City Council
November 12, 2024
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Jestin D. Johnson FROM: Damon Covington
City Administrator Fire Chief
SUBJECT: CAL OES Funding for Urban Search
and Rescue Training Exercises
DATE: October 9, 2024
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To: (1) Enter Into An Agreement With The State Of California Office Of Emergency Services (Cal OES) To Accept One Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,800,000.00) In Grant Funds For The Period From July 1, 2023, To June 30, 2032, And Additional Funding Up To Twenty Percent (20%) Of The Original Tri-annual Award, For A Cumulative Amount Not To Exceed Two Million One Hundred Sixty Thousand Dollars ($2,160,000.00) For Full-scale Exercises And Training, And Related Personnel And Supply Expenses For The Oakland Fire Department’s Urban Search And Rescue (US&R) Team And Cal OES Swift Water Team Four, And (2) To Appropriate, And Administer Said Grant Funds.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Approval of this proposed Resolution will authorize the acceptance of funding from Cal OES in the amount n ot to exceed Two Million One Hundred Sixty Thousand Dollars ($2,160,000.00) to offset the costs of performing three full-scale disaster exercises as required by the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Urban Search and Rescue (US&R). Additionally, to conduct training as required by Cal OES for the Swiftwater/flood rescue team. Exercise and training budgets may include expenditures for personnel, expendable or consumable items, transportation of task force personnel, sanitation facilities, fuel, food, potable water, and communications.
The term of this Agreement shall commence on July 1, 2023, and end on June 30, 2032. The training occurred in Fiscal Year 2023 and the funding came from a cooperative agreement fund.
The next trainings occur on a three-year cycle thru 2032. .
The calendar year 2031 corresponds with the Fiscal Year 2031-2032 funding obligation. In other words, the FY 2023-2031 grant execution period concludes in the calendar year 2032.
Jestin Johnson (Oct 31, 2024 10:28 PDT)
Oct 31, 2024
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: CAL OES Funding for Urban Search and Rescue Training Exercises Date: October 9, 2024 Page 2
City Council
November 12, 2024
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
There are twenty-eight (28) FEMA US&R Task Forces in the United States, with eight (8) in California. The City of Oakland is the Sponsoring Agency for a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) US&R Task Force, California Task Force 4 (CA-TF4). The Oakland Fire Department Task Force has agreements with sixteen (16) participating fire agencies from the Bay Area that provide Task Force personnel and support the training and responses of the Oakland Task Force. Federal funds are provided to sponsoring agencies to support a US&R Response System that provides for the coordination, development, and maintenance, of the effort to locate, extricate, and provide immediate medical treatment to victims trapped in collapsed structures, and to conduct other lifesaving operations.
There are thirteen (13) California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) Swiftwater/Flood Search and Rescue Teams located throughout the state. These Swiftwater/Flood Search and Rescue Teams conduct search and rescue in the water environment, includes searching disaster areas that have become flooded, conducting rescue operations in collapsed structures inundated by floods, tsunamis, dam failure, or other water-related disasters, accessing and rescuing persons and companion animals trapped by flood waters during disasters.
In October of 2009, as authorized in City Council Resolution No. 82021, the City of Oakland entered a three (3) party Memorandum of Agreement for Participation in the National Urban Search and Rescue System with FEMA and the State of California.
The Council has approved similar agreements for previous exercises. In 2018, the Council approved the agreement (Resolution No. 87098) for funding in the amount of $228,681.60. The State of California, through the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), supports the eight (8) California Task Forces by providing US&R Training and funding for Mobilization Exercises.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
The City of Oakland is the Sponsoring Agency for a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Force, California Task Force 4 (CA-TF4).
Federal funds are provided to the elite US&R task forces to have a response system that provides for the coordination, development, and maintenance of efforts to locate, extricate, and provide immediate medical treatment to victims trapped in collapsed structures, and to conduct other lifesaving operations. Federal funding of the US&R Cooperative Agreement has increased from prior years to provide the FEMA Task Forces with improved capabilities in water operations and rescues conducted in an area contaminated with hazardous waste and materials.
In addition to federal funding, the State of California Office of Emergency Services supports the eight (8) California US&R Task Forces with funding through the California Fire and Rescue Training Authority, to support Mobilization Exercises and conduct Urban Search and Rescue training in preparation for response to disasters such as earthquakes.
There are twenty-eight (28) FEMA US&R Task Forces in the United States, eight (8) in California. The Oakland Fire Department Task Force has agreements with sixteen (16) Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: CAL OES Funding for Urban Search and Rescue Training Exercises Date: October 9, 2024 Page 3
City Council
November 12, 2024
Participating Fire Agencies from the Bay Area that provide Task Force personnel and support the training and responses of the Oakland Task Force.
Adoption of this resolution is aligned with the citywide priority of holistic community, as the funding from Cal OES allows the Oakland Fire Department Urban Search and Rescue Task Force to conduct a full-scale exercise, at no cost to the City of Oakland, which will improve readiness in the event of a local response for an earthquake or other disaster.
The City of Oakland is the sponsoring agency for a Swiftwater/Flood Search and Rescue Team.
Cal OES Swift Water Team Four (SW-TF4). This resource is part of the master mutual aid agreement between the State of California and the City of Oakland.
FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of this Resolution will authorize the acceptance and appropriation of the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) funds in an amount not to exceed $1,800,000.00. Up to three exercises and Swiftwater/Flood rescue training is grant funded. Costs of conducting the exercises and training in excess of the $1,800,000.00 will be covered by the FEMA Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-31 grants, should there be any overages. This resolution also authorizes the acceptance and appropriation of any supplemental funding not to exceed 20% of the original tri- annual award, $360,000.00, for a cumulative amount not to exceed $2,160,000.00.
Funds shall be deposited into the State of California Other Fund (2159), Special Operation - US&R Division Organization (20815), Miscellaneous State Grants Account (46229), and Special Operation Program (PS18), and a project number to be determined.
1. AMOUNT OF RECOMMENDATION/COST OF PROJECT TRI-ANNUAL:
Agreement Amount: $600,000.00
Performance Period: June 1, 2023, to June 30, 2032
2. SOURCE OF FUNDING: Cal OES Agreement
3. COST ELEMENTS OF AGREEMENT/CONTRACT:
Cost Category Description Amount
Administration and
Management
Management and planning of
exercise
10,000
Support Fees Transportation, financial and
legal services, and cache
rehabilitation supplies
50,000
Consumables Lumber, reinforced concrete,
fuel, small tools, PPE, meals,
and office supplies
70,000
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: CAL OES Funding for Urban Search and Rescue Training Exercises Date: October 9, 2024 Page 4
City Council
November 12, 2024
Personnel Costs Backfill and Overtime for
exercise participants
370,000
Training Fees Instructors and Curriculum 35,000
Consumable Marine Vessel fuels, Meals,
Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE)
10,000
Personnel Costs 55,000
Total 600,000
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
No outreach was deemed necessary for the proposed policy action beyond the standard City Council agenda noticing procedures, because there is no option to promote these trainings to the public or contract out for training services.
.
COORDINATION
The Office of the City Attorney and the Budget Bureau were consulted in the preparation of this report and resolution.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: Acceptance of this grant will allow for the purchase, rental, and maintenance of equipment necessary for the exercise, which will be purchased locally when feasible, contributing to the local economy.
Environmental: There are no environmental impacts associated with this action because the facility will be used for the storage and maintenance of technical rescue equipment.
Race & Equity: There is a large race and equity benefit to the City. The City is in an active earthquake fault zone. All FEMA US&R Task Force personnel in Oakland will benefit from the unique opportunity to exercise with access to equipment that is specific for Technical Rescues, Structural Collapse, and Disaster Response. In the event of a local disaster, the US&R Task Force equipment cache is available to local responders.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: CAL OES Funding for Urban Search and Rescue Training Exercises Date: October 9, 2024 Page 5
City Council
November 12, 2024
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To: (1) Enter Into An Agreement With The State Of California Office Of Emergency Services (Cal OES) To Accept One Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,800,000.00) In Grant Funds For The Period From July 1, 2023, To June 30, 2032, And Additional Funding Up To Twenty Percent (20%) Of The Original Tri-annual Award, For A Cumulative Amount Not To Exceed Two Million One Hundred Sixty Thousand Dollars ($2,160,000.00) For Full-scale Exercises And Training, And Related Personnel And Supply Expenses For The Oakland Fire Department’s Urban Search And Rescue (US&R) Team And Cal OES Swift Water Team Four, And (2) To Appropriate, And Administer Said Grant Funds.
For questions regarding this report, please contact Assistant Chief Tracey Chin, [email protected].
Respectfully submitted,
______________________________
DAMON COVINGTON
Fire Chief
Oakland Fire Department
Authored and reviewed by:
Assistant Chief Tracey Chin