Normally I would start this message by saying “Good Morning and Happy Friday” but in light of the current hammering mother nature has put on many of us I am sure that the terms “good” and “happy” are largely subjective to a lot of you. As President-Elect I made the executive decision to take responsibility of crafting the Friday message off of Kyle’s plate given that our impacts here in Southeastern Washington are minimal (not bragging, just saying it how it is).
I will keep this brief to allow the many of you otherwise engaged to get back to work or go to sleep depending on when you finally get around to reading this.
Let me just say how proud I am of our Emergency Managers here in Washington, and impressed I am seeing the all the good work being done by colleagues all across the state, Emergency Management is a truly essential service and what we do saves and improves lives!
Association News
- WSEMA Membership: We understand that there’s a lot going on, but when you get a spare 10 minutes please take a moment to renew your membership if you haven’t already. You can count that as a relaxation exercise if you’d like
- WSEMA Communities of Interest (COIs): We’ve kicked off WSEMA’s new Communities of Interest (COIs) and it’s a pretty big deal! These groups are designed to bring people together around shared interests, experiences, or specialties. Each COI is member-led and shaped by the people in it, whether the goal is building community, swapping ideas, supporting newer professionals, or just creating a space where EMs can talk honestly about the work and occasionally laugh about it, because laughing is better than crying (trust me I’m a Coug and we’ve had a lot to cry about lately, but that’s a topic for another time.)
Emergency Management in Washington
- Ferguson seeks emergency declaration from FEMA as 100,000 expected to face evacuations: You already know about this; keep rocking it PNW EMs!
- FIFA World Cup: If you watched our incredible WSEMA Conference social media content you already know how I feel about World Cup, but hey apparently, it’s a big thing.
- WA State Healthcare Situational Awareness Brief: – A powerful atmospheric river occurring over Washington is fueling flooding over numerous rivers as they reach major flood stage, triggering mandatory evacuations in some areas. Numerous flood warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) as days of heavy rain have overwhelmed a number of rivers. NWHRN has activated level 3 activation to monitor impacts to healthcare and assist with response activities as needed. We will be sending out regular response briefings.
Hospitalized patients with RSV have risen, and hospitalized influenza cases have increased over the past week, though overall numbers remain low. Hospitalized COVID+ cases remain low but have increased this week. State COVID, RSV, & FLU hospitalizations and ED visits remain lower than this time last year. Please see the DOH respiratory dashboard for historical disease trends and related information. Hospitalized pediatric RSV cases are also increasing, but not as sharply as the adult population. Adult and pediatric ED visits are up significantly state-wide. Adult and pediatric ED boarders have increased slightly over the past 7-days in Western Washington from 239 on 12/04 to 270 as of this morning’s data. Central and Eastern adult and pediatric ED visits spiked sharply yesterday but are dropping already. Hospital boarders have also increased in most Western WA, but more moderately. In Central and Eastern WA boarder numbers have been decreasing throughout the week. Adult ICU and acute bed occupancy while variable is similar to previous weeks. Pediatric ICU saw an increase mid-week with and acute bed occupancy remaining similar to previous weeks. The normal resources will not be updated completely due to response activities. - Have something you’d like Kyle to feature? Send it to president@wsema.org by 8:00 a.m. on Fridays. Trainings, news, shoutouts, or anything you think WSEMA should know about!
National EM Updates and Misc.
- FEMA Review Council: Shortly before it was scheduled to happen DHS cancelled the planned FEMA Review Council Meeting, as of the time I’m writing this no reason was given nor was there any additional information.
- Trump task force proposes major FEMA overhaul, rebranding as ‘FEMA 2.0’: Although the Review Council did not meet several news outlets are reporting that leaked reports suggest the Council will recommend significant changes to FEMA as we know it.
- Fire Chief Brian Fennessy to Lead New United States Wildland Fire Service: Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Chief Brian Fennessy will retire on January 2, 2026, to become the inaugural Director of the newly established United States Wildland Fire Service (USWFS). The new federal agency, launching in January 2026, is designed to consolidate and modernize federal wildland firefighting efforts.
- Homeland Security Today News
- SCOTUStoday for Thursday, December 11: Highlights of what was happening with the Supreme Court this week.
- How to Power Nap for Your Mental Health: Some quick shut-eye can help you de-stress and be more productive.
- A 10-20 minute power nap can improve alertness and job performance.
- Napping for more than 30 minutes can make you feel groggy and might affect your nighttime sleep.
Closing Note
This week I have concluded a lot of my emails/texts with the phrase “keep your head above water, literally and figuratively”; meaning take care of your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. If we operate on a “run-to-failure” model we are no good to those who need us after we collapse. Do regular “temperature checks” on yourself, check in with friends and colleagues, don’t ignore your smartwatch when it tells you to take 5 minutes to do a relaxation exercise, and remember that coffee should NOT be the only thing you ingest. Good luck, be strong, be safe, and keep kicking butt. And, as always “WSEMA!” (imagine Kyle in a Tick costume making this rallying cry. Younger members may need to Google “the Tick”)
Nick Bacon
WSEMA President-Elect