00;00;04;02 - 00;00;43;16 Speaker 1 Hello and welcome to The County where we explore issues important to Baltimore County, Maryland. Im your host, Bill Baker. Baltimore County's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management works to keep Baltimore County residents safe during natural and man-made emergencies. The agency continually works to prepare for any and all disasters through emergency planning, partnerships and coordination. The office also coordinates the activities for the County's Emergency Operations Center, where representatives of local government, nonprofit and private sector agencies convene during disaster situations to make decisions, set priorities, and coordinate resources for response and recovery. 00;00;43;17 - 00;00;57;09 Speaker 1 Joining us is Baltimore County's Director of the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Cal Bowman. Many people associate emergency management with disasters or storms, and while that is part of it, what is emergency management to you? 00;00;57;13 - 00;01;20;16 Speaker 2 So I think emergency management really is about helping the community manage uncertainty, storms, disasters, they're all certainly part of it and that's part of the job. But I think emergency management really has much broader implications than that. I think at its core, it's about reducing risk before something happens. It's coordinating consequences when it does, and then it's helping communities recover afterwards. 00;01;20;18 - 00;01;42;04 Speaker 2 Kind of going back to your question, I think one of the misconceptions of emergency management is that we're another response agency. We're not the police department. We're not the fire department. We're not public works and transportation or the health department. We shouldn't try to become any of them. I think our value really is bringing those organizations together. 00;01;42;04 - 00;02;09;19 Speaker 2 When a problem crosses, I'll call it organizational boundaries, or when we require multi-departmental coordination. I use the term force multiplier a lot. Our job is to make everyone more effective, to give people good information, to connect the right people with that information. I think one of the most undervalued one is anticipating what's coming next. And then ultimately it's helping leadership kind of understand, here's the consequences from these different decisions. 00;02;09;20 - 00;02;26;22 Speaker 2 It's creating a shared understanding so that we can all act together as one. And I think that coordinating role has become even more important because of the kind of risks our communities and our government faces today. And they're very different than what they were five years ago. 00;02;26;28 - 00;02;32;01 Speaker 1 That leads into the next question—how has emergency management evolved over the years? 00;02;32;03 - 00;02;59;29 Speaker 2 I think emergency management has evolved because the risk has evolved. There was a time when our profession was very much associated with civil defense, hurricanes, snowstorms, floods, those big, recognizable emergencies and those hazards and those risks still matter. I'm not downplaying them. But now when I think about what can disrupt a community, I look at cyber attacks, I look at power outages, I look at communication failures, public health emergencies. 00;02;59;29 - 00;03;25;03 Speaker 2 Certainly we've experienced quite a bit over the last five years supply chain disruption, infrastructure failure, extreme heat. We got a firsthand look at that this summer. Major special events and severe weather, like I said. I think increasingly the biggest challenge isn't necessarily, however, the original incident. I think it goes back to what I said about anticipating what happens next. A power outage isn't just a utility problem. 00;03;25;03 - 00;03;57;01 Speaker 2 It's what happens when there's a power outage at the nursing home. What happens to the traffic signals, the medical equipment, comms, water systems? What happens with the people who rely on electrically powered medical devices? So it's cascading consequences. You know, a good example, cyber attack isn't just an IT problem. And that's I think, one thing we really are trying to build around that if suddenly employees can't access systems and residents can't receive services or public safety operations are affected, that's consequence management. 00;03;57;02 - 00;04;18;03 Speaker 2 And so modern emergency management has to be able to look across that whole system and ask, if this happens, then what if this happens? What else could happen? Because of it? Emergency management increasingly has a significant role in some of that executive decision support leaders don't need more and more information during emergencies. They need the right information. They need timely information. 00;04;18;03 - 00;04;46;07 Speaker 2 They need to know what's happening, what does it mean, and what decisions are coming near that I'm going to need to make as a leader. And so I don't think our profession, I don't think emergency management is getting broader because we're looking to own more things. I don't think emergency managers want that, and I certainly don't. I just think the problems themselves are becoming much more interconnected. 00;04;46;10 - 00;04;51;04 Speaker 1 A large part of emergency management is preparedness. What does that look like for your office? 00;04;51;05 - 00;05;14;26 Speaker 2 I think preparedness is the work that we do on a normal Tuesday that helps determine how we perform on our worst day. Honestly, I think that's the easiest way to say it. Most emergency management actually doesn't happen when there's an emergency. It happens when there's planning. When we're training and exercising together, it's understanding risk, defining risk, and communicating that risk across all of government. 00;05;14;26 - 00;05;42;00 Speaker 2 It's communicating the risk to communities. It's about building relationships too, I think the last place I want to be exchanging business cards is when the bad thing has happened. And meeting these people for the first time and coming up with our playbook or our operating procedures, I think it's about identifying some of the vulnerabilities and infrastructures and finding a way to reduce the risks before they come, emergencies. 00;05;42;02 - 00;06;08;09 Speaker 2 And that's why I kind of frame it in the beginning. Emergency management is really about three things. It's risk reduction, consequence management and how do we help communities recover afterwards. So identifying the vulnerabilities, the infrastructures, finding a way to reduce them. It's making sure our county departments can continue and understand what their essential functions are. If they can't get in the building that day, we build plans to build capabilities. 00;06;08;09 - 00;06;31;15 Speaker 2 Do people know their roles? Have they practiced them? Do departments know who to call? And I think that's why relationship building is so important. I think that's why training and exercise is so critical. I think relationships are probably the most underrated preparedness capability that we invest in today. 00;06;31;18 - 00;06;38;27 Speaker 1 While your agency is most visible during severe weather incidents, can you help us understand how you support the entire county? 00;06;39;02 - 00;07;03;22 Speaker 2 OEM is not directing every police officer or firefighter or public works crew? What we're doing is making sure everybody sees the same picture. Here are the different layers and levels of the issues that we're dealing with. There's a question that I always use internally when we look at new, new capabilities. Is this a capability that OEM should own, or is this an OEM capability that we should enable? 00;07;03;22 - 00;07;27;17 Speaker 2 And I think it's an important distinction because we don't need to own everything. In fact, I don't think we should we should make sure it's owned by somebody so that we can make better decisions as a county. Our job is, is to help everyone succeed. Sometimes the best emergency work is almost invisible. 00;07;27;19 - 00;07;31;02 Speaker 1 What does success for the Office of Emergency Management look like? 00;07;31;04 - 00;07;53;05 Speaker 2 We're conditioned as a county, as an emergency management enterprise, as a function. And this is not just Baltimore County. I think we are conditioned to say, how many events did we respond to, how many resources were deployed? How visible were we? I think we measure did we reduce risk? Did we reduce liability for that day? Did people have the information they needed to departments? 00;07;53;05 - 00;08;11;21 Speaker 2 Were they able to coordinate effectively? Those are a little bit more ambiguous when it comes to measuring. You know, it's not black and white and it's not binary. It's not. Did they do this or did they not? I think emergency management is measured a little differently. Did we anticipate the consequences or did we just simply respond to them? 00;08;11;21 - 00;08;39;08 Speaker 2 I want to be leaning forward and working with our departments to say, hey guys, this is coming up. And the department say, yeah, we know. And we're coordinating with police and health, and all of them are already leaning forward and not just in response mode, because then that will allow us then to recover faster, which I think is the third most, you know, when we talk about those pillars, those three core pillars, recovery and helping our communities recover is one of those most critical ones. 00;08;39;10 - 00;08;44;14 Speaker 1 And what are some ways that residents can prepare for themselves and their communities right now? 00;08;44;15 - 00;09;00;29 Speaker 2 I don't think preparedness needs to be complicated, starting with the people in your house. It's starting with your neighbors. It's starting with your broader community. So first, I would say know how to get information, sign up for BaltCo Alerts. Don't wait until something happens. I guess is what I'm saying, to figure out what you're going to do next. 00;09;01;00 - 00;09;17;15 Speaker 2 Have a reliable source for information, and then second, what do you do with that information? You have a plan, but you don't have to make it complex. Again, what I don't want is a check the box or we have a plan and I put it on a shelf. Have a plan that is very simple and easy for everybody to understand. 00;09;17;16 - 00;09;34;15 Speaker 2 Like you should be able to hand your plan to the ten year old in the house and say, if something happens, this is what we're going to do as a family. How do you communicate? Where are you going to meet? What happens if, what happens if the power is out? What medications do you need? What medications do you need to plan for? 00;09;34;16 - 00;09;52;14 Speaker 2 What are you going to do with your pets? If you need to leave your house, how are they going to get there with you? Who picks up the kids if your normal activities are disrupted that day for whatever reason? So very simple questions, but at least outline it and sit with the family one day and say, hey guys, if these things happen, this is what we are going to do. 00;09;52;15 - 00;10;14;12 Speaker 2 And keep it very simple, keep it very straightforward. In addition to the plans, have your basic supplies water, food, medication, batteries, flashlights. You know some way to charge your phone would be helpful. Nothing exotic. I'm not saying every household needs to have a generator, but just those basic emergency kits so that you can get through the next 12 to 24 hours. 00;10;14;13 - 00;10;44;03 Speaker 2 Know your neighbors. To me, that's probably the most simple form of resilience. Who on your street lives alone? Who's older? Who might need help if the power goes out? Who has a generator? Who has medical needs, who relies on electronic devices or electronic medical equipment? Baltimore County, the State of Maryland MDEM, the Maryland Department of Emergency Management. We all have tremendous resources in the event of an emergency and a response, but I think communities are the ones that need to know one another the most. 00;10;44;04 - 00;11;04;03 Speaker 2 They can look out for one another in the first hour or two hours, 12 hours after a severe event happens in their communities, as they are more prepared and more aware of what's going on than they are inherently more resilient as a community. And we are more prepared as a county. And I think that at the end, emergency management isn't really about being afraid of what's going to happen. 00;11;04;03 - 00;11;13;16 Speaker 2 As a household. You don't have to be afraid of the power going out. It's really about just doing enough beforehand so that when something does happen, we're really just ready to take care of one another. 00;11;13;17 - 00;11;30;13 Speaker 1 Cal, thanks for joining us. You could find more information about how you can stay prepared for any emergency at BaltimoreCountyMD.Gov. Thanks for listening to this episode of the County. This episode was produced with the help from the Baltimore County Public Library Media Services.