message from the president, david palmer | emergency response planning and management, inc.

As we approach our 20th year of operations, it is a good opportunity to both look back over the firm’s previous projects and programs, as well as to look forward to the many challenges now facing the emergency management profession.

In a profession that has and still is undergoing profound changes, I believe that both public and private emergency managers need to reflect on the challenges that have been confronted and overcome. We should do this to recognize what has been accomplished, and to ensure that we apply the same dedication, urgency, and creativity to emergency preparedness needs of today and tomorrow. The lessons of the past will serve us well, but only if we use our experience to shape the programs and concepts needed for tomorrow.

Since erp&m was established in 1985, perhaps the only word that has been constant for the emergency management profession was “change.” In the late 1980’s, the Federal government was coming to terms with its role in emergency response and the operational concepts incorporated into the Federal Response Plan. State agencies were actively developing their own response concepts to match the Federal Emergency Support Functions, and to encourage local governments to follow their direction.

As the years passed, “ESF” became a common term throughout the profession, to the benefit of greatly improved coordination by all levels of government response to major disasters. Now, we face the challenge of implementing the new National Response Plan, with its changing mandates for widespread implementation of incident management concepts. All levels of government will need to reconsider and reevaluate their emergency response plans and procedures to ensure that this fundamental change in operational concepts can be seamlessly integrated, so that “NIMS” will become an equally familiar acronym.

It is also amazing to me how significantly the nation’s perception of hazards and the risk they pose to our communities has been changing since 1985, and I have every expectation that this will continue in the years ahead. It is almost as if we simply keep adding new hazards and risks to our list, without ever completely resolving the basic questions posed by old ones. During erp&m’s history, we have experienced some of the most significant natural disasters ever. We have learned – too often the hard way – about their destructive forces and just how vulnerable our communities and our infrastructure actually are. The profession that was equipped with emergency plans for the “Cold War” found them inadequate for the response and recovery demands of these events.

All levels of government began to learn how to work together, while adjacent communities had the value of mutual aid driven home. During this time, “hazard mitigation” went from words that most emergency management professionals seldom used to our current efforts to establish local hazard mitigation plans for all local jurisdictions.In 1985, perhaps the most pressing issue regarding technological hazard was emergency preparedness for commercial nuclear power plants. I and many other emergency management professionals “learned the basics” in programs to develop and exercise radiological emergency response plans. This experience had to be quickly applied after some horribly tragic incidents involving hazardous chemicals.

Again the concepts and language of the emergency management profession were profoundly changed. Words such as “SARA, Title III,” “LEPCs,” and “HazMat” became standard in our vocabulary, along with many associated operational concepts and new technologies. Beyond radiological emergency preparedness and hazardous materials programs, recent years have continued to demonstrate our constantly growing vulnerability to technological hazards. Widespread energy shortages and power losses, communications and utility system failures, and electronic attacks via the Internet again prove the importance of ensuring the continuity of operations for vital facilities and systems.

For societal or man-made hazards, 1985 was in an era when civil disorder was probably the most recent challenge confronting public and private emergency managers. The human and economic impacts of riots were painfully obvious, while terrorism sat overlooked on the bottom of the hazard list in most communities. Today, it is recognized as a profound threat to our communities’ safety and welfare, and words like “al-Qaida,” “airport screeners,” and “domestic security” have now joined the profession’s dictionary. Emergency managers are again called into action to counteract this risk, and all of the skills, capabilities and creativity gained in past years are urgently needed again.

Throughout these years, I am pleased that erp&m has been closely involved in all of these changes, and I believe that we have, in our own way, contributed significantly to the progress that has been made. It has both been my privilege and pleasure to provide emergency management consulting services to a wide range of governmental, research and private sector clients as they addressed their most pressing issues.

I believe that erp&m’s creative, problem-solving approach to addressing the needs of our clients has been proven to be highly effective and will continue to serve our clients well in the future. Simply click on our clients and projects links. I’m pleased to say that you’ll see that nearly all of our clients have returned to erp&m repeatedly for assistance, whether to address a new emergency management program, or to evaluate and enhance an existing one.

Each time a new challenge confronted emergency managers at all levels, erp&m has put into place effective, workable solutions for its clients. “Creative, problem-solving approach” are words that are very deeply ingrained in erp&m’s vocabulary, and we can bring this talent to addressing your emergency preparedness and hazard mitigation needs. I hope you will not hesitate to contact me directly at any time to discuss your situation and how we could be of assistance. After all, 20 years is just the beginning and “progress” is our word for the future!

--David S. Palmer, President
emergency response planning and management, inc.