Who hasn’t snickered at that? Sure, it’s a laughable punchline. Even for those of us who chose public service, it’s a line we sometimes jokingly toss out. But not often.
Because it’s true.
News media and community members aim to hold government agencies accountable, following the third 100-year flood in five years. How was communication? How responsive was government? Was support timely and appropriate?
Those are important questions to ask. The answers depend, in part, on if you’re inside the City of Bellingham or live in Whatcom County, based on state law and city or county code.
According to state law (WAC 118-04, RCW 38.52) and Whatcom County code (chapter 2.40) the Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management (DEM) is responsible for helping our county prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate emergencies and natural disasters such as flooding. (For the City of Bellingham, that’s the Fire Department’s Emergency Manager.)
That means the DEM is responsible for communicating with, locating support for, and responding to flood-impacted residents throughout Whatcom County and its small cities. (Side note: while this work is mandated, its funding is not. But that’s a topic for another day.)
In the years since the devastating floods of 2020 and 2021 DEM applied many lessons learned. DEM also acquired funding for fully stocked disaster trailers staged around the county’s small cities, sandbag machines, mobile message boards, and equipment for swift water rescue. All of which were used in this flood’s response.
Once an emergency such as widespread flooding begins, our tasks include:
- Lead daily meetings with community leaders, agency partners, and elected officials
- Staff the Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
- Activate additional roles, including EOC manager, Public Information Officer, Finance and Administration, Call Center, Logistics, and Operations – including Human Services to assemble resources and establish shelters
- Coordinate debris management
- Support field operations, coordinate with external agencies to assist in recovery, such as
- Samaritan’s Purse and Team Rubicon
- North Sound Accountable Community of Health
- Whatcom Long Term Recovery Group
- Debris management sites
Meanwhile we continue to actively plan and prepare; develop mitigation strategies; conduct training and exercises; and tasks such as creating alerts, warnings and disaster preparedness materials in several languages. In Emergency Management, those are “blue sky” jobs. For now, though, we’re still in the “gray days” of response and recovery.
We welcome critical review and suggestions. Because we’re from the government – and we’re here to help.
Amy Cloud is the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management. She was born and raised locally, leaving for Whitman College and work in Seattle, Knoxville and Washington, D.C. She returned to work as Supervising News Producer and reporter for KVOS-TV’s NewsView before switching to communications for WWU, PeaceHealth and the City of Bellingham. She also co-chairs the Community PIO Group and is a member of the Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues.
