participants that will be arriving to help. They often do not understand the technology or procedures used in the local building and safety offices and have equipment that is incompatible with that of what the local officials are using, a fact that deeply hinders the long term recovery. 

Having said this, imagine if local building officials were included in emergency training and allowed to develop their own emergency plans within the structure. There would be less need for the volume of cadres from out of the area that FEMA provides. Local inspectors, not necessarily members of the full time staff, could be organized and certified in advance and continually be on a stand-by status, just as FEMA cadres are, in the event they were needed in a disaster. This “local cadre” could also participate in training exercises practicing the procedures for post disaster inspections and since they are from the area, the time to perform their duties would be greatly reduced due to their ongoing local knowledge.  Building officials could be trained in advance on the correct procedures for FEMA’s public assistance  program and learn exactly how to apply for grants on their own…in advance and not after the fact when everything is in tumult.   

            The theory of Emergency Management has expanded exponentially in the last ten years and with that expansion has come many great concepts for the implementation of the mission  “mitigate against, prepare for, respond to and recover from.”  Building and Safety has been an intricate partner in the structural soundness of America’s infrastructure since the latter part of the last century. The idea of a missing component in the system and the realization of the benefits guaranteed by the more intense inclusion of these building safety professionals seem to be a natural extension of the National Response Framework and ultimately, the National Disaster Recovery Framework.  For the sake of expeditious long term disaster recovery, this very simple idea should be seriously considered by the emergency management community.

The image used is a watercolor painting called "Here's Looking at You" A tribute to 9-11.

A Manhattan to Manhattan… by Rob Beilby, Artist "This watercolor was done for my wife, a United Airlines Flight Attendant, to respectfully commemorate September 11, 2001. It is meant as a loving toast to the fallen. The prospective is from an interior window table at the famous “Windows on The World” restaurant, a top the twin towers."

The genesis of DHS, the painting is registered with the Library of Congress.