Across Washington, emergency managers have been navigating long hours, complex challenges, tough decisions, and real impacts. I’ve watched and listened as you’ve handled yourselves with professionalism, tenacity, and character. I’ve read your SitReps and followed the news coverage, and I know that even when you step away for a moment, the response doesn’t really leave your mind. “Fake it till you make it” gets tossed around a lot, but there’s nothing fake about what I’m seeing. This is real leadership, showing up under pressure, and doing the hard work when it matters most. I’m continually in awe of this community and incredibly proud to call you colleagues.
I realize the irony of what I’m about to say after that long paragraph, but I’m going to see if I can keep it short. 😬
Let’s do this!
Association News
- WSEMA Membership: Consider this the easiest task you’ll tackle this week. Renewing your WSEMA membership takes a few clicks and zero operational periods.
- WSEMA Conference: On the plus side, if half of what emergency managers are navigating during this response makes it into future conference sessions, we’re in for some very good, very real, and very useful presentations.
Emergency Management in Washington
- UW CDRC Office Hours: The University of Washington Center for Disaster Resilient Communities (UW CDRC) has shared their appreciation for the extraordinary work emergency managers are doing to support Washington communities during the ongoing flooding. They’ve also offered their expertise and support to jurisdictions that may benefit from additional capacity during response or recovery.
UW CDRC was established two years ago to provide a coordinated University of Washington approach to supporting communities before, during, and after disasters. Their team can assist with a wide range of efforts, including damage and exposure mapping, community needs assessments (such as CASPERs and community listening sessions), evaluation of response and recovery efforts, analysis of risk communications, health and wellbeing assessments, and use of data and AI tools to support manual or resource-intensive processes.
If you have a need, or even an idea you’re not sure how to pursue, UW CDRC encourages you to reach out. If they’re not the right fit, they may be able to help connect you with someone who is.
UW CDRC will also host informal research response needs Zoom office hours on December 22 at 10:00 a.m. for jurisdictions interested in exploring potential support or partnerships. Registration details are available through UW CDRC, and alternative times can be arranged if needed.
- Flooding and Storm Response: With the volume of flood-related updates and media coverage circulating right now, I want to be mindful not to add to it this week. Instead, I’ll acknowledge the tremendous work happening across the state and focus on supporting one another through an intense response period.
- Emergency Workers: As jurisdictions transition toward recovery and volunteer needs increase, please remember that requests for registered emergency workers (e.g., CERT, SAR, MRC) from outside your jurisdiction should be made emergency management to emergency management, with notification to the State Alert and Warning Center under the incident’s state mission number. Volunteers offering support from other jurisdictions should be routed through their registering officials, not deployed independently. Temporary registration of volunteers remains an option under WAC 118-04-080, with appropriate vetting and tasking per WAC 118-04-180. For large-scale volunteer coordination, consider working with local VOAD partners or contact SEOC ESF 6 for support (Primary: Lewis Lujan; Alternate: Justice Gilbert; emails are first.last@mil.wa.gov).
- EOC Support: This event marked a first activation for some, for others, it added to a growing body of experience. If you have the capacity to support another jurisdiction, either during response or as they transition to recovery, I strongly encourage you to do so. You’ll be helping our peers at a critical moment while also gaining invaluable experience. The relationships built during events like this remain one of the strongest assets of our profession.
- Have something you’d like me to feature? Send it my way at 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: The scheduled FEMA Review Council meeting (12/11) was canceled. I’ll share updates as additional information becomes available.
- Homeland Security Today News
- Supreme Court Information as of December 17: Highlights of what was happening with the Supreme Court this week.
- Random Thought on EOC Activations: The start of any activation always feels like getting a text or call that someone is stopping by the house. Suddenly there’s a scramble to make sure things are cleaned up, organized, and appear as though the house was in perfect order all along. And then, like emergency managers always do, we settle in, coordinate, adapt, and deliver, because the house is as ready as it’s going to be thanks to the work done during blue sky days. Sometimes we don’t know what kind of chaos the visitor is going to bring, and we manage it in real time.
- Seattle’s National Women’s Hockey League: If you haven’t already seen it, PNW has a National Women’s Hockey League team, the Seattle Torrent! Their motto is: From the glaciers to the Sound, we push through limits, with mounting force and momentum. We gather strength, with each drop of rain, each bead of mist, each flake of snow. A cascade of energy, an abundance of power, shaping the land. Sweeping forward as one, unceasing and relentless. The Great Northwest. Forged by nature. Unstoppable by will. We are the Seattle Torrent. If you’re looking for something energizing (and decidedly non-flood-related) to cheer for, the Seattle Torrent is worth a look.
Closing Note
If you’ve made it this far…hi, appreciate you and thank you for being you. Trying for that Mister Rogers vibe. And if this email is currently sitting in your deleted folder because you thought, “Nope, not today, blabbermouth” I still love you just the same. I didn’t expect “atmospheric river” to become such a familiar phrase this year, but here we are, right under the wire as main character energy.
I want to name something that often goes unsaid: emergency response isn’t measured only by the amount of visible damage. Monitoring evolving conditions, staffing EOCs, coordinating with partners, sharing information, planning for what might happen next, and being ready to pivot at any moment is work. It can be exhausting, mentally taxing, and time-consuming. For those experiencing close or worst-case scenarios, I see you. And for those who feel busy, and maybe a little guilty for feeling busy when impacts look different than our partners to the north, I see you too.
Much of our work happens in EOCs, MULTIPLE meetings and coordination calls, in emails, and behind the scenes. It doesn’t always make the news, and it isn’t always visible to the public, but it has real impact. Communities are safer, decisions are better, and responses are stronger because of work most people will never see. I want you to know that it matters, your work matters, you matter, and it’s seen here.
I obviously failed at keeping it short, but I have big emotions this week! Take care of yourselves and each other. I’m genuinely grateful for this community and proud to be alongside you.
Kyle