OpenCdA hopes that everyone who has either Time Warner Cable or internet access watched the Coeur d’Alene City Council meeting on Tuesday,  December 15th.  Specifically, we hope that everyone paid very close attention to the Windstorm 2015 after-action report to the Council by Coeur d’Alene Fire Chief Gabriel and Police Chief White.

If you missed it, the replay is available here on the City’s website.  The Chiefs’ wrapup begins at 0:12:07 and concludes at 0:31:52.

We’ve watched it twice and learned something new each time. (more…)

The meeting agenda posted online last Friday for the Tuesday, December 15 Coeur d’Alene City Council meeting includes this presentation:  “Windstorm Update – Police Chief White and Fire Chief Gabriel.”

Monday’s Coeur d’Alene Press skewspaper article headlined Police chief to speak on wind storm response suggests that unlike the usual self-congratulation Coeur d’Alene officials like to heap upon themselves, tonight’s comments from two competent and professional public safety leaders will offer objective evaluation and constructive recommendations for improving our community’s responses in an emergency.

We hope that Mayor Widmyer and the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners watch and listen.  Intently and humbly. (more…)

Within the past 30 days both our region and the nation have experienced events that should cause each of us to ask “Am I ready?”

On November 17, 2015, our region was hammered by a windstorm that did millions of dollars in damages and left well over 100,000 people without power, some for over a week.  It was a natural disaster and a civil emergency.

Then on December 2, 2015, a training session and luncheon of county employees in San Bernardino, California, was attacked by two active shooters who were at least influenced if not controlled by ISIS.  When the shooting at San Bernardino’s Inland Regional Center finally stopped, there were 14 attendees dead and 22 wounded.   About four hours later, the two shooters were killed after firing shots and throwing pipe bombs from their vehicle at pursuing law enforcement officers.  That, too, was a civil emergency.

In both instances, some people were ready, some were not. (more…)

According to the December 5, 2015, Coeur d’Alene Press skewspaper article headlined Storm emergency center analyzed, Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Director Sandy Von Behren and Kootenai County Commissoner Dan Green gave the OEM’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) a “B” grade for its performance during the November 17, 2015, windstorm.

Based on the information in the Press article, OpenCdA thinks the letter grade “B”  is meaningless.  The best we can do is suggest a narrative grade of “Needs Improvement.”  (more…)