Farmers Branch reviews emergency-preparedness plan, urges residents to sign up for Branch Alert

Luke Parton, emergency management coordinator for Farmers Branch, briefed the City Council on Sept. 2 about the city's emergency-management program and how residents are notified before, during and after disasters.

Parton said Farmers Branch maintains an all-hazards Emergency Operations Plan with about 22 annexes covering communications, sheltering and other response functions. He described preparedness activities (training, public presentations and an awareness campaign called "Farmers Branch Ready"), continuity-of-operations planning and regular regional coordination with the Quad Cities (Farmers Branch, Carrollton, Addison and Coppell), the North Central Texas Council of Governments and Dallas County.

The presentation focused on notification tools and how residents can receive warnings: outdoor warning sirens (eight citywide, intended for people outdoors and tested the first Wednesday of each month at 1 p.m., weather permitting); Branch Alert (the city's mass-notification system, which can deliver texts, calls and emails); social media and the city website; and NOAA weather radio. Parton said Branch Alert allows subscribers to choose alert types and delivery methods and to set the order in which the system tries each method.

Why it matters: Council members pressed for clarity about local flood-prone areas and how the city will warn residents, and emphasized that effective warning and outreach reduce risk and speed response for storms and other emergencies.

Key points from the session: - Plan and coordination: Parton said the city's Emergency Operations Plan is intended to prepare, mitigate, respond and recover from emergencies. He said the city conducts at least one tabletop exercise annually with emergency operations center staff and participates in regional emergency-management groups and mutual aid through the North Central Texas COG. "Essentially, it's just the preparing for, mitigating against, responding to, and recovering from, emergencies or disasters," Parton said. - Notification tools and usage: Residents were urged to sign up for Branch Alert at farmersbranchtx.gov/alerts; Parton estimated about 2,500 to 3,000 resident signups, which council members noted is less than 10% of the city's population. Parton recommended NOAA weather radios and reviewed how Branch Alert will attempt multiple delivery methods in the order a subscriber sets. - Public outreach: Parton said the city will post preparedness tips for National Preparedness Month and will host a community preparedness presentation on Sept. 16 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Manske Library; he said the presentation will cover household preparedness and how to turn off utilities at home on request. - Regional exercise: Parton described MetroX, a region-wide exercise Oct. 27'29 modeled on complex coordinated incidents; the exercise seeks volunteers to act as victims and to help make drills realistic. He said Farmers Branch will participate via the emergency-management support team. - Local flooding and reporting: Council members raised local flooding concerns in areas such as the Wooded Creek area, Rawhide, Valley View and B Street. Parton said the city can send Branch Alert messages if staff become aware of active flooding and that residents can report flooding and other issues through the city's FPtx Connect tool. - After-action learning: Councilman Neal asked whether the city has drawn lessons from the recent Kerrville incident. Parton said the official after-action report is pending and that his office will review it and bring back any recommendations. "So far, we're still waiting on the official after action. So once that comes out, that's gonna be very valuable for us to see," Parton said.

No formal council action was taken. Council members asked staff to continue outreach through Branch Alert and social media and to return with any operational changes or lessons learned after the Kerrville after-action report is available.

Community members and staff are encouraged to sign up for Branch Alert and to attend the Sept. 16 preparedness session at Manske Library for more information about household readiness, NOAA radios and local warning systems.