FEMA Region IX: National Preparedness Division

National preparedness is a shared responsibility—everyone has a role to play to ensure that our nation can address its greatest risks. In this section of the Region IX website, you’ll find information that will help the whole community understand what it means to be prepared and how to do it effectively.

Key Partners

Remember: You can be the Hero!

Don't delay! Every day is an opportunity to prepare yourself and those in your care for emergencies and disasters. If you’ve seen the news recently, you know that emergencies can happen unexpectedly in communities just like yours, to people like you. We’ve seen tornado outbreaks, river floods and flash floods, historic earthquakes, tsunamis, and even water main breaks and power outages in U.S. cities affecting millions of people for days at a time.

Police, fire and rescue may not always be able to reach you quickly in an emergency or disaster. The most important step you can take in helping your local responders is being able to take care of yourself and those in your care; the more people who are prepared, the quicker the community will recover.

FEMA recommends citizens prepare and plan in the event they must go for three days without electricity, water service, access to a supermarket, or local services for several days. Just follow these four steps:

Stay Informed: Information is available from federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial resources. Access Ready.gov to learn what to do before, during, and after an emergency.

Make a Plan: Discuss, agree on, and document an emergency plan with those in your care. For sample plans, see Ready.gov. Work together with neighbors, colleagues, and others to build community resilience.

Build a Kit: Keep enough emergency supplies - water, nonperishable food, first aid, prescriptions, flashlight, and battery-powered radio on hand - for you and those in your care.

Get Involved: There are many ways to get involved especially before a disaster occurs. The whole community can participate in programs and activities to make their families, homes and places of worship safer from risks and threats. Community leaders agree that the formula for ensuring a safer homeland consists of volunteers, a trained and informed public, and increased support of emergency response agencies during disasters. Get involved today by going to America's PrepareAthon!

Preparedness Cycle

Preparedness can be viewed as a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, equipping, training, exercising, evaluating, and taking corrective action in an effort to ensure effective coordination during incident response. This 'preparedness cycle' is one element of a broader National Preparedness System to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters.

Federal Preparedness Coordinator
(510) 627-7100

Deputy Federal Preparedness Coordinator

Sally Ziolkowski

(510) 627-7100

Website Links

Preparedness and Analysis Branch

Individual and Community Preparedness

Tribal Program

Continuity of Operations Program (COOP)

Regional Integration Branch

NIMS

Exercise

Training

Technological Hazards Branch

Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program (REPP)

Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP)

Hazardous Materials

Pacific Area Office

Preparedness and Analysis

Randy Brawley

Preparededness and Analysis Branch Chief

(510) 627-7053

Joel Palmer

Preparededness Analyst/Planning Specialist

(510) 627-7193

Individual and Community Preparedness

William Kuhn

Community Preparedness Officer

(510) 627-7153

Heidi Stenner

Regional Preparedness Liaison

(510) 627-7105

Disaster can strike at any time with or with little warning. Click on the following images to learn how you can take action steps now to ensure you and loved ones are safe and prepared. Get Ready Now.

Get involved in your local Citizen Corps

Get involved in the Community Emergency Response Team

Get involved in America's PrepareAthon! Be Smart. Take Part. Prepare.

Get involved in the Preparedness Discussion Forum

Tribal Program

Tribal Strategy: “Tribes Leading Tribes”

FEMA Region 9 partners with lead tribes to mentor other tribal nations using benchmark preparedness programs. The region seeks to engage tribal nations in meaningful dialogue while developing and implementing policy directives that will assist the tribes with their emergency management needs. FEMA Region 9 Tribal Liaisons help tribal nations to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

FEMA Tribal Affairs

FEMA Tribal Affairs: A Pocket Guide

Ready Indian Country

Catherine Looper

Tribal Liasion

(510) 627-7285

Heather Duschell

Tribal Liasion

(510) 627-7052

Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program

The FEMA Region IX Regional Continuity Manager serves as the regional continuity point of contact for FEMA NCP COOP Division. The following links provide access to currently COOP planning guidance, evaluation tool, and training information:

FEMA Continuity of Operations

James R. Macaulay, CEM

Regional Continuity Program Coordinator

(510) 627-7009

Regional Integration Branch

Fred Wehrenberg, CHMM

Regional Integration Branch Chief

(510)-627-7020

National Incident Management System (NIMS)

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) identifies concepts and principles that answer how to manage emergencies from preparedness to recovery regardless of their cause, size, location or complexity.

National Incident Management System (NIMS)
National Response Framework (NRF)

Susan Waller

NIMS Coordinator

510-627-7275

Exercise

The Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) provides a set of guiding principles for exercise programs, as well as a common approach to planning and conducting individual exercises.

Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP) Toolkit Website (secure login)

Lessons Learned Information Sharing (LLIS) Website - LLIS.gov serves as the national, online network of lessons learned, best practices, and innovative ideas for the emergency management and homeland security communities.

Online exercise training from the Emergency Management Institute (EMI)

Anthony Buckley

Regional Exercise Officer

510-627-7801

Geoffrey Krueger

Exercise Specialist

(510) 627-7229

Training

FEMA Training Page

The links below provide you with a landscape of available training from our providers and grantees. These represent the broadest landscape of training to address the needs of first responders, emergency management professional, elected officials, and citizens. Should you have any questions, please free to reach out to:

Tomas P. Kaselionis

Regional Training Manager

(510) 627-7298

Jovanda Patterson

Training Specialist

(510) 627-7165

Emergency Management Institute
EMI Application Page
Center for Domestic Preparedness
National Fire Academy
National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC)

FEMA Training Partners-Mobile Training Calendar

FEMA Grants Approved Course Lists:

• National Training and Education Division (NTED)

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Technological Hazards Branch

Technological Hazards Program Website

Technological Hazards coordinates the national effort to enhance the emergency preparedness and response capabilities of communities surrounding commercial nuclear power plants and U.S. Army chemical weapons stockpile sites. Key programs include the Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program (REPP) and the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP).

Region 9 Contacts:

Richard Grundstrom
Branch Chief
(510) 627-7240

Paul Anderson
Technological Hazards Program Specialist
(510) 627-7093

Johanna Johnson
Technological Hazards Program Specialist
(510) 627-7164

Laurel Ryan
Program Specialist
(510) 627-7080

Alberto Sifuentes
Technological Hazards Program Specialist
(510) 627-7108

Elena Joyner
Technological Hazards Program Assistant
(510) 627-7195

Hazardous Materials

John Woytak
Hazardous Materials Specialist
(510) 627-7167

Regional Tribal Operations Committee (RTOC)
Oceania Regional Response Team (ORRT)
Regional Response Team (RRT)

Continuing Challenge
HazMat Explo
Arizona State Emergency Response Commission
Nevada State Emergency Response Commission

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Pacific Area Office, Ft. Shafter, Hawaii

(808) 851-7900

Gen Tamura
Emergency Management Specialist

The PAO’s Training and Exercise Specialist, Emergency Management Specialist, and Continuity Program Specialist serve as the Region IX Point of Contact for National Preparedness issues concerning Hawaii and the Territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.