2021 Summer Heatwaves: Difference between revisions

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This after action report (AAR) focuses on the response of Portland’s Neighborhood Emergency Team (“NET”)volunteers and community organizations in the Portland Community Organizations Active in Disaster network (“PDX COAD”). The primary audience for this AAR includes NET volunteers, NET Team Leaders, PBEM Program Managers, and COAD member organizations.

== AAR Definitions and Acronyms ==

In addition to the usual complement of government acronyms, we present a few important distinctions between cooling facilities:<ref>Multnomah Cunty. (2021, August 18). June 2021 Extreme Heat Event: Preliminary Findings and Action Steps. https://multco-web7-psh-files-usw2.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/June2021_Heat_Event-Preliminary_Findings-08_21%20%281%29.pdf

* '''PBEM:''' [https://www.portland.gov/pbem Portland Bureau of Emergency Management].

* '''SUV:''' Spontaneous unaffiliated volunteer; often used when describing emergent volunteers from the general public.

== Background and Timeline ==

=== Assets and Capabilities ===

==== Portland Neighborhood Emergency Teams (Portland NET) ====

Portland NET is the largest volunteer Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program by membership in the Portland Metro Area, with 2,105 active volunteers and over 29,000 volunteer hours contributed in 2020. The Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) manages NET, with selected PBEM staff assigned to oversee NET deployments. PBEM and NET aim to serve the community with a trauma informed perspective and lead responses with equity and inclusion first.

The depth of Portland NET’s bench of volunteers is key to its operational capacity. Not only does having a large pool of volunteers to draw from mean that NET can fill hundreds of volunteer shifts in a deployment (including overnight shifts), but also provide the deployment with a diversity of relevant expertise. For example, volunteer skill and knowledge of disaster psychology, public outreach, administration, and mental health crisis de-escalation all played critical roles in inclement weather response. For example, in one cooling center deployment, the specific help of Spanish-speaking volunteers with de-escalation training was needed.

==== Portland Communities Active in Disaster (PDX COAD) ====

PDX COAD is a relatively new and growing PBEM program. The COAD constitutes a PBEM-faciliated network of local community and faith based organizations (CBOs). The PBEM COAD Coordinator provides disaster preparation information and supports CBOs in disaster response roles and operations. At the time of the June heatwave, the COAD consisted of around 60 organizations.  

The COAD Coordinator relayed important heat illness prevention information to the CBOs to pass on to their constituencies. Several CBOs also volunteered to take a response role by opening their own neighborhood-local cooling centers.

=== June Heat Dome in Portland (OERS 2021-1650) ===

[[File:VivekShandasSidewalk.jpg|alt=Hot times in Lents: Dr. Vivek Shandas gets a read of the sidewalk.|thumb|Hot times in Lents: Dr. Vivek Shandas gets a read of the sidewalk.<ref>Nesseth, C. (2021, July 14). ''SCORCHED: Shandas shows a thermal picture of the hottest intersection in Portland.'' Willamette Week. https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2021/07/14/this-is-the-hottest-place-in-portland/</ref>]]

Portland NET and COAD responded throughout the heatwave, and through the demobilization of cooling centers on July 2.

==== Volunteer Recruitment: Communications Timeline ====

The table below indicates when, to who, and how government contacts released volunteer recruitment and COAD messaging. The magenta numbers in the left margin correspond to a graph appearing after the table.

|Last volunteer shift ends for the incident (at JOHS Logistics).

|}

== Notes and References ==

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