“The federal firefighting system is “imploding” in California, due to poor spending decisions and high job vacancy rates,” according to Casey Judd, of the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association, in an interview with The Herald, a Monterey County, California newspaper. As a result of the problems, “small fires have exploded into extended, multimillion-dollar conflagrations,” writes the Herald, leaving “national firefighting resources… stretched critically thin across several regions.” Many of the reported problems involve the Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Continue reading this post…

Yesterday, the Washington Post timidly reported that floods in Iowa and other Midwestern states may not be “natural” disasters . However, scientists have long warned that worsening floods are the predictable result of human intervention - of floodplains covered with impermeable concrete and stripped of vegetation; of river channels forced up and out of their beds by constricting artificial levees; of sprawling development offering more victims to raging rivers. The article’s thesis is neither new nor controversial, but the story does include a revelation that deserves immediate, national attention.  Continue reading this post…

Southern Mississippi leaders were just told, as Hurricane Season began, that FEMA would no longer deliver ice after disasters as it had in the past.

According to Mary Hudak, a regional FEMA spokesperson, free ice will only be available for medical emergencies and life saving reasons.

We want to make sure we’re providing ice as a life-saving item and not a comfort item,” she said. “We’re not insensitive to comfort. That’s why we’re pushing people to get prepared and be able to help themselves.”  Continue reading this post…

U.S. Special Counsel Ordered Investigation of Whistleblower Disclosure Still Pending As Hurricane Season Begins

In September of 2007 the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) ordered Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, to conduct an investigation into the allegation that defective pumping equipment was delivered and installed at the three new gated closure structures in New Orleans. These are the main pumps protecting the city of New Orleans in the event of a major hurricane or flood. OSC said in its letter to Gates that they concluded the allegations made by this whistleblower had a substantial likelihood of validity and that these pumps are “inherently flawed” due to poor design and have still not been properly tested. Continue reading this post…

The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) is a proposed system that would allow the federal government to send emergency alerts via text messages to anyone with a wireless phone. It was requested by the 109th Congress in the Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act, or WARN Act (Title VI of P.L. 109-347), as a means to update the 50-year old Emergency Alert System (EAS).

The WARN Act required the FCC to establish an advisory committee to make recommendations for implementing the program and, accordingly, the FCC issued an April 9 report establishing the technical requirements. The report also suggested that FEMA serve as the lead federal agency or “aggregator,” collecting emergency messages for transmittal to commercial providers. Continue reading this post…

The Government Accountability Office recently conducted an audit of the implementation of improved evacuation procedures for special needs populations by the DHS and DOT and found that four of the six major points had NOT been “substantially implemented” as of this spring. The audit found that the FEMA’s role was not sufficiently clarified in the National Response Framework, that evacuation exercises were still not conditions of grant monies, that there had not been sufficient technical assistance for sharing information on assisting special needs populations, and that there was not clarification of how to assist nursing home patients. Continue reading this post…

Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that some major disasters can exceed the response/relief capacities of the American Red Cross (ARC) and other Emergency Support Function #6 (ESF-6) Mass Care Providers (described in the National Response Framework (NRF) Annex).In response to post-Katrina lessons realized, the NRF shifted primary ESF-6 Mass Care Responsibilities from the ARC to FEMA (Before/After and After).

While this change is a great start, the ARC will still serve a similar function, as demonstrated by recent Mass Care responses to recent tornado disasters. The change will allow the ARC to avoid taking accountability for under-performing after a disaster because main Mass Care responsibilities now lie with FEMA. Continue reading this post…

Next to rescue efforts in the face of imminent harm, recovery – bringing life back to normal or something close to it - is the most important post-disaster activity. But, recovery is typically given short-shrift by emergency planners, and federal participation is likely to decrease now that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has declared long-term recovery “outside the scope of the [National Response] Framework” (NRF, 2008).

Following the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, FEMA was bombarded with criticism of its handling of post-disaster assistance grants. In a 2006 CNN interview, Secretary Chertoff tried to deflect the criticism by suggesting that FEMA should be responsible only for response and short-term recovery, and there should be a “handoff when you get to long-term recovery.” (Inside Cable News). Meanwhile, fraud, incompetence and political profit-taking continue. Continue reading this post…

The Sierra Club recently tested five “Katrina cottages” being used in Mississippi and found all to contain higher levels of formaldehyde than is recommended for long-term exposure by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Normal levels of indoor formaldehyde run between 10-20 parts per billion but three of the five cottages contained over 100 parts per billion. This level is even higher than the 77 parts per billion average tested in the 516 trailers this year by the CDC.

While the larger floorplan and windows should help dissipate the gas, a Mississippi news station found faulty ventilation designs in some cottages. Continue reading this post…

This is National Hurricane Preparedness Week, a time when federal, state and local government agencies traditionally urge citizens in coastal areas to make individual preparations for the start of hurricane season on June 1st. While it isn’t mentioned in official press releases, this is also a good time for citizens to check out what government agencies are doing to prepare and to assess whether planning is sufficient. Continue reading this post…