Thurston County presents 2025 Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan update and incident command training for elected officials

Thurston County emergency management staff presented a complete update to the county's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) and provided a condensed incident command system (ICS) briefing for commissioners during the June 11 Board of County Commissioners work session.

Brandon Sheeny, coordinator and project lead for the CEMP update, told the board the plan is both strategic and operational and is required by the Washington State Emergency Management Division to maintain eligibility for preparedness grants. Sheeny said the county sought to make the plan more actionable for departments and stakeholders and to incorporate an updated threat and hazard risk assessment. "It is a plan that we are required by state law to develop and maintain," Sheeny said.

Staff reported the state's review rated the draft at roughly 95% completeness, a four out of five score and above the state's 75% benchmark. The CEMP base plan describes overarching policies and procedures; supporting emergency support function annexes (modeled on the federal National Response Framework) cover specific response roles. Sheeny said the update emphasizes clearer departmental responsibilities, a whole-government/whole-community approach, and stakeholder engagement; draft materials are posted on the county's emergency planning web pages and staff recommended moving toward adoption by resolution.

Kyle Busad, emergency management manager, led a shortened ICS briefing for commissioners and outlined how local incident response ties into regional, state and federal systems. "ICS ... is an all-hazards approach that allows you to respond to an incident regardless of size, complexity, [or] jurisdiction," Busad said. He reviewed the ECC (Emergency Coordination Center) organization — command, operations, planning, logistics, finance — and discussed local proclamation authority, unified command for multi-jurisdiction incidents, and thresholds for federal public assistance. Busad said Thurston County must document response activities carefully to preserve eligibility for FEMA reimbursement and noted current FEMA/state thresholds: a county public-assistance threshold of $1,450,000 and a state threshold of $15,180,000 for a presidential declaration (figures cited by staff as current as of the presentation).

During discussion, commissioners asked about training, plans for sheltering and mass care, mutual aid and how county and city EOCs coordinate. Staff said the county is building its own sheltering capability (in addition to working with the American Red Cross), has an on-call duty officer, and will continue outreach to jurisdictions, tribes and regional partners. Staff recommended the board adopt the update by resolution once commissioners have reviewed the draft and are satisfied; if more information is needed, staff offered a follow-on session.

No formal adoption occurred during the work session; staff requested direction and said next steps would include a resolution to adopt the updated CEMP and distribution of the final document to stakeholders and the public.