District Issues Annual Report on City’s Preparedness; Releases Presidential Inaugural After-Action Report

CONTACT:  
Jo’Ellen Gray Countee (HSEMA)
202-727-2985

Erica Stanley (EOM)
202-727-9226



Washington, DC – Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced the release of two major homeland security and emergency preparedness reports.  

The District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) today issued its Annual Report to the Council of the District of Columbia in fulfillment of the annual reporting requirement of the Homeland Security, Risk Reduction and Preparedness Amendment Act of 2006.  The Act requires the agency to report each year on the city’s current level of preparedness, homeland security capabilities, priority initiatives, and training and exercise activities.

“I’m pleased to announce that the District has made significant strides in several critical areas including public preparedness, planning and employee training,” Mayor Fenty said.  “Moving forward, we will continue to provide our citizens as well as our first responders and other emergency workers with the information and tools they need to increase and enhance their preparedness for emergencies and disasters of all kinds.”

HSEMA Annual Report

Major accomplishments highlighted in the report include:

Employee Training
•    A 258 percent increase in the number of people trained in the Incident Command System (ICS); the number increased from 808 to over 2,900.
•    HSEMA trained 1,723 District employees in preparation for their role in the recent Presidential Inauguration.

Public Preparedness
•    The number of subscribers to the city’s emergency text alert system increased by 88 percent from 37,501 to 70, 641.
•    The number of Neighborhood Corps Academy graduates increased by 105 percent from 52 to 107.
•    The number of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers increased by 993 percent from 300 to 3,281 people.
•    The District received the 2008 FEMA Region III United We Stand Award for its extraordinary efforts during National Preparedness month in September.  The District sponsored or took part in 77 events—the largest number held within one jurisdiction in Region III.

Planning
•    HSEMA developed six new Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP) for District public safety agencies.
•    HSEMA revised the District’s Homeland Security Strategy to align better with the agency’s improved risk analysis, updated the District Response Plan and enhanced capabilities.  The strategy includes performance measures that align resource allocation associated with grants, equipment, training and exercises to strategic priorities and capabilities.

After-Action Report Summary

Mayor Fenty also announced the release of the After-Action Report Summary of the District of Columbia’s Support of the 56th Presidential Inauguration.  The report documents planning and preparation efforts, operational activities during the inaugural period (Jan. 16 – Jan. 21, 2009), and includes a timeline of events beginning with the initial planning phase in Jan. 2008.  It also identifies major strengths as well as primary areas for improvement.  

The Inauguration was the largest special event the District has ever planned or supported. On Inauguration Day, there were no arrests, fatalities, or major incidents. Other major strengths noted in the report include:
•    District planners made sound assumptions about the challenges they might face which prepared agencies to address the issues that arose, including crowding, weather-related infrastructure damage (e.g. water main breaks), weather-related injuries and problems with communications systems.
•    The District used new approaches that helped it successfully support the event and communicate with the public, including the use of social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, for public messaging prior to and during the events.
•    The District requested a pre-event Stafford Act Declaration, which allowed the city to obtain additional ambulances, supplies and medical surge capability, as well as reimbursement for costs incurred on Jan. 20th, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Numbers at a Glance
•    0: arrests or fatalities
•    244: total number of inauguration-related events within the District during Jan. 16th- Jan. 21
•    3:  number of metro rail station major emergency calls FEMS responded to, resulting in no more than minor injuries
•    80: number of calls FEMS responded to at the Jan. 19th Opening Ceremony, of which 16 became patient transports to hospitals, including one cardiac arrest  
•    500+: approximate number of emergency calls FEMS responded to on the National Mall, or on the parade route, of which more than 200 became transports to hospitals, most for non-life threatening illness and injury

•    900+: approximate number of total emergency calls FEMS responded to in the District between 4 am and 7pm on Jan. 20, representing 86 percent more calls than FEMS’ 24-hour period average for most days

Lessons learned during both planning and operations will help the city plan and support future special events as well as large-scale disasters and emergencies.  Primary areas for improvement noted in the report include:

•    Last-minute changes to plans made it difficult to finalize, cross-validate, distribute, and provide training on Inauguration-related plans. The magnitude of the event complicated the planning process through which the District developed a large set of interdependent plans. Some key planning components (e.g., transportation routes and security restrictions) continued to evolve and change, which caused cascading delays in finalizing the supporting plans that comprised the Concept of Operations. As a result, agencies began the operational phase without a common understanding of all planning details. This led to unanticipated issues that had to be resolved during operations.

Federal Inaugural Reimbursement Payment

The District also announced that the federal government has reimbursed the District Government for expenses incurred during the 56th Presidential Inauguration. The total cost was $42,976,176, which the District has received in full.

View both reports.