You're listening to WOSD.
I'm your host, Layla Palmer, from the OSD Marketing, Engagement, and Training team. Thank you for joining us for another installment of WOSD News. In this episode, we'll share information about accessing emergency preparedness resources on Statewide Contracts.
September is Emergency Preparedness Month! With hurricane season and winter weather on the horizon, now is the perfect time to plan ahead. There are many ways that communities, individuals, and businesses prepare for emergencies, from natural disasters to hazardous weather conditions. Fortunately, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts offers a wide range of resources to help before, during, and after these events.
Today, I'm excited to be joined by emergency preparedness expert, Rich LaTour. Rich is here from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, or MEMA, to talk about the agency's mission, the emergency response resources available on Statewide Contracts, and the importance of interagency collaboration via the State Emergency Operations Center, also known as the State EOC, to protect the 351 cities and towns across Massachusetts.
Rich: My name is Rich LaTour. I'm the Assistant Director of Operations at the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, or MEMA for short. I've been with the agency for about 15 years, and I've been in this position for about two and a half. So we coordinate with upwards of 70 other state agencies to come together during an event, and activate all of them in an organized way using the Incident Command System in the state's Emergency Operations Center in Framingham. Obviously, we don't do that every day. So during normal times when there's not an emergency or disaster, we also support different preparedness, planning, and training capabilities and opportunities. And in my position, I help oversee our Logistics program, our Communications program, and then our regular Blue Sky, we call it, Operations program, to maintain all the services that we would have to use during a disaster. And then finally, under me and my division is our regional offices, which are key pieces of our agency to be able to directly work with 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts and support their local emergency management programs.
The Operational Services Division provides many resources for preparing and responding to emergency events. Though for now, let's focus on two key contracts, PSE02, Debris Monitoring Services, and PSE03, Debris Management Services. Unlike most of OSD’s Statewide Contracts, these contracts are managed at MEMA. Let's hear more about why these contracts are in place and discover the many ways in which they aid communities during emergency events.
Rich: These contracts have been in service for a number of years. They used to be called HLS02 and HLS03, but they were rebid a number of years ago and now they're PSE02 and PSE03. So to kind of set the stage, think about the aftermath of a disaster like a hurricane or a tornado. When you see the images on the news of all of the debris, and for lack of a better term “stuff” that ends up on the roads and people's front yards, on waterways, et cetera, that's all debris. Our agency has a component of its response that sets up a program and a way to properly manage and collect all of that to set the impacted jurisdictions back to a new normal. So Debris Management is that process where we properly and safely remove and relocate all of that debris, all of that stuff. Debris Monitoring is the oversight piece of that to make sure that it's done legally by statutes that exist for different debris and pollution concerns and things of that nature, and then properly separated so that we're throwing things away or discarding or managing different types of debris together, weighed properly, and then documented properly so that if we have any type of a federal reimbursement for things like this we can meet all of those federal guidelines and properly receive money back into the Commonwealth for all of the debris that we collect, monitor, and then manage.
I'm sure we're all familiar with the word “debris”, but what meaning does that term hold in the context of these Statewide Contracts? Next, Rich will break down the different types of debris that may be involved in the aftermath of an emergency event, and explain the importance of managing and disposing of debris properly during a disaster cleanup.
Rich: Debris can be a number of different things. So it could be vegetative debris, so that's things like downed trees, shrubs, things like that. Could be construction debris from damaged homes or buildings. Could be vehicles that were damaged, in floodwaters as an example. Hazardous debris, so different hazardous materials that may have spilled or been released during a disaster that we have to properly manage. White goods, so stoves, refrigerators, microwaves, air conditioners, all those, you know, appliance type things that may be damaged or destroyed. Water heaters, things like that that have to be collected separately from everything else. So it sounds simple to just throw everything in a truck and get rid of it, but it's really not because we have to make sure we properly separate it all, properly manage it all, properly monitor it all so that it's disposed of in a legal, safe way as we're recovering from a disaster. So PSE02 is the Debris Monitoring contract. So that speaks to all of that oversight, the weighing, separation, documentation, et cetera. GMC Disaster Recovery is the vendor that is under that contract. And then PSE03 is our Debris Management contract, and that's the actual collection and management of all of the debris that would happen after an event. Ashbritt is our vendor assigned to that contract. So they're designed in a unique way where they can apply to state agencies and to local public safety and public works departments. Not every contract is immediately open to state and local. There's local procurement, there's state procurement, but these were bid in a way that both apply. So any local public safety, local public works, or state agencies. MEMA is the primary one to access these contracts, but when we access them they come into the state EOC and work with our state partner agencies to build a plan with them all to deal with monitoring and management of debris.
Now that we know who and what Statewide Contracts PSE02 and PSE03 are designed for, let's learn about a past event that required the use of these contracts.
Rich: Like I said, they've been around, these contracts, for quite a while, so we do have some experience in them. More so on the Debris Management side. So for Debris Management, we've used the vendors and the contracts for events like the 2018 Cape Cod tornadoes, Hurricane Irene back in 2011, and some large snowstorms in 2012 and 2013. Snow can be counted as debris in certain cases, so we needed additional equipment from Ashbritt to respond to those types of events. The Debris Monitoring contract, we have not yet had to utilize. Haven't had, knocking on wood here, an event to the scale that required federal reimbursement for debris management and debris monitoring. So that's a good thing, but you know, we have that contract to be prepared for those days and those times when we will. With that said though, that doesn't mean that we've never talked to GMC in Debris Monitoring, right? So we do webinars with them every year, with both vendors, with our local partners. We have training events and regular check-ins with them so that we can keep contacts current, make sure we can access them during an event. And they're pretty proactive to reaching out to us if an event may be on the horizon and being forecast to impact us. We also utilize them in a preparation stage for an event. So if we have a hurricane that might be 120 hours or five days out, you know, and may look like it could come up the coast to impact us, we start very proactive and very early decision planning based on the forecast here at MEMA with all of our partners. So we have in the past called in vendors from both contracts to be liaisons to us in the State EOC to have a plan in place should we need to use them once we see where the damage is the worst and if it rises to that level. So they've come into the State EOC in the past many times for different types of events to be part of that planning. So if we need to formally activate the contract, they are already plugged in. They know what the plan is, where their piece of that response is, and who they're working with. So that's a solid piece of our relationship.
Collaboration is key in carrying out a seamless, streamlined response to an emergency event. And the State Emergency Operations Center is the hub for local, state, and federal partners to do just that. Next, Rich will provide more information on the purpose of the state EOC and explain why communication between departments is crucial in responding to emergencies in an effective and timely manner.
Rich: So we maintain the state's Emergency Operations Center in Framingham. That is the hub of activity for any major state response that we need to bring people together to coordinate a response. So we can have, and have had, plans to bring upwards of 70 state agencies together to support response across the Commonwealth. There's some that we work with all the time. State Police, Department of Fire Services, MassDOT is quick examples. DCR is another one. The National Guard, Department of Public Utilities. But there are many others that we could call on if we needed to if their areas of expertise are needed in regards to a response. And that's important. MEMA is not the subject matter expert in all of this. We're not taking their roles from them, rather we're using their expertise and leveraging it in a way that makes sense. The State EOC activates several times every year. We do it for planned events like the Boston Marathon every April. So, you know, we get those events and also for unplanned events. You know, large snow storms, nor'easters, tropical storms, the Merrimack Valley gas explosions in 2018. So lots of different events that we activate for, and we do that proactively so that we're in place, ready to go. If any community says they need support or if things suddenly start to get worse than was anticipated, we can be proactively ready.
It's great to learn that leaders at the local, state and federal level are being proactive and collaborating ahead of emergency events. But now I'm left wondering how individuals and families can protect themselves and prepare for emergencies on their own. Fortunately, MEMA has many resources available to those seeking more information and guidance on emergency preparedness.
Rich: Our mission is with public safety and officials, but we also have a significant portion of our agency that deals with messaging to the public. So that's a really important part of our mission, and our public information and preparedness units do a ton of work to push information so that the general public can be prepared. The best advice is to follow MEMA and your local public safety accounts on social media platforms. So a lot of times local public safety will push information out about a local event. The other piece that's really important is if your town has a Local Emergency Alert System, like a code red or a reverse 911 system, make sure you sign up to receive those notifications. That's how they'll notify you during a disaster. And then we also have capabilities to notify the public in the event of a disaster that warrants that.
This concludes today's episode on emergency preparedness. For more information on emergency preparedness resources, visit mass.gov/mema. And to explore Statewide Contract resources for emergencies, head to mass.gov/buy-from-a-statewide-contract.
Rich: If you wanted to know who your Emergency Management Director was, you can find a list of every community's EMD on our website at mass.gov/mema. This way you can connect locally with your local partners. Those are the best ways to stay informed and up to date with us. And I think you'll find a lot of good content on our social.
OSD looks forward to engaging with you on our social media and YouTube channels. Links to those are in the description box. To suggest ideas for future podcasts, email the OSD team at osdoutreach@mass.gov. Thanks again to Rich LaTour for joining us today.
This podcast was produced, audio engineered, and edited by me, Layla Palmer. Thank you for joining us.