PO Box 891993 - Temecula, CA 92589-1993 - (951) 764-3626
http://www.oursafetowns.com/
Community Safety/Security eNewsletter
July 2008
Welcome to the July 2008 Issue
Stephen
I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Independence Day. Thank you to all those serving in uniform overseas so that we can keep the freedoms we have. Speaking of serving in uniform, I've gotten a few calls from folks who didn't know that I've been pulled on active duty in Washington DC. I'm working as the Flag Secretary for Rear Admiral Browne (the Senior Reserve Engineering Duty Officer) and will be here at least through the end of the fiscal year. Hurricane season is coming up, so get your generators ready, buy gas (before it gets more expensive) and make sure that you've got the rest of your emergency kit packed. Know your evacuation routes, and have a backup one in case yours is blocked. Also, keep at least a half a tank of gas in your car. If there's a power loss, you'll need it to get to a place where you can buy gas since the pumps don't work if there's no power. I hope that each of you are having a safe summer, and that you continue to do what you do best to make the country safer! We'll see you next month.
The rains keep falling, the fires keep on burning, and the winds keep on blowing. Over the past several weeks and months, many states around the country have endured torrential rains, wild fires, and tornados. These natural disasters have displaced hundreds of people, bringing home the real and constant need to have a personal preparedness plan in place for any eventuality, and to work with others in your community to ensure that those who cannot help themselves receive there assistance they need. This is especially important when first responders are overwhelmed or unable to reach a disaster site right away. For those who are looking for resources to help with planning for the future, the Ready Campaign (www.ready.gov) is a good source of basic information for seniors, businesses, youth, pets and families. Stay safe!
In the News
National Emergency Communications Plan Released
July 31, 2008 - The Department released the National Emergency Communications Plan, the nation’s first strategic plan to improve emergency response communications, which also complements overarching homeland security and emergency communications legislation, strategies and initiatives. The plan addresses gaps and determines solutions so that emergency response personnel can communicate as needed.
"This is a comprehensive plan designed to drive measurable and sustainable improvements to operable and interoperable emergency communications nationwide over the next three years. It emphasizes the human element and cross-jurisdictional cooperation, going beyond simply buying new equipment," said Under Secretary Robert Jamison. Read more
Department Awards $1.8 Billion in Preparedness Grant
July 25, 2008 - The Department announced approximately $1.8 billion in grants to state, urban area and tribal governments to improve the nation’s readiness, response and recovery capabilities for both natural and man-made emergencies. The department will award approximately $3 billion in FY 2008, and has provided roughly $25 billion in grants since FY 2002 to state, local and tribal governments, as well as non-profit organizations. Read more
New Email Attack:
Issue: We are aware of public reports indicating that a new email attack
is circulating. This attack uses email messages that appear to be from
legitimate airlines and contain information about a bogus e-ticket.
Impact: These email messages instruct the user to open the attachment to
obtain the e-ticket. If a user opens this attachment, a file may be
executed to infect the user's system with malicious code.
Reports indicate that these messages have the following characteristics.
Please note that these attributes may change at any time.
* The subject line "E-Ticket#XXXXXXXXXX"
* An attachment named "eTicket#XXXX.zip"
Suggested Action: We encourage users and administrators to take the
following preventative measures to help mitigate the security risks:
* Install anti-virus software, and keep its virus signature file up
to date.
* Do not open attachments in unsolicited email messages.
* Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document
for more information on social engineering attacks.
Relevant Url(s):
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST04-014.html
http://www.sophos.com/security/blog/2008/07/1604.html
http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/emailscams_0905.pdf
Recent and Upcoming Events
Recent Events
The FBI had their 100 year anniversary gala! Eric from our office was able to go and stated that it was a very well done affair. Happy Centennial to the FBI!
Upcoming Events
2008 Systems Integration in Biodefense meeting
August 18-19, 2008
Washington, D.C.
At the 2008 Systems Integration in Biodefense meeting, you will hear from industry leaders about their strategies for meeting the needs of the community and bridging the technology gaps that still exist. Among other happenings, new highly multiplexed, integrated and field deployable assays will be introduced; technology developments in sample prep, signal transduction and amplification will be showcased; and specific examples of integrated systems will be presented.
Go to Event Website...
Homeland Security in Action Conference
August 25-29, 2008
Monterey, California
The purpose of the Homeland Security in Action conference is to provide a current overview of the operational employment of DHS hardware and systems. Current DHS assets and capabilities will be presented and a variety of recent successes in the field will be showcased. This year's conference is expanded to cover border protection on all fronts - air, space and maritime.
Go to Event Website...
2nd Annual EPA Region 4 Chemical Emergency Conference
This year the 2nd Annual EPA Region 4 Chemical Emergency Conference for SERCs and LEPCs will be held as a part of the Georgia Environmental Conference at the Hyatt Hotel in Savannah, GA, on Wednesday -Thursday-Friday, August 27-28-29, 2008. The conference will be one track among a number of parallel conference tracks and it will include eight 90-minute "courses" over three days. The topical area is Chemical Emergency Preparedness, Prevention and Response. Registration entitles you to attend any conference sessions of your choosing.
The main conference website is at http://www.georgiaenet.com.
The web page with conference course descriptions is at
http://www.georgiaenet.com/agenda.htm.The website now has "place holder" topics for course descriptions that are partly topics was used last year in the Tampa conference. They will finalize the actual topics and replace the
"place holders" with "real topics" for this conference. Check the website from time to time and you will be able to see the topics as they are adjusted to reflect reality.
The following listed courses are available:
Session I, Item 7.
Session II, Item 14.
Session III, Item 22.
Session IV, Item 29.
Session V, Item 36.
Session VI, Item 44.
Session VII, Item 52.
Session VIII, Item 60.
You can register for the conference at the following webpage:
https://www.signup4.net/Public/ap.aspx?EID=2007943E
We ask that you please forward this announcement to your LEPCs and that they in turn forward it to all of their LEPC members. All recipients are asked to share the announcement with anyone else that they think may have an interest in attending.
Additionally, we request that each person receiving this announcement please do the following things, as they feel that they are appropriate:
1. Send by email any suggestions you have for conference topics
for consideration.
2. Send by email any the names of anyone you would like to
nominate for an award (Certificate of Recognition) with a brief explanation.
3. Email if you plan to attend. This information will be very valuable. It will be
able to track registration and to know how it is progressing.
email address is hudson.henry@epa.gov
.
2008 Va. Hazardous Materials Conference and Expo
October 13, 2008 through October 17, 2008
Hampton Roads Convention Center & Embassy Suites Hotel
1700 Coliseum Drive
Hampton, VA 23666
The Virginia Association of Hazardous Materials Response Specialists (VAHMRS), in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM), is proud to announce the 25th Annual Virginia Hazardous Materials Conference and Expo to be held October 13-17, 2008 at the Hampton Roads Convention Center and Embassy Suites Hotel.
The Virginia Hazardous Materials Conference and Expo serves as the premier hazardous materials conference in the mid-Atlantic region. The event features over 60 educational workshops and an exhibition area featuring the latest products and technology for the hazardous materials industry.
Please join us and over 500 of your peers for a great educational and networking experience.
Interested in attending? Click here to register.
Nothing new on this front. As we mentioned last month, we have begun developing our framework for our "Keeping Our ___ Safe" series. As you know, we have published Keeping Our Neighborhoods Safe (which is a manual for the individual and family level) and Keeping Our Chemical Facilities Safe (which is a manual for complying with DHS' vulnerability assessment and site security plan regulations), but they are only part of a larger framework. At the top level, we need a plan for keeping our nation safe, and roles, responsibilities and actions need to be laid out for the country, each state, each county/city, each school, business, and family. So this framework will address what actions and preparations each organization at each level requires in order to be successful. We'd love to get your ideas on what needs to happen at each level and organization. We'll keep you posted, especially as we continue to work on Keeping Our Schools Safe.
We are continuing to do some consulting work with cities and businesses and if we don't have an office in your area, we will either try to help over distance (using the internet and travel) or help you to find the right person in your area. As our business grows, we want you to know that we are committed to ensuring that we provide the same level of expertise and service to which you are accustomed. We work with people who are interested in making their business, community or jurisdiction safer, and not just people who want someone to help spend grant money. We make the world safer. It's our reason for being, our passion and if we're not doing that, then the project isn't right for us. If we can make the world safer, there isn't a more committed passionate
As always, if you are interested in working with us directly to make your community, business, or agency safer, please contact us at: info@oursafetowns.com.
See you next month!
Useful Information
New Hazardous Materials Resources Released
<>Now Available: 2007 Hazardous Materials Roundtable Report
In October 2007, the IAFC and its Hazardous Materials Committee, with
support from the USFA, convened a hazardous materials roundtable with 30
of the nation's leading authorities on hazardous materials. The final
report from this meeting, which established the direction for action and
discussion by the hazmat community, is now available on the IAFC's
website <http://www.iafc.org> .. For more information regarding issues
and trends in hazmat mitigation and control, download the report at:
http://www.iafc.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=20
(see Hazardous Materials).
New Ethanol Website
The Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition (EERC) is announcing the launch
of its website at www.ethanolresponse.com. The EERC was formed to
support safety concerns with the transportation and handling of
renewable fuels-specifically ethanol and ethanol-blended fuels. The website contains a wealth of resources for emergency response to
ethanol-based incidents. For more information, sign up for the EERC
distribution list on the Resources page:
http://www.ethanolresponse.com/resources.html.
Coming Soon: Ethanol Response Training Programs
The IAFC and USFA, with assistance from the EERC, have recently produced
two training materials, both of which will be available on a single CD
that will be distributed at Fire-Rescue International (http://www.iafc.org/fri) in Denver next month:
National Hazardous Materials Fusion Center
Check out the website at www.iafc.org/hazmatfusion for the latest news
on this project. A five-minute informational video about the National
Hazardous Materials Fusion Center has just been posted online.
Hazmat Team Survey
The National Hazmat Fusion Center seeks to build a hazmat team network
and has developed an online survey to inform that effort. Please take
time to fill out the Hazmat Team Survey (http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB2282WULHRZN) so they can learn more about hazmat teams nationwideDHS makes slight modifications to CFATS
Earlier this week DHS updated the Identifying Facilities Covered by the Chemical Security Regulation (http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/programs/gc_1181765846511.shtm ) page on its web site. DHS expanded the description of facilities that may be affected by CFATS and re-worded the description of how facilities can determine if they will be affected.
CHEMTRECDonna Lepik is the Director of Outreach and Special Programs for
CHEMTREC (visit www.CHEMTREC.com). She is looking to help the
emergency response community with coordination of training through
TRANSCAER (visit www.TRANSCAER.com) and is currently developing a new
CHEMTREC training video for use in your training programs. This video
will be available Fall 2008. If there are any questions or if you wish to be placed on the CHEMTREC email list, please contact Donna Lepik at dlepik@chemtrec.comThe Target Capabilities List Implementation Project: Assessing Our Nation's Preparedness
The EIIP is pleased to host a 'live chat' presentation and interactive Q&A
Please make plans to join them for this special program in the EIIP Virtual
session July 23, 2008, beginning at 12:00 Noon Eastern time (please convert
to your local time). Our topic will be the DHS/FEMA Target Capabilities List
(TCL) Implementation Project, part of a national effort to implement the
National Preparedness Guidelines to enhance the Nation's readiness for acts
of terrorism and catastrophic disasters.
Forum www.emforum.org , and as always, feel free to extend this invitation
to your colleagues. Please see the Background Page at
http://www.emforum.org/vforum/080723.htm for links to related materials and
instructions, and if this will be your first time to participate, please
check your connection at least a day in advance by clicking on the Chat
Login link at the top left of the EIIP Virtual Forum homepage.
August is almost upon us, which means school will be in full swing again. For all those involved in the education and well being of our kids, here is a set of safety tips for you:
- Listen to radio/TV for current information/instructions
- Be alert to suspicious activity and report it to proper authorities immediately
- Close school if recommended to do so by appropriate authorities
- 100% identification check (i.e.-driver’s license retained at front office) and provide an escort for anyone entering school other than students, staff and faculty
- Review emergency plans
- Offer Masters of Disaster “Facing Fear: Helping Young People Deal with Terrorism and Tragic Events” lessons in grades K-12
- Prepare to handle inquiries from anxious parents and media
- Discuss children’s fears concerning possible terrorist attacks
- Ensure all emergency supplies stocked and ready
- Obtain copies of Terrorism: Preparing for the Unexpected brochure from your local Red Cross chapter and send it home with students in grades K-12,
- Conduct safety training/emergency drills following the school’s written emergency plan for all grades
- Ensure emergency communication plan updated and needed equipment is available
- Use Red Cross Emergency Management Guide for Business and Industry to develop written emergency plans to address all hazards including plans to maintain the safety of students, staff, and faculty, as well as an emergency communication plan to notify parents in times of emergency. Disseminate relevant information to families of children, staff and faculty.
- Initiate offering “Masters of Disaster” curriculum for grades K-8 regarding emergency preparedness for natural disasters
- Ensure mental health counselors are available for students, staff and faculty
