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Hurricane Preparedness Week runs from May 3 to 9. In preparation for the 2020 hurricane season, FEMA has updated tools so that preparedness plans include measures that will help protect you and your family against the spread of coronavirus.
Use these tools to help you plan and prepare for hurricanes:
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Download the FEMA mobile app for disaster resources, weather alerts, and safety tips. Available in English and Spanish, the app provides a customizable checklist of emergency supplies, maps of open shelters and recovery centers, disaster survival tips and weather alerts from the National Weather Service.
To learn more on how to prepare before, during and after a hurricane, visit: Ready.gov/hurricanes.
Organizations across the nation are determining when and how to resume operations while protecting the well-being and safety of their employees and communities. As guidance, FEMA has released: “Planning Considerations for Organizations in Reconstituting Operations During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
An organization may need to adapt and adopt new processes, address physical and psychological impacts to personnel, recover records and files, reestablish communications and IT equipment or acquire specialized equipment to regain full functionality. Planning requires expertise and coordination from the entire organization and coordination with partners and stakeholders throughout the community.
This new resource builds upon the White House guidelines for Opening Up America Again by providing further reconstitution planning recommendations for state, local, tribal, territorial and private sector stakeholders. The guidance is available on the FEMA website.
FEMA's Office of Equal Rights is hosting regular teleconferences sharing information on how to respond to civil rights-related concerns and questions during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response. The teleconference will be held at 2 p.m. ET on May 6. Participants are encouraged to call in 10 minutes prior to the start time.
To participate:
- FEMA Teleconference: 888-378-4398 Participant Passcode: 201636#
- When you enter the Passcode, you will be asked to state your name; to skip this step, press #.
- Call in 10 minutes prior to start time.
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The teleconference will include representatives from the FEMA Office of Equal Rights, the FEMA Office of Disability Integration and Coordination, the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. For more information, contact FEMA Office of Equal Rights.
The FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) has been publicly praised in recent weeks by responders across the nation directly engaged in the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic response.
In April, Dawn Gajewski, an emergency room nurse at Christ Hospital in Jersey City, NJ, was featured in a 'hero of the day' New York Post article. Gajewski had been working part-time at the hospital prior to the pandemic but began picking up extra shifts when the hospital experienced an increase in COVID-19 patients. A doctor at the hospital tasked her with overseeing a tent set up outside the facility. She was well qualified to lead the task due to her CDP training which had taught her how to safely set up, equip and staff such a screening area. Gajewski is a graduate of the CDP’s Hospital Emergency Response Training for Mass Casualty Incidents (HERT) course.
Two doctors in Washington also credited CDP training during a recent Seattle radio interview. The doctors were among the first healthcare professionals to deal with the coronavirus in the United States. Jeffrey Tomlin and Ettore Palazzo, the CEO and Chief Medical Officer, respectively, of a two-hospital healthcare system in the northern part of Washington state, said their team was ready to confront the outbreak because of the disaster response training many of the training their staff members received at the CDP. Each year the system sends 20 members of their team to the CDP campus for training.
The CDP trains approximately 50,000 students annually, from emergency management officials to law enforcement officers, firefighters, and doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers. The students come from all states and U.S. territories, as well as several foreign countries. Since it opened its doors in 1998, the CDP has trained more than 1.1 million responders.
Visit the CDP website to learn more about the mission of the CDP and the trainings they offer.
Emergency officials across the country have sent nearly 280 important safety messages on the coronavirus pandemic to their residents using the FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).
As of May 5, 86 agencies across 28 states and the District of Columbia, as well as one Indian tribe and one U.S. territory, have sent a total of 279 messages. This includes 226 text alerts containing information on COVID-19 to cell phones and other wireless devices via the Wireless Emergency Alerts and 53 alerts to radios/televisions via the Emergency Alert System.
For more information on IPAWS and how to be able to use the system to send alerts, visit the FEMA website.
IPAWS is a national system for local alerting that provides authenticated emergency alert and information messaging to the public through cell phones and internet applications using Wireless Emergency Alerts and to radio and television via the Emergency Alert System.
FEMA Procurement Video Tutorial for Grant Recipients
FEMA created a 36-minute video tutorial to help FEMA grant recipients and subrecipients understand how to properly contract during emergency or exigent circumstances.
The guidance is outlined on FEMA COVID-19 Fact Sheets & Guidance webpage and the COVID-19 guidance: Procurements Under Grants During Periods of Exigent or Emergency Circumstances. Additional resources when procuring with federal grant funds and COVID-19 guidance are available on the FEMA website.
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Public Comment Period Open for Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Proposed Policy
A proposed policy is now available for comments for the new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program. Stakeholders may view the policy and provide new comments until May 11. To locate the new policy, visit regulations.gov and search the identification number FEMA-2019-0018. To learn more, visit the FEMA website.
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Application Period Open for SAFER Grants
The application period is now open for $350 million in Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants funding. SAFER grants enhance the ability of recipients to attain and maintain fire department staffing and to ensure that their communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. The application period will close at 5 p.m. ET on May 15.
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Application Period Open for Supplemental AFG Program
The application period is now open for $100 million in additional Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program (AFG) funding. The COVID-19 Supplemental (AFG-S) provides financial assistance directly to eligible fire departments, non-affiliated emergency medical service organizations and state fire training academies for critical personal protective equipment and supplies needed to respond to COVID-19. The application period for AFG-S closes at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, May 15. For more information on the grants visit the FEMA website.
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Application Period Open for Fire Prevention and Safety Grants
The application period for Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) grants is now open. The FP&S grants support projects that enhance the safety of the public and firefighters from fire and related hazards within the areas of fire prevention and firefighter safety research and development. There is $35 million in funding available. The application period closes at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, May 29.
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