Legislature(2011 - 2012)ANCH LIO Rm 220
09/24/2012 10:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Hearing on Disaster Response and Preparedness - Focusing on Lessons Learned from Recent Windstorms in Southcentral and Interior Alaska. | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
ANCHORAGE, AK
September 24, 2012
10:03 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Bill Wielechowski, Chair
Senator Albert Kookesh
Senator Kevin Meyer
Senator Cathy Giessel
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Joe Paskvan, Vice Chair
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Senator Bettye Davis
Representative Cris Tuck
Representative Pete Peterson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HEARING: DISASTER RESPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS - FOCUSING ON
LESSONS LEARNED FROM RECENT WINDSTORMS IN SOUTHCENTRAL AND
INTERIOR ALASKA.
-HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
BRADLEY EVANS, CEO
Chugach Electric Association
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
PHIL STEYER, Director
Government Relations and Corporate Communications
Chugach Electric Association
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
DON ZOERB, Assistant General Manager and CFO
Matanuska Electric Association (MEA)
Palmer, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
DAWN BRANTLEY, Emergency Programs Manager
Anchorage Office of Emergency Management
Municipality of Anchorage
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
KEVIN SPILLERS, Director
Anchorage Office of Emergency Management (OEM)
Municipality of Anchorage
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
RAY FAUST, Member
Mayor's Task Force on Public Safety
Municipality of Anchorage
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
MICHAEL O'HARA, Deputy Director
Division of Homeland Security/Emergency Management (DHS&EM)
Department of Military & Veterans Affairs (DMVA)
Fort Richardson, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
MARY JONES, Coordinator
East Side Seniors
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
BARBARA BACHMEIER, representing herself
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
DENNIS BRODIGAN, Director
Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Department Emergency Services
Palmer, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
TIM COLBATH, Co-founder and CEO
Alaska's Extended Life Animal Sanctuary
Nikiski, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
MATT GHO, representing himself
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the discussion regarding
lessons learned after the September windstorms.
ACTION NARRATIVE
10:03:16 AM
CHAIR BILL WIELECHOWSKI called the Senate State Affairs Standing
Committee meeting to order at 10:03 a.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Kookesh, Meyers, Giessel and Wielechowski.
^Hearing on Disaster Response and Preparedness - Focusing on
Lessons Learned from Recent Windstorms in Southcentral and
Interior Alaska.
10:03:54 AM
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced the business before the committee
would be to hear from various parties about disaster response
and preparedness, focusing on the lessons learned from the
recent windstorms in Southcentral and the Interior.
Representatives from from at least two electric utilities, a
phone and internet provider, the Municipality of Anchorage, and
the State of Alaska would offer testimony. Emergency response
personnel on the Kenai Peninsula and the MatSu Valley may also
offer testimony if their schedules permit. At noon, the focus
would shift to citizens who wanted to offer suggestions about
how to improve ways to prepare and respond to natural disasters
BRADLEY EVANS, CEO, Chugach Electric Association, Inc.
("Chugach"), introduced himself and informed the committee that
conducting "lessons learned" exercises was part of Chugach's
normal operations.
10:06:59 AM
PHIL STEYER, Director, Government Relations and Corporate
Communications, Chugach Electric Association, Inc. ("Chugach"),
observed that it had been a tough September. He relayed that the
original intent of the meeting was to discuss the September 4-5
storm window and subsequent activity, but since then three other
significant windstorms hit the Anchorage area.
The first storm was largely a cottonwood tree outage; the
Chugach system had thousands of cottonwoods tip over at the root
base. He surmised that tens of thousands went down in the
Anchorage Bowl. He explained that electric lines were engineered
to withstand forces from snow, ice, and wind, but not
necessarily to withstand a heavy, crashing cottonwood tree. He
displayed a graph that showed when and the number of customers
affected during the first wind event, and described the
preparations for the storm. Chugach held crews over, notified
staff and contractors, and brought the media into the power
control center to do a story. The storm hit Tuesday night and at
the peak about 31,000 customers lost power. About 85 percent of
those customers were reconnected within 24 hours.
MR. STEYER explained that Chugach prioritized its activities and
responded to 50-70 police and fire calls that first night. Other
than safety calls, Chugach applied resources to could get the
most customers back initially. Working from the generation point
outward to the customer, they first worked to get the primary
feeder lines from distribution substations back on line. The
outages declined sharply through the next day during which time
the initial assessment was done. A detailed assessment was done
after the winds died down and workers were able to enter densely
wooded areas safely. In a Thursday press conference, Mr. Evans
said that it would take days to restore power throughout the
system, and the last customers had power restored on Sunday
night. He noted that a Thursday bump in outages diverted
resources, but was the result of two events that could occur any
given day. A citizen dropped a tree on a line and a raised dump
truck box hit an overhead line.
10:12:48 AM
Twelve crews were working the night the storm hit and 20 crews
were working the next night. At the peak, 30 crews were in the
field working on restoration. Chugach kept the media apprised
throughout the process and answered more than 11,000 phone calls
on 54 incoming trunk lines. He acknowledged that there were
probably just as many calls that went unanswered.
MR. STEYER said that Chugach realized that customers were
frustrated for two reasons: first because it was difficult to
get through on the phone; and second because they didn't get an
answer about when their power would be restored. He displayed a
map of the DeBarr Substation feeder line number 152 to
illustrate why it wasn't possible to tell a customer when power
would be restored. Service locations that are fused taps off a
primary line were without power longer and when a tree was on a
service line, the customer waited even longer. He sympathized
with those customers who were frustrating to be the only one in
the neighborhood without power.
10:19:35 AM
MR. STEYER said that after the first storm, Chugach activated
new tools on its website, including an online report of a power
outage and a map of customer-reported outages. He noted that the
site linked to an ADN Compass article that discussed how Chugach
crews tackled the storm-related outages. He explained that the
online report gives customers three ways to identify the
location of the outage: phone number, name, or member number and
pin. These new tools were available and helpful when the
subsequent September storms hit. More trees went down in the
first storm, but all the storms caused similar distribution
problems.
He explained that crews can only clear trees from rights-of-way
or easements that Chugach has a legal right to clear. With the
exception of the "danger tree program," the company does not
have the right, without permission, to go deep onto properties
and clear trees. With permission from the property owner, the
certified arborist on staff can remove, at Chugach expense, a
tree that is in danger of falling into the right-of-way or
easement or onto a power line. Chugach removes between 8,000 and
10,000 dangerous trees every year.
10:25:18 AM
MR. STEYER said the online report capability certainly took the
pressure off the phone lines during the second and third storms.
During the second and third storms, the respective numbers of
online outage reports were 109 and 358. Total phone calls for
those storms were 3,570, as opposed to 11,170 for the first
storm. He noted that in addition to the new website, customers
were able to get information through Facebook. He opined that
Chugach did very well operationally in the field, but it could
have done better in keeping customers informed.
MR. STEYER thanked the legislature and administration for the
appropriation to automate the Hope substation. It will make it
easier to sectionalize problems and reduce response times.
He displayed a slide of a downed power line that crossed the
flooded Chuitna River near Tyonek. A cottonwood fell into the
line and the current worked the tree into the middle of the
river. He reiterated that it had been a tough September.
10:28:54 AM
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked if Chugach had seniors and the disabled
on a priority list to ensure their safety during emergencies.
MR. EVANS said the dispatchers tell people who call with
emergency reports to call 911. Chugach was sensitive to the
issue and tracked certain individuals but there was no guarantee
that they would be put at the head of the queue.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked if, because of the resent storms,
Chugach had identified any transmission or infrastructure needs.
MR. EVANS responded that Chugach would need to finish the final
analysis of the distribution system before it could provide a
list of projects to increase reliability during a similar storm.
10:33:01 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PETE PETERSEN asked what percentage of lines were
underground and if there were plans to switch more overhead
lines to underground. Constituents posed the question because
their utility bills include a surcharge for underground wires
even when the service was overhead.
MR. EVANS responded that the percentage of underground line
increased a little every year and Chugach spent more to bury
line than the surcharge brought in. He also observed that
burying power lines was just a partial solution. It could be
problematic in the winter when the ground was frozen.
MR. STEYER added that the Chugach system had about 2,000 miles
of line that included 500 miles was transmission line and 1,500
miles of distribution line. Fifty-five percent of the
distribution system was overhead and 45 percent was underground.
He explained that the 2 percent surcharge on customers' bills
stemmed from a municipal ordinance that intended to allow the
utilities to recover some costs and accelerate the pace of
converting to underground lines. Chugach raised a little more
than $3 million a year through the surcharge. A full explanation
of how the money is spent is on the website.
10:37:57 AM
SENATOR MEYER asked if it was problematic for Chugach when
people used their own generators during power outages.
MR. EVANS said not if the interconnect requirements were
followed carefully. The interconnect device isolates the
generator from the grid so there is no chance of back-feeding
power into the grid.
SENATOR GIESSEL asked if Chugach participated when the state did
tabletop exercises to simulate a disaster.
MR. EVANS said yes and his experience was that someone with much
higher authority than his would direction the operations during
a level IV event. He estimated that the September outages rose
to level III, which calls for invoking mutual aid from other
utilities. Chugach did that.
10:41:40 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK noted that a number of constituents were
irritated about the inability to get through on the phone. He
asked how many of the 54 incoming phone lines were dedicated to
customer calls.
MR. EVANS responded that all 54 were dedicated to incoming
customer calls; additional lines were used for inter-utility and
inter-agency calls.
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK said a neighbor suggested that Chugach use a
ski report style of message.
MR. EVANS said his personal preference for disaster
communications was the radio because it was generally the most
reliable. Streaming messages works, depending on the scope of
the outage. It would be cumbersome to report all 35 crew
locations in one streaming message.
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK extended thanks on behalf of the community.
MR. EVANS extended credit to the many unseen heroes who worked
behind the scenes to support the crews in the field.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI thanked Mr. Evans and Mr. Steyer, and
recognized Don Zoerb and Suzie Deuser from Matanuska Electric
Association.
10:45:39 AM
DON ZOERB, Assistant General Manager and CFO, Matanuska Electric
Association (MEA), explained that MEA was largely a retail
distribution utility that was formed in 1941. It serves 58,000
metered locations with 4,100 miles of line. About 2,400 miles is
overhead line and the rest is underground. The service area
covers the Parks Highway from Eagle River past Talkeetna and the
Glenn Highway to Lions Head. Significant weather events result
in dispersed outages and travel time is a factor in the response
plans.
At the worst of the storm, MEA had 18 crews in the field working
on 23 distribution feeders and 5 substations that were out of
service. At one point, 14,000 customers lost service when a tree
fell into the Eklutna transmission line. Although that was
relatively easy to rectify, the effect of outages at the
transmission level can be much more significant than at the
distribution level, he said.
MR. ZOERB emphasized that in any significant event the number
one priority is safety. It was therefore difficult to predict
where a crew would be next or when individual services would be
restored. Crews were always subject to relocation to accommodate
public threats.
Matanuska Electric Association was very pleased with its
response to the outage because of lessons learned from earlier
storm events. Over the last three years, MEA upgraded the
service vehicle fleet and aggressively accelerated the right-of-
way clearing program. In the last year, the company put laptops
and an automated mapping system in vehicles, and installed a new
state of the art phone system. There was plenty of notice of the
recent storm and the outage center was fully staffed to take
incoming calls. However, MEA prefers people report outages using
the automated system, which communicates directly to dispatch
the location of an outage, based on the incoming caller ID. A
caller can still talk directly to a person if needed.
Significantly, MEA had functional capabilities in place on both
Facebook and Twitter prior to the event. The public affairs
staff used this venue to push information out to the public,
which was successful and appreciated. MEA also implemented a
pilot smart meter system from Sutton to Lions Head. It needs
more work, but the idea is to identify problems and deploy
resources more quickly and efficiently.
He explained that following any major outage, all staff that was
involved sit down and critically analyze what worked, what
didn't work, and what could have been done better. An issue that
emerged this last time was that all computer connections and
phone service was lost between the district offices and the
Palmer headquarters. The cell network continued to work and that
was a lesson learned for next time. MEA will have charged
cellphones in all remote locations at all times. A matter of
ongoing debate is how to deploy the workforce more effectively.
There isn't a single correct answer, but it is clear that people
need rest and it's more efficient to work in the daylight.
MR. ZOERB summarized the all hands event. MEA had engineers in
the field scoping out work ahead of the crews; meter readers
guided contract crews around the system; warehouse workers
delivered materials directly to crews in the field; and pallets
of prepackaged kits of items commonly needed during an outage
were ready and waiting in the warehouse. He concluded that the
MEA system was fairly well hardened; the weak spots had been
identified and the problems remediated.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI thanked Mr. Zoerb and recognized Russell
Girten from Alaska Communication Systems (ACS). He noted that
both ACS and Anchorage Municipal Light & Power submitted written
testimony.
10:59:34 AM
RUSSELL GIRTEN, Vice President of Network Service Delivery,
Alaska Communication Systems (ACS), introduced himself and Ted
Moninski, Legislative Affairs Consultant for ACS. He said his
team looks after the management of the voice, data, and Internet
networks statewide, and prepares for future events. He noted
that ACS customers were primarily affected by the loss of power
because of the storm, not a telecommunication service outage. He
explained that the ACS crisis management team constantly tested
the crisis management program for preparedness and received
support from the ACS executive team in Anchorage. When a
critical event occurs, issues related to public and customer
communications are transferred to the backup network management
center in Hillsboro, Oregon.
MR. GIRTEN said the emergency response plan was enacted at about
11:20 a.m. on September 4. Formal internal communications
processes were engaged and some employees were released before
the end of their shift to ensure that they were adequately
rested and ready for action when the storm hit. The first storm-
related reports came from Internet customers in Seldovia at 4:05
p.m. Voice and Internet customers from Homer experienced issues
at about 6:45 p.m. These were the result of commercial power
outages and technicians were dispatched with portable
generators.
The first impact that ACS saw in the Anchorage Bowl was at about
7:45 p.m. when wireless data service was disrupted due to a
commercial power outage. Ten wireless and wire line sites were
out of service by 10:00 p.m. The ACS headquarters and the Denali
office also experienced commercial power disruptions at 10:00
p.m. Services related to internal communications and customer
communications were sent to the Hillsboro, Oregon location.
The Denali outage was particularly important because visibility
into wireless and wire-line networks was lost. The failure was
unexpected and ACS learned some things from that experience. The
North Wire Center, which serves most of downtown Anchorage,
experienced a power disruption shortly thereafter. That location
serves as the municipality's emergency operations center, and
the ACS generator did not engage as expected. Batteries and
other power systems were fully functioning so services were not
disrupted. Technicians replaced a faulty fuel flow restrictor
and AC power was restored to the site just before 2:00 a.m.
Shortly before 1:00 a.m. on September 5, ACS received word that
many locations on Tudor Road were without power. Of particular
concern was the wireless and wire line service to Providence
Hospital and surrounding area. Crews installed a generator to
provide power to the hospital and no services were disrupted. At
about 4:45 p.m. ACS responded to a similar power disruption in
the Mountain View area.
Facilities engineers began work on generators serving the ACS
headquarters at about 3:00 a.m. and restored power at about 4:45
a.m. When those repairs were complete, a full assessment of the
network indicated that about 30 percent of the wireless network
in the Anchorage area was without power and internet connections
in the eastern, midtown, and Dimond areas were hard hit. Most of
those events went unnoticed by customers due to overlapping and
redundant systems.
ACS voice services are DC powered so voice service customers had
continuous service. However, there were some isolated outages
when trees fell on access services for individual subscribers.
None of the 911 services were affected at any time. Power was
restored to all sites by the end of the day on September 7.
On September 5, the Anchorage-based call centers received 1,169
calls. Further investigation was required on 589 of those calls.
Sixty ACS customers experienced an outage-related issue and many
had to reset their equipment. The storm may have affected 30,000
ACS customers, and it directly cost the company between $250,000
and $300,000. The upgrades to the crisis management program that
ACS is evaluating because of the storm include the service
arrangement at the North Wire Center; the network connections
used by the Anchorage network management center; and
standardization of generator connections. There are ongoing
concerns about the integrity of the rail bed between Anchorage
and Fairbanks.
MR. GIRTEN said ACS was well prepared for the storm because of
the significant commitment of its engineering and customer
service teams to deliver quality service to Alaskans.
Preparedness was also a result of the federal funding to support
the delivery of high quality service in Alaska. He expressed
appreciation to the legislature for its support in maintaining
these critical programs.
11:10:11 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK commented that a number of people were not
aware that the phone jack into the wall does not use power.
MR. GIRTEN said he'd incorporate that recommendation in future
communications.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI thanked Mr. Girten and recognized Dawn
Brantley from the Municipality of Anchorage.
11:11:16 AM
DAWN BRANTLEY, Emergency Programs Manager, Anchorage Office of
Emergency Management, Municipality of Anchorage, said her duties
include emergency planning and preparedness, community outreach
and public information.
KEVIN SPILLERS, Director, Anchorage Office of Emergency
Management (OEM), Municipality of Anchorage, said he oversees
the emergency operations center. He said Ms. Brantley would
provide context and an overview of OEM's response during the
"great cottonwood outage of 2012."
11:12:32 AM
MS. BRANTLEY clarified the roles and responsibilities of the
Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and the Emergency
Operations Center. The OEM is a department within the
municipality that conducts city emergency preparedness and
planning activities on a day-to-day basis. The OEC is both the
physical coordination center for emergency and disaster response
operations, and the group of municipal employees and partner
organization liaisons that serve as staff in the EOC during
response operations.
The EOC is activated in response to an event that potentially
threatens life or safety, and exceeds the capacity of responding
agencies day-to-day resources and capabilities. It coordinates
the response activities of the municipality, working behind the
scenes to support the lead agency's response. Trained municipal
employees or liaisons from the appropriate agencies fill the 48
functional positions. When an event occurs, the OEM director or
city administration determines the appropriate scaled response,
according to the municipal emergency operations plan.
Response operations level I occurs when a situation or threat
requires increased public information and has the potential for
agencies to take coordinated actions. If activated, the EOC
would monitor situations and conditions to determine if there
were mass care needs or support for first responders was
required. This level of activation could result from an
approaching significant weather event, the potential for a
public health situation, or the plausible threat of a terrorist
event.
Response operations level II occurs when a situation or threat
requires a partial activation of the EOC. EOC hours of operation
may extend beyond the regular workday to monitor mass care and
first responder support needs. Staffing will likely be
supplemented by other agencies during a level II activation.
Response operations level III occurs when a major situation or
threat requires a full activation of the EOC on a 24-hour
rotational basis with all trained municipal staff either
participating or on call. The consideration of a disaster
declaration does not automatically necessitate a level III
activation.
The EOC responds to and assists with mass care needs, not
individual assistance. Social service agencies provide
individual assistance on both a day-to-day basis and during
emergencies. The municipality becomes involved when care needs
exceed the local Red Cross and other agencies' ability to
provide individual assistance.
MS. BRANTLEY said that on Sunday September 2, the National
Weather Service notified OEM of a forecasted severe wind event
with the potential for power outages, and OEM began monitoring
the situation. Other municipal agencies were alerted. Based on
significant changes in the forecast, the OEM established
response operations level I and the emergency public information
network (EPIN) was activated on Tuesday. Other municipal
departments and EPIN were updated and the public was notified
through public information channels. The OEM monitored the
situation and stayed actively engaged with the National Weather
Service, Anchorage office. As the storm struck overnight,
Anchorage fire, police and 911 dispatch increased staff and
responded to the escalating needs of the city. AFD prioritized
calls and responses with life safety being the top priority,
followed by property protection, then environmental
conservation.
11:20:05 AM
The Anchorage police dispatch center saw unprecedented call
volume. In a typical 24-hour period, APD dispatch receives 450-
600 911 calls. On September 4 and 5 the respective numbers were
1,368 and 961, although many were not serious life and death
emergencies. The longest average answer delay was just under two
minutes. Two additional dispatchers were called in overnight to
assist with the 911 calls and public works brought on extra
crews to remove debris from municipal property and drainage
areas.
The OEM staffed the EOC beginning at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, and
operated on extended hours throughout the weekend of September
8-9. The state emergency operations center was notified of the
activation early Wednesday morning, September 5. During the day,
OEM monitored conditions and received regular updates from the
weather service, the utility companies, the city manager, AFD
and 911 dispatch, area hospitals, public works crews, and the
media. Information about the municipal response to the storm and
power outage was provided through the media, social media, and
the OEM webpage. By 7 a.m. September 5, city government had been
restored to normal operations following the power outage.
A new webpage on muni.org outlined the aggregated information
about the windstorm, other weather events, power outages and
additional helpful information including a list of who to call
for common problems or questions. The Alaska 2-1-1 call center
was activated during normal business hours to answer questions
from the public and help with referrals to social service
agencies as needed. The Fairview Recreation Center opened on
Sunday morning as a day-use shelter, because some individuals
still were without power. It saw no activity that day.
The OEM conducted a preliminary damage assessment, beginning
Saturday September 8 with assistance from APD, AFD, and the MOA
property appraisal department. The agencies conducted extensive
windshield surveys and provided the documentation to the OEM.
Individuals were also able to report damage to their homes and
businesses through an online survey. Estimates of damage and
response costs were compiled from departments, utilities, and
hospitals for the preliminary damage assessment.
11:23:49 AM
Throughout the series of storms and power outages, the OEM
learned how important it is for the utilities to be actively
engaged with the public. The OEM passed along all information it
received. Over the last two weeks, the OEM Facebook page reached
over 18,000 people with information about the storms.
This series of storms was also a learning experience for the
public about the importance of emergency preparedness. The OEM
educated more than 3,600 Anchorage residents in 2011, and has
118 trained leaders for emergency watch neighborhood programs.
This is important because neighbors are the immediate source of
help after an emergency.
MS. BRANTLEY stated that OEM and EOC are trained to support and
coordinate response and that is exactly what happened during the
September windstorms and power outages.
11:25:57 AM
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked if the OEM was involved in discussions
regarding a declaration of emergency.
MR. SPILLERS responded that the type of damage and economic
impact was evaluated and the municipality decided it would not
issue an emergency proclamation or ask for state assistance.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked what procedures were in place to help
seniors and vulnerable individuals during an emergency event.
MS. BRANTLEY explained that the OEM actively teaches personal
preparedness so anyone who needs special assistance will know to
contact family members, friends, or neighbors who can help. The
OEM also worked with the Voluntary Organizations Active in
Disaster (VOAD) and the state to identify volunteer
organizations that could assist individuals who were disabled,
seniors, or low income with tree and debris removal. Alaska 2-11
screened calls, gathered information, and connected individuals
who needed assistance with the volunteer groups. The disaster
registry program was not activated because it is an evacuation
assistance database.
MR. SPILLERS added that it would be difficult to maintain an
accurate database on everyone who may have some sort of
condition, and it wasn't an effective use of resources to ask
first responders to check on individuals. It is better to rely
on neighborhood watch, neighbors, churches, and community
groups, once conditions are safe.
11:29:19 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PETERSON asked if shelters such as the Fairview
Center would have opened sooner if the weather had been colder.
MR. SPILLERS answered yes; weather conditions are carefully
monitored.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI said he supports neighbors helping neighbors,
but it's something to think about for the future, because there
were a lot of seniors and vulnerable people who were very
isolated and without power for many days.
SENATOR MEYER asked what level of emergency would trigger a
request for assistance from the state. He further questioned
whether the National Guard might have helped remove trees so
that Chugach Electric could more readily tend to the power
lines.
MR. SPILLERS explained that a utility that needs assistance
makes a request specifically through the OEM, who goes to the
state. The OEM was proactive in asking that question and the
answer was always that the response was within the utility's
capability to respond. When there is a heightened level of
response, OEM always notifies the state that assistance might be
requested.
SENATOR MEYER asked if the Anchorage area was at risk for
flooding.
MR. SPILLERS said the OEM received several calls in that regard,
mostly because of clogged drainage systems. Problems in the
Chugach area were relayed to state highway personnel. Public
works is proactive in clearing debris before ice forms and
causes other problems.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI thanked Ms. Brantley and Mr. Spillers and
recognized Ray Faust from the Anchorage Mayor's Task Force on
Public Safety.
11:33:56 AM
RAY FAUST, Member, Mayor's Task Force on Public Safety,
Municipality of Anchorage, said the task force was primarily
addressing the difficulty the public had getting information
about when their power would be restored. He suggested
consideration be given to using the AM radio to make public
service and emergency announcements, because it was still the
most reliable means of communication. He said probably 80
percent of neighborhoods pooled resources and helped one
another, but many people either don't know their neighbors or
don't have the ability to pool resources. He suggested
developing plans to deploy emergency power to those small
enclaves when needed, because it was more than just an
inconvenience for some people to lose all their food in a power
outage.
MR. FAUST suggested consideration be given to using high
definition satellite technology to identify downed trees and
other obstructions instead of waiting for a report from someone
on the ground. It certainly worked after the Haiti disaster to
quickly identify ingress and egress routes.
11:39:08 AM
SENATOR DAVIS joined the committee.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI thanked Mr. Faust and recognized Michael
O'Hara from the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency
Management.
MICHAEL O'HARA, Deputy Director, Division of Homeland
Security/Emergency Management (DHS&EM), Department of Military &
Veterans Affairs (DMVA), stated that the mission of DHS&EM is to
protect lives and properties from hazards and provide rapid
recovery from disasters and events. He delivered a PowerPoint
describing the ways and to what the division responds to
disasters.
Hazards to which DHS&EM responds - Earthquakes, floods,
volcanos, severe storms such as those recently experienced,
tsunamis, wildfires, avalanches, terrorism, pandemic influenza,
and others.
State department responsibilities for hazards and threats -
DCCED for economic issues and flood insurance for communities;
DEC oil and hazardous materials; DHSS for human and health
issues; DNR for natural resources and wildfire; DOTPF for public
works and roads; DPS for search and rescue; and DMVA for
coordinating natural disaster events and terrorism.
Partnerships - Alaska Partnership for Infrastructure Protection
(APIP), communities, boroughs, local emergency planning
committees, Native corporations, federal emergency management,
other state agencies, National Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, Federal
Homeland Security, Alaska Command, faith-based organizations and
others.
Sections within DHS&EM - Preparedness, Operations, Planning,
Analysis, Mitigation, Disaster assistance - the recovery element
for public assistance and individual assistance, and Program
support,
Preparedness - Citizens are advised to be prepared to be on
their own for seven days. The windstorm event was an opportunity
for individuals, families, and neighbors to better prepare to
"take care of our own." When one family is better prepared, it
frees emergency services for those who really need the help.
Outreach programs - The website www.ready.alaska.gov has very
good programs including a family emergency planning template, a
7 day emergency supply kit list, and emergency go kits. He
highlighted the responder ready program, which facilitates
responder preparedness. Other outreach examples include
earthquake information, tsunami ready programs, tsunami hazard
models; evacuation models; and earthquake cottage simulator.
DHS&EM facilitates training programs for local communities and
conducts simulation exercises. He highlighted an Alaska Shield
cold weather exercise last winter with the municipality that
looked at sheltering opportunities and refueling capabilities of
emergency generators. There are also state plans for response.
He noted that Governor Parnell put forth several initiatives for
catastrophic emergency cold weather power systems, emergency
water purification systems, and a catastrophic food assurance
program.
11:48:17 AM
Exercise and outreach - The State Emergency Operations Center
responds when a community initially calls for help. It has
satellite communications and 24-hour capability to alert and
warn communities and communicate with the weather service and
tsunami warning centers and utility operations centers.
Situation reports on the website give current updates on
whatever events are going on in Alaska. The state worked with
Mr. Spillers from the Anchorage Emergency Operations Center to
coordinate response and resources, but it did not overtake the
local community. All disasters are local. It's a matter of
sovereignty, and the state expects the same when it asks FEMA to
help with a state disaster. Sometimes a community will ask for
rotation relief at its emergency operations center. That is the
current experience with flood conditions in the MatSu and Kenai
boroughs; an incident management team from the DNR forestry
division is providing relief.
Disaster declaration process - The municipalities did not
declare a disaster emergency for the wind event, but certain
communities in the MatSu Borough required additional assistance.
Kenai and the Kenai Peninsula Borough declared disasters and
requested state assistance because of flooding. Some of that was
augmentation of emergency operation centers.
Damage assessment - DHS&EM is going down to the peninsula today
to start advising on damage assessment, although things are
still in response mode. Governor Parnell last Friday issued a
state disaster declaration and the preliminary damage assessment
will help determine a threshold for requesting federal
resources. At this point, there have been no federal government
response requests and no life safety issues. The current
situation is evacuation and sheltering.
Social media - This is an area of significant improvement in
communications. The municipality and borough Facebook pages are
providing up to date critical information.
Planning analysis - DHS&EM provides emergency operations and
evacuation plans for local communities.
Local government responsibilities - DHS&EM supports local
communities in their response to local disasters.
Local community planning - the three basics are emergency
operations plans for locals, evacuations plans, and hazard
mitigation plans. DHS&EM also assesses the movement of goods and
services throughout Alaska as it affects infrastructure.
Mitigation - $1 dollar spent in mitigation saves $4.
Disaster assistance - There are both public assistance and
individual assistance programs in the event that the state
declares a disaster. It helps communities rebuild critical
infrastructure and helps individuals return to some semblance of
normalcy. The legislature several years ago increased the
maximum individual amount to $15,000.
Program support - DHS&EM does grant management and provides
administrative support of departmental programs.
MR. O'HARA offered to answer questions.
11:55:43 AM
SENATOR GIESSEL commented that other public groups would benefit
from the individual preparedness presentation that DHS&EM gave
recently in Kenai.
MR. O'HARA said DHS&EM takes full advantage of non-life-
threatening events to get individuals and communities to reflect
on disaster preparedness. DHS&EM provides the tools by which
individuals, neighborhoods, and communities can be better
prepared. Twice a year DHS&EM brings local community leadership
and emergency managers into Anchorage to discuss emergency
preparedness and help write plans. Mass medical service is the
focus of next week's conference.
SENATOR GIESSEL asked when the last statewide tabletop exercise
for a major disaster took place.
MR. O'HARA said the last segmented Alaska Shield exercises in
2008 and 2010 were an energy disruption in cold weather and a
response to a seismic event. The 2014 Alaska Shield is a full-
scale exercise in March to tie in with the 50th anniversary of
the 1964 earthquake. Plans have been underway for more than a
year for the March field exercise with tabletop exercises to
discuss what a '64 earthquake would do to the current population
and critical infrastructure.
12:00:14 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI thanked Mr. O'Hara and recessed the
meeting.
12:10:10 PM
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI reconvened the meeting and recognized Ms.
Bitzer.
12:10:25 PM
KAREN BITZER, Director, Alaska 2-1-1, said this was the only 2-
1-1 in the nation that was co-located with a municipal emergency
operations center. It is a valuable partnership. She said they
were very active during the response to the windstorm in
Anchorage, the MatSu Valley, and Kenai. In the past, they
assisted with emergencies statewide such as "Juneau unplugged"
and flooding in Eagle.
The windstorm provided an opportunity for Alaska 2-1-1 to test
its skills and they appreciated the cooperation with the
emergency operations center. They sat in on weather service
updates and were able to understand what Chugach Electric was
experiencing. She noted that the Chugach website was very
helpful and that they were able to assist with the online outage
reports for individuals who did not have Internet access.
She said their call volume is typically 80-90 calls per day, and
this increased to 670 calls in a three-day period. They
communicated with the Red Cross, referred calls about food
safety to the Cooperative Extension Service, provided
information about where to buy dry ice, and worked with a local
food pantry that stocked ice for those who couldn't afford to
buy it. They generally worked with vulnerable populations and
sometimes referred them to other agencies.
She concluded that Alaska 2-1-1 works every day to assist with
health and human services and is poised and ready to assist
during a disaster.
SENATOR GIESSEL asked what their funding source is.
MS. BITZER said they receive funding from grants, AHFC, the
Mental Health Trust, the governor's budget this year, and the
United Way.
REPRESENTATIVE PETERSON asked if there was a plan to make people
more aware of Alaska 2-1-1.
MS. BITZER replied they work intently to let the public know
that 2-1-1 is a "go to" number. They are doing additional
outreach this year on the Kenai Peninsula and Tanana Chiefs
Conference, about 12 percent of calls now come from the MatSu
area and they've been asked to do work in the Nome region. They
also work with police dispatchers
12:17:20 PM
MARY JONES, Coordinator, East Side Seniors, said these 30
seniors meet twice a month to do educational, service, and
social activities. A number of agencies talked to the group
about emergency planning and the need to have on hand supplies
to last for three days. She went online to get the supply
listings, but could only find $90 and $100 kits. People who live
on $500 a month can't afford that, and they were very isolated
during the storm. Four members ended up in the hospital. She
said the storm was a wakeup call and the members decided they
need help getting together the fundamentals of an emergency kit
and a better answer to how to get help. "We need answers at the
trench level, the ground level. What do we do for those first
three days and how do we notify anybody that we help?"
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI agreed that the legislature and the
administration needed to work on this.
12:23:37 PM
BARBARA BACHMEIER, representing herself, emphasized the
importance of being prepared and learning what went right and
wrong during the September windstorms. She said she was a write-
in candidate for State House District 13 and learned first-hand
the dreadful experiences her potential constituents experienced.
Many people lost power for up to five days and, therefore, the
contents of their fully stocked freezers. This was a significant
loss, and to keep this from happening again required some
serious outside the box thinking. She suggested that military
resources could be used in the future to provide emergency power
and could have been used recently to remove trees that fell on
roads and power lines. She agreed with previous testimony that
AM radio was a reliable source for public service messages.
12:28:57 PM
DENNIS BRODIGAN, Director, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Department
of Emergency Services, Palmer, AK, said he was asked to give an
update on the flooding in the MatSu Borough. He relayed that
both valleys experienced unusually high amounts of rainfall and
diverse flooding with significant property and infrastructure
damage. The borough conducted several evacuations and closed 14
roads over the last week. The borough declared a disaster on
September 20 and asked for state assistance, which the Governor
granted on September 21. Shortly after evacuating the village of
Talkeetna, the borough asked for state support from the State
Emergency Operations Center for a type II incident team to
relieve beleaguered local EOC personnel. He expressed
appreciation for the state assistance.
All the rivers and creeks in the area were from one to five feet
into flood stage. Fifty people were physically evacuated from
homes and four shelters were set up, although only 11 people
took advantage of them. Three structures washed away and there's
been significant infrastructure damage. Bridges were
particularly hard hit and the Alaska Rail Road lost about 500
feet of rail along Gold Creek north of Talkeetna.
The borough is transitioning from response to recovery and is
working with the type II team today to assess the disaster. He
reiterated thanks to the state.
12:32:53 PM
TIM COLBATH, Co-founder and CEO, Alaska's Extended Life Animal
Sanctuary, Nikiski, AK, said he would address emergency
sheltering and the federally mandated accommodation of people
with pets and service animals. He said that more than one third
of Alaska households own pets and more than 50 percent of those
pet owners will not evacuate or seek shelter without their pets.
He highlighted that the Pets Evacuation and Transportations
Standards Act passed in 2006 and that Alaska had made little
change in practices for emergency sheltering. Only the Kenai
Peninsula Borough had an emergency sheltering draft plan that
considers people with their pets. He said that Alaska's Extended
Life Animal Sanctuary stood ready to help with compliance in
Alaska, which by FEMA standards was compulsory by January 1,
2014.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI remarked that he was unaware of that
interesting information.
12:37:48 PM
MATT GHO, representing himself, Anchorage, AK, said he would
like to talk about using city resources to remove storm debris
from private land. He explained that he helped a neighbor cut up
and move debris from five trees that had fallen on the
neighbor's property. He heard that four forestry trucks were
being deployed in Anchorage to help remove debris, but when he
called city officials, he was told that city resources would
only be used to remove debris in the rights-of-way, parks, and
streams.
MR. GHO said it would be more helpful if the municipality acted
as though it was on the same team as its citizens. Everyone
experienced the same disaster and it only made sense to use
available resources to help people in need. He tried to work a
compromise with city officials, but got the same unhelpful
response. He concluded that he would like to advocate for the
city to be a better team player and use its resources to help
people in need.
At ease from 12:41 p.m. to 12:51 p.m.
12:52:01 PM
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI found no further testimony and adjourned the
Senate State Affairs Standing Committee meeting at 12:52 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|