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The Berkshire County Special Response Team (BCSRT) is SWAT type team that responds throughout Berkshire County and beyond. The team is based in the Pittsfield Police Department but its members come from law enforcement agencies throughout Berkshire County. WRHSAC has been actively providing funding to upgrade BCSRT equipment over the last two years. The equipment includes: a Bearcat, which is a fully armored tactical response vehicle; ballistic shields; personal protective masks; night vision monoculars and full tactical body armor.
Reference: Berkshire County Special Response Team, SWAT equipment
This project improved system coverage in the hill region of Hampshire County. System equipment was upgraded and expanded by placing new equipment on several existing towers in the region. Ongoing system oversight is coordinated through the Hampshire Hills Mutual Aid Group and Massachusetts State Police, who run the dispatch for the system. The new equipment went live in early Spring 2013.
WRHSAC continues to support the preparedness efforts of local and regional emergency shelters through purchasing emergency sheltering equipment. The equipment is available on an as needed basis throughout the region. Equipment includes eight shelter equipment trailers; additional cots, blankets, etc located at regional shelters; light towers; highway message boards; mobile generator; and DART trailers. See the Resource Guide for more information about specific equipment. This project is ongoing.
Reference: Shelter Planning, Sheltering Equipment
This initiative includes the development of a regional shelter plan template, the use of this template to develop regional shelter plans and the initial implementation over a two year period. The plan templates are complete and can be downloaded here. Medical guides listing pharmaceutical and other medical resources are also included. Additional initiative partners include the American Red Cross, the Medical Reserve Corps, the Western Massachusetts Disaster Animal Response Teams, Community Emergency Response Teams, local emergency management directors, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, local police chiefs, local fire chiefs, regional public health coalitions and other municipal representatives. This project is ongoing.
Reference: Shelter Planning
Building on previous WRHSAC IRAA projects and following up on feedback from multiple exercises conducted in the region, the WRHSAC Individuals Requiring Additional Assistance (IRAA) Standard Operating Guidance (SOG) and Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) Annex project was established. The working group for the project is compiled of responders from throughout the region and state agency partners including DPH, MEMA and the State Office of Disability. FFY2010 funded.
This project established checklist style Functional Needs SOGs for municipal Emergency Management Directors (EMD), shelter managers and other first responders. It developed a Functional Needs CEMP Annex template for municipalities to use as a guide. Learn more here. The project was completed in 2013.
Reference: Functional Needs, Indivduals Requiring Additional Assistance, Shelter Planning
The goal of this project is to protect lives, to minimize physical/psychological trauma from disasters, and to reduce peak demand on EMDs/First Responders by developing new capacity for IRAA emergency resilience by building on and extending previous work achieved by the Western Mass IRAA Preparedness Project to include faith-based and cultural centers. This project advances the mission of the DHS Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: “To build resilient communities among faith-based and community organizations.” WRHSAC has developed this project through several phases. More recent phases of the project have focused on utilizing faith based organizations to build a Rest Center network in Western Massachusetts. Click here for more information.
Reference: Evacuation, Fatih Communities, Indivduals Requiring Additional Assistance, Shelter Planning
WRHSAC’s Interoperability Subcommittee utilizes the support of a communications engineering specialist as a subject matter expert for all public safety communication projects it funds. The engineer ensures the system are state of the art design, meet the needs of the region, and helps to determine best avenues for interoperable between different communication systems. This is ongoing.
Reference: Berkshire County Simulcast, Franklin County Emergency Communications System, Interoperability, Public Safety Communications, WMLEC
The Council has purchased four traffic safety equipment trailers which are placed throughout the region, one in each county at the Sheriff Offices. The trailers hold equipment to be used in traffic detours, crowd control or other traffic related safety needs in response to a localized or regional emergency/ disaster. Contact information can be found in the WRHSAC Resource Guide. An end user training video is being developed and should be published by the end of 2013.
Reference: DPW equipment, road detour equipment, traffic safety equipment trailers
WRHSAC has provided funds for members of the Hazardous Materials Response Team as well as 30 other first responders not associated with the Hazmat team to attend the Incident Response to Terrorist Bombing (IRTB) Train the Trainer course at New Mexico Tech’s Energetic Materials Research School. These personnel are now able to offer to their fellow first responders. Click here to learn more about scheduling a trainer with your agency.
This project also brought the classroom condense version of IRTB to the region. Over 150 personnel from the Commonwealth attended the course.
Reference: Hazardous materials response team, Incident Response to Terrorist Bombing, IRTB
WRHSAC sponsored a social media and emergency management (SMEM) training that was completed in 2012 to assist emergency management directors and other first responders in developing skills and policies to successfully use social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, to communicate with the public. The training included 20 online modules that were designed to give first responders an in-depth understanding of using social media. Those modules are available for anyone interested in learning more about using social media in their first responder agency.
Reference: emergency management, Public Emergency Communciation Strategies, social media, training
