Weather Alert:
Nothing to report

Shelter & Evacuation

Regional Shelter Project/Initiative

The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council has provided funding to the three regional planning agencies in Western Massachusetts (the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission) since the beginning of 2011 to develop and implement regional sheltering. This initiative includes the development of a regional shelter plan template, the use of this template to develop four regional shelter plans and the initial implementation (including preparation of draft service and facility use agreements) over a two year period. The plan templates are complete and can be downloaded here. 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.

Municipalities may also find MEMA’s Statewide Mass Care Sheltering Coordination Plan: Local Shelter Toolkit helpful.

Hampshire Regional Sheltering

Since the beginning of 2011, the regional planning agencies have worked closely with the Hampshire REPC to develop a regional shelter plan for the county.  The first iteration of the plan was completed in 2012. Utilizing additional funds from WRHSAC, the Hampshire County Regional Shelter Plan was updated and finalized in 2016. Due to the data size of the file, the Franklin County Regional Shelter Plan is loaded here as the Concept of Operations and its Appendices:

Berkshire Regional Sheltering

The Berkshire County Regional Shelter Initiative has been underway since the beginning of 2012.  Working closely with the Northern, Central and Southern Regional Emergency Planning Committees, the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission has taken the lead in developing a county-wide regional shelter plan. Numerous sites have been identified as potential large scale shelter locations and project participants are actively reviewing the operational portion of the plan. A draft regional shelter plan will be available this summer.

Franklin County Regional Sheltering

The Franklin County Regional Shelter Initiative began in early 2012.  Working with the Franklin County Regional Emergency Planning Committee (FCREPC), the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) took the lead in developing a county-wide regional shelter plan.  The first version of the Franklin County plan was completed in 2013. Utilizing additional funding from WRHSAC, the FRCOG furthered plan development with the FCREPC and other stakeholders. The updated plan was completed in 2016. Due to the data size of the file, the Franklin County Regional Shelter Plan is loaded here as the Concept of Operations and its Appendices:

Hampden County Regional Sheltering

The Hampden County Regional Shelter Initiative has been underway since the beginning of 2012.  Working with the County Regional and Local Emergency Planning Committee, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission has taken the lead in developing a Regional/Multi jurisdictional or stand alone shelter plan. The Hampden County Regional Sheltering Summit was held on Feb 17, 2012 at Westfield State University with more than 60 participants. A subcommittee was formed to address and work on the key components of sheltering.  A draft Hampden County Regional/ Multi-jurisdictional or Stand alone Shelter Plan will be developed based on the template.  The draft and the final list of shelter locations will be available for review summer 2012 by Subcommittee members.  The next step in the project is to reconvene the subcommittee members and others that were part of the first listening session to address sheltering concerns in the county and to discuss how to distribute the documents to stakeholders. The current version of the Hampden County plan can be found here.

Regional Shelter Plan Informational Video

Evacuation

This project developed regionally inclusive evacuation maps that take into account conditions that would initiate evacuation flow out of the area, and conditions that might initiate evacuation flow into the region. The research, data compilation and map development were completed by the three regional planning agencies, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. Critical infrastructure data layers were incorporated into the maps. Primary, secondary and alternate routes were plotted on the maps. The maps have been distributed to each municipality in the four counties of western Massachusetts. If any town official is interested in these maps please contact Raine Brown, Homeland Security Program Manager.

Regional Evacuation Planning Informational Video