Bend emergency management outlines hazards, asks accessibility committee for input

Carrie Carl, the city of Bend director of risk and emergency management, told the City of Bend Accessibility and Advisory Committee on March 27 that emergency planning and response start and end locally and that the city needs COBAC's accessibility expertise in preparedness and recovery planning.

"Emergency management and emergencies begin and end locally," Carl said, adding that "it is always the jurisdiction having authority that is closest to the incident that has the responsibility for it." She described the department's mix of responsibilities — occupational health and safety, workers' compensation and emergency planning — and asked committee members to help identify barriers and community assets that should be included in planning and outreach.

Carl reviewed the four phases of emergency management — mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery — and the related mission areas of prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery. She used the Bridge Creek watershed and the city's water filtration facility as a mitigation example: sediment buildup in the watershed could raise turbidity after a wildfire and hamper drinking-water treatment, so the city is seeking funding and pre-incident work to reduce that risk.

She emphasized coordination protocols for resource…