AHC Emergency Management Consulting

I saw this Tweet today from the New York Post:  New York Post :  Drunk Serbian man reportedly has become a hero in Egypt -- by accidentally killing a shark with his butt  http://t.co/ztqqx9S I bought it hook line and sinker (hee). I mean what a story! A Serbian man reportedly has become a hero in Egypt -- by accidentally killing a shark with his butt while drunk. The article says that one " Dragan Stevic" was soused to the gills (not my fish reference) while partying at the Red Sea resort Sharm El Sheikh when he  he inadvertently felled the beast that had been terrorizing tourists for weeks. Stevic reportedly cannonballed into the water from a high-diving board, according to a Macedonian news outlet. Instead of making a splash, he reportedly came down right on the shark's head, killing the toothed terror instantly.  The story goes on to say that " The fun-loving party boy was immediately touted as a local hero who saved tourist season, which ha...

All Hazards Consortium  -  3rd Annual Regional State Border Coordination Workshop On January 24-25, 2011, the states and urban areas of the All Hazards Consortium (AHC) will hold the 3rd Annual Regional State Border Coordination Workshop . The AHC will further develop the findings and discussions that came out of the 2nd Annual State Border Coordination Workshop regarding existing catastrophic evacuation planning efforts within the states of NC, VA, DC, MD, WV, PA, DE, NJ & NY including challenges and opportunities to achieve the long-term vision of a coordinated plan and support of integrated planning.  Breakout sessions cover: credentialing, mass care, transportation, resource management and situational awareness. I will be attending the workshop again this year as a facilitator. We have helped with the facilitation of this event each year and have found it to be a worthwhile and positive effort.  Last year. over 190 people from various states, federal and...

A recent article which was shared via the IAEM Discussion Group got me writing this morning. The article discussed “corporate social responsibility” efforts in Java, in response to the volcanic eruption there. The story observes how the "disaster relief teams aim to augment efforts by a stretched Indonesian government to house, clothe and feed evacuees from the volcano." According to the story, representatives of various companies are working on the mountain said their efforts are "entirely altruistic", and balked at any suggestion that the aid teams double as a marketing campaign for the companies. But local residents and evacuees were not so sure. “Why can’t they just do the good stuff, but without the advertising?”  “Why can’t they just use plain white vehicles or something?” Dave, who posted this to IAEM, found this article interesting for the ethical aspects. When doing good for someone or when providing relief during crises, Dave thinks that most of us in...

I am currently beginning work on the 2011  National UASI Homeland Security Conference.  This will be the 5th one.  It should be getting easier but it is not... The National Urban Areas Security Initiative Conference, Inc. in cooperation with The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Grants Programs Directorate, is hosting its 5 th  annual conference in San Francisco.  The theme for the 2011 conference is “Creating Capabilities through Regional Collaboration”. The conference will provide an opportunity for stakeholders from all areas of homeland security and emergency preparedness to gather together and exchange important information to make our country safer. The conference will include all grants under the Homeland Security Grant Program. June 20-22, 2011 National UASI Homeland Security Conference San Francisco, California www.urbanareas.org

Our web site at www.all-hands.net was created as an Emergency Manager's Toolbox and still serves that purpose (as recently mentioned in the IAEM newsletter). I would like to encourage all of you to use it to share documents with other Emergency Managers. We have shared a lot through this list and that site in the past and hear that it has been very useful. I now want to ask for your help. I am working on two best practice research projects. If any of you have information on best practices for evacuation and/or playbooks/FOGs/SOGs plans, documents, and related tools, please let me know. I can treat it as close hold or share it on the site, whichever you prefer. You can reach me at Steve at All-Hands.net Regards, Steve Davis, All Hands

There is an old saying that "There is honor among thieves". Honor connotes personal integrity and a belief in certain moral principles, and it can exist even among thieving bastards apparently. Today I ask the question: Is there honor among emergency management consultants ? Obviously there are no absolutes in life; and, in my experience, in consulting there are honorable and not-so-honorable consulting companies and individuals. My past experience with “ partner firms ” has been good and bad. I have some good partners and some soon-to-be-ex partners thanks to varying degrees of honor that they have exhibited. If someone says there is honor among thieves, they usually mean that even corrupt criminals can have a sense of honor or integrity, or justice, even if it is skewed by disregard of the law. Teams of people (thieves or consultants) can accomplish more than individuals in almost any undertakings. Customs, mores and informal rules evolve in a group. It is not good...

Here is an update on current projects we are working on at All Hands. If you are interested, please drop me a line and an up-to-date resume along with rate requirements and availability. Disaster Reservists. We continue to recruit for disaster reservists for mass care missions. Should the "big one" happen we will likely be asked on short notice to support coordination, field operations and shelter management along with possible support to feeding, base camps, logistics, etc. (If you are already signed up with our partner ConOps there is no need to reapply.) See more information at http://allhandsconsulting.com/pr08.htm EOC Operations . We are looking for good people to include on a proposal that we are working on . Candidates must have "hands-on” experience with an EOC (to include JOC, ROC, etc.) at the federal or state level with 24/7/365 operations. Work would be part-time and may only require limited travel to support planning activities towards operation of an E...

Reservists Needed All Hands Consulting is recruiting for on-call disaster response reservists Reservists are needed to support FEMA’s response to catastrophic disasters or incidents as defined by the Stafford Act. Deployments will be on short notice for up to 30 days or longer and will require long and/or odd hours in support of emergencies and disasters. In some cases, 12 hour shifts seven-days-a week will be expected. The size and scope of the mission will vary based on the geography, scale and magnitude of damage, type of incident, impact on the national security, and the projected number of affected individuals and households, as well as the availability of resources (housing, personnel, supplies, and materials). Background, job descriptions, and contact information for interested candidates are included below. Background: Individual Assistance – Technical Assistance Contracts (IA-TAC) The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded Individual Assistance Technical Assist...

I thought that this bulletin from the Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) was worthy of a repost. CIP Bulletin 2-10 March 23, 2010 Security and Privacy on Social Networking Sites What are the security and privacy issues associated with social networking sites? Social networking sites have become very popular avenues for people to communicate with family, friends and colleagues from around the corner or across the globe. While there can be benefits from the collaborative, distributed approaches promoted by responsible use of social networking sites, there are information security and privacy concerns. The volume and accessibility of personal information available on social networking sites have attracted malicious people who seek to exploit this information. The same technologies that invite user participation also make the sites easier to infect with malware that can shut down an organization’s ...

Whether you call it a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP), or an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), you are probably wondering about what the best way is to structure your plan given the new FEMA Comprehensive Preparedness Guide, CPG 101 . We have long stressed the need to adapt the plan to the local concept of operations but always start a CEMP project by lookin at the ConOps to see if it should be adjusted. The central question is normally related to organizing under the Incident Command System (ICS) or by Emergency Support Functions (ESFs). Background A jurisdiction's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) establishes a framework for an effective comprehensive emergency management program. A CEMP describes the basic strategies, assumptions, policies, operational goals and objectives, and mechanisms through which a jurisdiction will mobilize resources and conduct activities to guide and support emergency management efforts through prevention, preparedness, resp...

COLUMBIA, MD - January 2, 2010 - All Hands Consulting ( www.AllHandsConsulting.com ), a emergency management and homeland security consulting firm, announced that it has been selected by the NY-NJ-CT-PA Regional Catastrophic Planning Team (RCPT), co-chaired by the New York City and Northern New Jersey Urban Area Working Groups, to provide ongoing services related to regional catastrophic planning. The Indefinite Quantity Delivery Contract is for Professional Emergency Planning Services. "All Hands is excited about this opportunity to support the nation's largest metropolitan area," said All Hands President Steve Davis. "AHC has assembled a team that has incredible expertise in comprehensive emergency management, catastrophic event planning, training and exercises and real-life disaster management, as well as homeland security." AHC has provided similar services to the Miami and Fort Lauderdale Urban Area Security Initiative since its inception in 2003. The All H...