🔵🔵 Delaware County is offering the Shelter Field Guide training on Thursday, January 23, 2025, from 9 am-4 pm ET at the Delaware County Emergency Services Training Center, 1600 Calcon Hook Road, Sharon Hill, PA 19079, Building 1 Room 102. The Shelter Field Guide training is a practical introduction to shelter operations. Topics include accessibility, safety, health, and feeding. The class will be taught by Joe Geleta, Director of Emergency Management for the New Jersey Department of Human Services. Lunch is on your own. Questions: Contact Julia Borek, Delaware County Mass Care Lead, borekj@co.delaware.pa.us or ☎️484-926-4899. Register.
🔵🔵 FEMA and NOAA will present the webinar: “What Every Emergency Manager Should Know about Space Weather Storms” on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, from 1 – 2:30 PM ET. This presentation will focus on solar storms and just how impactful they could be to today’s society with our reliance on critical technological infrastructure. This presentation will provide information about space weather and solar storms of concern, emergency management and other critical infrastructure concerns, and the decision-support and warning efforts made by the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) to inform officials and operators about space weather storms and the impacts that could result. Who should attend? State, Local, Tribal and Federal Emergency Managers, Private Sector, Community and Faith-based Organizations and other Non-Profits active in disasters. Registration: https://fema.cosocloud.com/spaceweather2025/event/registration.html
🔵🔵 You are invited to attend the Penn State mini-symposium, “Preparedness in Rural Communities: National and State/Local Perspectives and Plans,” on January 30 and 31, 2025, from 11 am-2 pm, ET. Speakers will include representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (US Department of Health and Human Services), Appalachian Translational Research Network, Center for Rural PA, PA Department of Health, among others. For more information and to register to attend, please visit: https://web.cvent.com/event/054984db-fbb6-4081-89cb-e234b1e6a141/summary.
🔵🔵 PEMA will host the national Center for Disaster Preparedness’s presentation of PER-420: Understanding Climate Risk – Hazard, Vulnerability, and Community Resilience on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, fron 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM ET. The course will be offered at PEMA Headquarters – 1310 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110, or via Zoom. This performance-level, instructor-led training will provide participants with an overview of climate change and community resilience. This course will review available tools, such as the Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT) and the National Risk Index (NRI). It will describe how to use these tools to inform planning. Case studies and scenarios will be presented for learners to understand lessons learned regarding preparation for supply chain management in a changing climate. Learn more and register.
🔵🔵 FEMA is hosting two webinars (Feb 4 and Feb 6) to cover the capabilities of the Resource Inventory System (RIS) and show participants how to use RIS to track, inventory, and prepare resources ahead of a disaster and provide a demo of using RIS when responding to a disaster. The webinars will be held on February 4th, 2025, from 1-2 PM ET, and on February 6th, 2025, from 1-2 PM ET. RIS is a centralized, secure, and cloud-hosted resource inventory solution for use by the community in building and strengthening resource management preparedness. RIS enables organizations and users to identify and inventory their resources consistently with National Incident Management System (NIMS) resource typing definitions and National Qualification System (NQS) positions. In addition to providing a basic overview of RIS and its functionality, the webinar will cover the following:
- Preparing for disasters from the perspective of a RIS user and a non-RIS user
- The benefits of using RIS
- How to access RIS and other tools using PrepToolkit
🔵🔵 New Mexico Tech presents an in-person training: “Home-Made Explosives: Awareness, recognition, Response” on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, from 8 AM to 4 PM, at the Wayne County Emergency Management Agency, 43 Volunteer Drive, Honesdale, PA 18431. The course is designed to provide emergency first with the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize and respond to incidents involving Homemade Explosives (HME). To register, send an email to cas@norcopa.gov.
🔵🔵 FEMA will present the webinar: Extreme Winter Weather Preparedness, on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 1:00 PM ET. This presentation offers a comprehensive overview of winter-related hazards and their associated impacts, including but not limited to:
- observed and forecast snow
- snowmelt and rain-on-snow
- freezing rain and ice accumulation
- extreme cold temperature and wind chill
- river ice and ice jam formation
The session will also describe National Weather Service (NWS) winter-related products, providing attendees with valuable tools and insights to enhance operational preparedness and response during winter-related incidents. Register.
🔵🔵 PA DHS will present a Shelter Field Guide Training on Thursday, February 13, 2025, from 9 am-3 pm ET, at the Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center, 101 Champ Blvd, Manheim, PA 17545. Lunch will be provided. The Shelter Field Guide was developed to assist shelter staff in the administration and operation of congregate care shelters. It is a supplement to the Shelter Fundamentals and Shelter Manager programs. It is recommended for anyone who may be working in a mass care shelter including agencies that may act in a “supporting role”. It is also a useful tool for just-in-time training for shelter support staff. Operating emergency shelters helps communities respond to disasters. The Shelter Field Guide helps organizations without prior disaster experience establish and maintain shelters. This guide provides a basic overview of shelter operations and is written for people who may manage a shelter. The TARGET AUDIENCE for this course is PA DHS Disaster Human Services Team Members, Shelter Workers, Disaster Responders, First Responders, and other staff who may assist with disaster sheltering. Registration is available on TRAIN.
🔵🔵 New Mexico Tech presents an in-person training: “Home-Made Explosives: Awareness, recognition, Response” on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, from 8 AM to 4 PM, at the Northampton County Emergency Management Agency, 100 Gracedale Ave, Nazareth, PA 18064. The course is designed to provide emergency first with the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize and respond to incidents involving Homemade Explosives (HME). To register, send an email to cas@norcopa.gov.
🔵🔵 PA DHS is presenting the webinar: “Managing the Behavioral Health Challenges of Migration, Emergency Evacuation and Deportation,” on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM ET. Steve Crimando, Homeland Security Human Factors Institute, will be the instructor. Steve says that “no one who lives through stressful migration or violent conflict is untouched by the experience.” Register.
🔵🔵 The Northeast PA Regional Task Force is sponsoring 2 New Mexico Tech classes on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at the Lackawanna County EMA Building, 30 Valley View Dr, Eynon, PA 18403 –
- Prevention of Bombing Incidents – 8 AM – 12 Noon ET
- Response to Bombing Incidents – 12 Noon – 4 PM ET
This is considered 1 full day of training; you do not need to register for both. The noon meal will be provided by the Task Force at no charge to participants who attend both sessions. To register send, name, email and contact number to cas@norcopa.gov.. Please put PBI/RBI in the subject line.
🔵🔵 The Pacific ADA Center will present the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) event, Beyond Compliance: Equity, Access, and the ADA Virtual Conference 2025 on March 11 and 12, 2025 on Zoom to hear from experts on a wide range of ADA-related topics. Sponsorship opportunities will be available. Registration information and more coming soon! Visit the conference website for up-to-date information!
🔵🔵 The Northeast PA Regional Task Force is presenting MGT 335 – Event Security Planning for Public Safety Professionals on March 25 and 26, 2025, at the Monroe County EMA Building, 100 Gypsum Road, Stroudsburg, PA 18360, 8 AM – 5 PM each day. MGT 335 is a DHS/FEMA-certified, tuiton-free, 16-hour course designed to educate small and rural community public safety personnel, as well as local officials, regarding security concerns and considerations involved with planning any event. This course enables participants to recognize and plan adequate strategies and security measures to prevent or mitigate security incidents which may occur during scheduled events. This course reinforces the importance and magnitude of security planning required to execute a safe and effective event regardless of the size. Learn more and register.
🔵🔵 The Northeast PA Regional Task Force is presenting AWR: 209 – Working with the Media: A Course for Rural First Responders on Thursday, March 27, 2025, from 8 AM to 4 PM ET, at the Wayne County Emergency Operations Center, 43 Volunteer Drive, Honesdale, PA 18431. AWR 209 is a DHS/FEMA-certified, 8-hour, tuition-free course designed to provide rural first responders with the skills and knowledge to quickly adopt the role of public information officer (PIO) if/when needed and to communicate with the public through the media. Many rural first responder organizations do not have a full or part-time PIO on staff. Learn more and register.
🔵🔵 The Lehigh Emergency Services Training Academy (LESTA) was established to coordinate the delivery of training to all fire and rescue services, EMS and Law Enforcement within Lehigh County, PA. Through partnerships with several public safety training organizations, LESTA seeks to provide high-quality programs for firefighters and rescue personnel and is committed to meeting the training needs of all first responders in Lehigh County. Out of county students: It is LESTA’s policy not to turn away out of county students if in-county (LEHIGH) students are given priority. Read the latest Training Newsletter.
🔵🔵 You are invited to plan to attend the 3rd Annual Lehigh Valley Emergency Services Conference. This event will provide you an excellent chance to interact with key decision makers from Pennsylvania’s Task Force Regions, County EMA Coordinators, Communications/9-1-1 Centers, Local Emergency Planning Committees, Special Operations Teams, emergency volunteers, government officials, school officials and health care organizations. When: March 27 – 29, 2025, 8 AM to 4 PM each day. Where: DeSales University 2755 Station Ave Center Valley PA. Website: www.lvemaconference.com. Learn more.
🔵🔵 The National Center for Disaster Preparedness has released AWR-433-W: Climate Literacy for Emergency Managers. This awareness-level, free, web-based training will give learners an overview of climate change and how it relates to emergency management. The course will review the root causes and address climate change’s impacts on communities. Additionally, risk communication messaging strategies around climate change will be shared. It is a 90-minute to two-hour web-based training. This training can be completed on your own time and provide knowledge geared for your role. Register.
🔵🔵 You can read the National Center for Disaster Preparedness’ Training Newsletter here. You can also enroll in their courses at this site. Among the courses offered are:
- Mass Care Shelter and Re-location trainings
- Understanding Climate Change and Social Vulnerability in Disaster Management
- Understanding Climate Risk – Hazard, Vulnerability, and Community Resilience
🔵🔵 FEMA has made available the Trauma-Informed Disaster Response Course for individuals and teams involved in disaster response and recovery efforts. This course aims to leverage existing capabilities, build on emotional intelligence and present new techniques. There are three video lessons and a guidebook that teaches about trauma, trauma-informed care techniques, and ways for staff to take care of themselves in disaster recovery work. The course is self-paced and available here.
🔵🔵 You can access the Bucks County Community College’s Training Catalog here.