Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Management Aar topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
After-action review: Asheville reports 156-day EOC activation for Helene, identifies 108 findings and work plan
Summary
City emergency management staff briefed the Public Safety Committee on Sept. 25 on the after-action review (AAR) and update to the Emergency Operations Plan and Continuity of Operations Plan following Hurricane Helene, describing extensive operations, identified gaps and a multi-department improvement plan.
City emergency management staff briefed the Public Safety Committee on Sept. 25 on the after-action review (AAR) and update to the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) following the Helene event, describing extensive operations, identified gaps and a multi-department improvement plan.
Jeremy Knighton (presented via video) and Captain Ross Parkinson, who answered live questions, said the city activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at Level 1 for 156 days during the Helene response and coordinated complex, cross-department operations. "Preparedness pays off," Knighton said on the recorded briefing; Parkinson briefed the committee when the video paused and said the EOP and COOP translated into "structure, clear lines of authority, and operationalized tools that were needed to act quickly."
Staff reported more than 200 rescues, hundreds of emergency evacuations, and thousands of miles searched during the response. The city established five points of distribution and, according to the presentation, distributed nearly 4 million bottles of water to residents. Departments inspected more than 1,500 structures for damage, and more than 100 outside agencies, nonprofits and private-sector partners assisted the effort.
The AAR team said its review reviewed 33 interviews with 46 participants, three surveys (37 total responses), and more than 450 documents. The final AAR lists 108 findings: 34 findings tied to the base EOP and 70 findings tied to department annexes, plus additional annex-specific items. An after-action workshop with 53 city staff produced roughly 100 strategic action items that staff have begun assigning into a work plan.
Strengths cited in the report included: effectiveness of the EOP and COOP in maintaining continuity of essential services; an adaptive EOC battle rhythm; rapid improvisation and innovation by departments (for example, daily one-page public information briefings and ad hoc logistics solutions); and broad partner engagement. Gaps included: uneven EOP literacy across departments, limited EOC staffing depth for certain sections, strained logistics and supply chains, inconsistent information flows with external partners and the need for more formalized liaison roles.
Improvement actions underway or recommended include: expanded EOP and COOP training and exercises; development of personnel reassignment policies to manage surge staffing; hardened communications and radio cache expansion; formalizing volunteer, donations and resource-management processes; cross-training liaison officers; and creating a city-county coordination task force to clarify expectations and escalation processes.
Parkinson said staff have already begun implementing corrective actions and training (for example, incident-management training and radio contingency exercises) and will return to provide quarterly updates to the committee. The presentation to full council occurred Sept. 9; the Sept. 25 committee briefing was informational only and required no committee action.
Ending: Staff emphasized the AAR is about improvement, not blame, and asked elected leaders to support continued cross-departmental efforts to implement the work plan and strengthen response capacity ahead of future complex events.
