IDAVOAD Conference Call on 2/11/2017
Wade Gayler from American Red Cross started the call and facilitated.
Roll Call
-Mike Reedy -FEMA
-Mary Marsh – ESF-6
-Denise O’Farrell – ESF-8 Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
-Cheryl Brower –
-Ricky Bowman – Southwest District Health
-Maj. Eddie Patterson – Salvation Army
-Steve Slater – Boise Salvation Army
-Sean French – Team Rubicon in Payette County Incident Commander
-Russ Dunn – Adventist Community Services
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Wade said they coordinated this call to gain situational awareness for flooding.
Reports
Idaho Office of Emergency Management (OEM) - Mary Marsh
-OEM held a meeting this morning at 0800 this morning. They are now activated to a Level 2.
-At Level 2 activation all OEM staff is called in and they are working 12 hour shifts from 0800-2000.
-15 counties that declared disasters. Not all are flooding. They are working snow and flooding events.
-State disaster – Cassia, Minidoka, Twin Falls, and Washington
-Twin Falls -sheet flooding. Worried about the Snake River
-Cassia County is worried about the Oakley Dam
-Minidoka: a lot of infrastructure damage to roads
-Potential flooding in Washington, Payette, and Adams county
-They are watching Power and Bannock county as well as eastern Idaho
-North Central Idaho – the St. Joe river has an ice jam. Calder was cut off yesterday. They have an ice breaker and it’s being used today on the St. Joe.
-The Coeur d’Alene River is high but no flooding.
-Boundary has had large amounts of snow. Department of corrections is up there shoveling roofs.
-Mary encouraged people to monitor WebEOC. She is updating the IDAVOAD board often.
-Mary has not received any RFAs from the VOAD.
-Cassia county posted on WebEOC asked for food and donations. Mary contacted them to let them know that they need to involve the VOAD through official channels. They realized the issue and said they were already overwhelmed.
-Mary asked the call participants to make let her know if they get a Request for Assistance.
Wade and Mary both said they have never heard of 15 county declarations in Idaho.
Adventist Community Services - Russ Dunn
-I-86 is closed between Burley and Pocatello. Cattle just across the border in Nevada trapped. A helicopter is being booked to conduct surveys.
-Cassia County did surveys yesterday.
FEMA Volunteer Agency Liaison - Mike Reedy
-Wade asked Mike to talk about the importance of reporting their hours.
-ON a 3-hour recall for the Regional Response Coordination Center and helping Mary in any way he can. On standby.
-It is important for anyone doing activities – anything eligible for reimbursement –
-Names to locations and activities, and hours worked.
-75% FEMA and 25% cost share the state and locals pay for. The IDAVOAD hours can assist with the cost share.
-If the state of Idaho asks for the Presidential disaster declaration – it’s important for the non-profits information and hour be shared with Mary Marsh – it’s important to get a holistic view of the big picture.
-Mary said their finance people are putting together a document so people understand the importance of tracking hours. Wade asked Mary to post on the IDAVOAD WebEOC so they know volunteers are to track their hours.
Wade – appreciate the support from Idaho OEM and the FEMA representatives.
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare – ESF-8, Denise O’Farrell and Cheryl Brower
-Monitoring activity of South Central Public Health District. Concerns with flooded wells and failed septic systems.
-Requested on Thursday that ARC conduct health surveillance if people do start to assemble at the shelter(s). Infection control is important during this current flu season. Other viruses are circulating too.
-Wade said that Jeff Cappe from Southwest District Health contacted him as soon as a message was posted about a possible shelter in Washington county.
Team Rubicon – Sean French
-Snow removal at two locations. Conducting damage assessments.
-21 requests were no longer valid because of the rain and warmer weather. They started to look for additional work. Looking at a couple of sites. Looking at collapsed structures and may help with demolition or to move items from the structures to a safe location.
-Demob on Tuesday in Payette
-It’s their first activation in Idaho. They’re here to help.
-They had volunteers from Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Utah. They will provide final reports to Payette County.
-Mary requested a report from Sean. He said the contact of Mike Prill (sp?) and/or Andy Creech can assist with getting the report to Wade and Mary.
-Mary said that Andy Creech posted on WebEOC that Team Rubicon is available.
-They named their operation “Payette Forward”. Great name!
-Wade hopes we can get someone from Team Rubicon on the state VOAD.
Salvation Army – MAJ Eddie Patterson
-Notifications of what’s going on: Twin Falls Corps, Boise Corps, and Idaho Falls are all on standby.
-All three units are available right now with 3 canteen operations and a supply trailer for the state as well.
-They can provide mass feeding and hydration, spiritual, and emotional counseling. They can assist with setting up the MARC resource centers.
Wade asked Russ if he wanted to report out anything else. He said he spoke with the ACS Disaster Response Coordinator earlier in the week they have received any other requests for help. FEMA designated ACS to do donations management, both in collection, warehousing, and distribution but they haven’t received any requests now.
Southwest District Health –Ricky Bowman
-Southwest District health is concerned about floodcontamination of water and septic system failure. The District Director reached out to county commissioners and their board of health to offer assistance if there is a public health need.
-They can conduct or assist with call centers.
-On standby county emergency manager, board of health, or county commissioners contact them.
Mary said the Idaho wastewater agency response network (WARN) posted on WebEOC. They are statewide and offered to assist with any wastewater needs.
American Red Cross report – Wade Gayler
-ARC shelter at Eastside Baptist Church – zero population to this point.
-Shelters on standby in Jerome and Blaine.
-Aware of one family evacuated from their house in Washington County area. Instead of ARC, they found alternate housing for the family.
-ARC has resources ready to roll in Washington County if it’s needed.
-Making sure they track their time and volunteer hours.
-They moved to a level 2. Situational calls. Just watching and hoping the waters recede. They can assist with damage assessments.
-Wondering if there will be a need for MARCs or long-term recovery. Should it be a statewide long-term recovery group or separate long-term recovery groups. They’ll watch this from a VOAD perspective.
-Mike Reedy suggested that donations management messaging be develop. People will want to donate so we should get on top of it now. Mary is going to talk to the OEM PIO about this.
Vice chair for IDAVOAD - Dan
-Would be happy to take an application from Team Rubicon to become a member.
Steve Taylor - Chair for Eastern Idaho VOAD joined the call and said they are monitoring the situation.
Closing Thoughts
-Wade will be out of the area . If you need to get in touch with him send Wade a text message.
-May have another call on Monday.