Emergency manager runs 'Operation North Star' tabletop to test wildfire response, messaging and declarations

Teton County Emergency Manager Rich Oakes led a seminar and tabletop exercise on emergency governance and crisis communications for the Town of Jackson and Teton County, using a fictional “Operation North Star” wildfire scenario to prompt discussion about when elected officials should declare emergencies, delegate authority and coordinate public messaging. Oakes told the joint meeting that the Emergency Operations Plan assigns response roles and that the on-scene incident commander handles tactics while an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) supports resource requests and information synthesis.

The scenario Oakes read described a fast-moving wildfire burning near Crystal Butte that destroyed several residences, cut off Cache Creek Drive and produced valley-wide smoke. Oakes asked both bodies whether conditions warranted an emergency declaration (local, handled without state/federal aid), a disaster declaration (which can trigger county, state or federal assistance) or only delegation of authority to responders. “The declaration is the town or the county saying this is when the problem started,” Oakes said, adding that declarations set reimbursement start dates for state and federal assistance and can be ratified after the fact.

Officials generally agreed delegations of authority were essential so responders could spend resources quickly, and several participants said the facts of a real incident — weather, duration and the geographic scale of damage — would determine whether to seek a disaster declaration. One elected official in the meeting said a delegation of authority would likely be supported earlier than a formal emergency declaration; another said the combination of lost structures and blocked routes in the scenario suggested rapid escalation toward a disaster declaration.

Oakes emphasized mutual aid and unified command when multiple agencies are involved. He described the incident-commander role (on scene) versus the EOC’s support role and illustrated how the Joint Information System (JIS) and Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) — including ESF 5 (information/planning) and ESF 15 (external affairs) — produce situation reports and talking points. He named local public information officers who would lead unified messaging and urged message discipline to avoid conflicting alerts that produce public confusion or "milling." Oakes warned that declarations carry perception impacts — for example, national headlines can prompt cancellations even when impacts are localized — and said public-information officers should provide three evolving talking points for elected officials to amplify.

The discussion also covered logistics: public-works assets (snowplows, dump trucks) and the county’s reliance on contractors can shape declarations; mutual-aid arrangements with federal partners (Forest Service, National Park Service) routinely supply helicopters and heavy equipment; and the EOC keeps a running narrative to justify state or federal requests, including dates and durations of impacts.

Oakes closed the exercise by asking participants to complete a feedback form and said staff would produce an after-action report. He recommended annual briefings and vowed to share the exercise’s findings with both governing bodies.