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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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April
2009
Volume
16
- Number 3 |
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US Department of Energy
2009 Hurricane Exercise By Jim Monsu Earlier this week (03-04
March) I had the privilege of
participating in a hurricane season preparation exercise conducted by
the U.S.
Department of Energy (ESF #12), Office of Electricity Delivery and
Energy
Reliability. I was one of four USACE
representatives invited to participate due to my position on the
Temporary
Emergency Power Planning and Response Team as part of ESF #3. Other non-DOE participants in the exercise
were FEMA Region III, and a representative from Pepco Holdings, an
energy
distribution company local to the Delmarva Peninsula, southern Jersey,
and
southeastern Pennsylvania. According to the DOE
Exercise Package, “The exercise scenario
was designed to duplicate the events of the 2008 hurricane response
season…”
(Department of Energy, 2009) although the actual scenario significant
events
and injects were fictitious. The premise
of the exercise was that Hurricane Gladys had recently impacted the
Gulf coast
of Louisiana, and the Louisiana JFO was still in operation when it
became
apparent that Hurricane Ida was charging toward the Gulf coast of Texas
and
threatening to cause significant damage upon landfall – forecasted to
occur in
approximately 48 hours. Obviously the
scenario was modeled after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike which delivered a
one-two
punch to the Gulf coasts of Louisiana and Texas in 2008. The objectives of the
exercise were designed to instruct/test
the procedures for various DOE activities that were determined to be in
need of
improvement following After Action Reviews of their 2008 hurricane
season
performance. Primary among the objectives
were shift-change transition processes; dissemination of information
to, and
communication with, other activated response locations; handling
information
flow; conference call protocol; preparation of required reports and DOE
forms;
interaction with FEMA; improving understanding of the roles and
responsibilities of the “ISER Emergency Response Organization”, testing
the ESF
#12 Emergency Telephone Notification System, and validating the
post-2008
corrective actions. In addition, the
participation of ESF #3 and the utility company brought the realities
of
interacting with other ESFs and private industry to the exercise. The exercise included 45
scheduled scenario messages and
injects, plus a few impromptu additions, designed to replicate response
activities
beginning 48 hours prior to landfall of a major hurricane, and
continuing
through the time of the post-event mission closeout.
Although this was an aggressive timeline that
didn’t delve too deeply into details, it served to provide an overview
of response
operations to DOE’s response team members. As an ESF #3 responder, I
found that participation in the DOE
exercise was extremely beneficial. Not
only did I have an opportunity to network with fellow responders from a
partner
agency, but I was able to witness first-hand how DOE functions in the
wake of a
disaster. The knowledge of their process
will enable me to better utilize their services during my own response
activities while simultaneously being better suited to provide useful
information to their responders. Reference US
Department of Energy. (2009). 2009
ESF-12 training exercise package, Draft revision 4 (2009). Washington,
D.C: Author. |