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Lincoln County EMA warns Code Red breach and flags smaller emergency grant awards
Summary
Lincoln County Emergency Management reported a contracted courts scoping grant estimate (county match ~$11,997.50), reduced EMPG funding, and that the county's Code Red alerting system had a recent data breach requiring the county to consider alternate alerting platforms and to notify subscribers.
The Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency told commissioners on Dec. 3 it is pursuing a courts-scoping engineering grant with an estimated project cost of $47,990 and a county match of $11,997.50 (25%). Staff said if the grant is awarded it would likely be about a year before funds are needed and the project executed.
The EMA director also reported a significant drop in expected EMPG (Emergency Management Performance Grant) funding: the likely award for this cycle is in the $25,000–$27,000 range, down from prior awards in the ~$60,000 range, and that the federal grant year start date change has created short-term budget timing pressure for the county’s EMA program.
On communications, the director alerted the board that the county’s Code Red alerting vendor experienced a security incident in which the vendor’s contacts database was compromised. The director said Code Red lost certification to send alerts via IPAWS and that subscriber contact data "had been compromised" and may have been posted on the web. County staff have been moved onto a new vendor instance and Code Red offered two months’ credit; staff said help-line response was slow and recommended evaluating alternate alerting authorities and coordinating with the sheriff’s office to ensure the county can still issue time-sensitive emergency notifications.
The EMA report also covered radio and mountain-top site repairs, generator maintenance, and coordination with DNRC and Lincoln Electric on bringing power to remote radio shelters; FEMA and Forest Service support for a Local Assistance and Response (LAR) exercise were mentioned with planning expected to begin in January.
The board directed staff to continue follow-up on grant paperwork, coordinate with partner jurisdictions on hazard mitigation and distribution management plans, and evaluate the county’s alerting system options in light of the Code Red incident.
Votes or formal actions: No formal approval was required for the EMA briefing; commissioners discussed next steps for grant letters of commitment and to review alternative communications platforms.
