Deployment Basics for Responding to Another Utility’s Emergency: Practical Considerations to Effectively and Safely Provide Mutual Aid

If your utility was called upon to deploy to provide mutual aid in an emergency, would you know how to prepare to respond? Deploying to an unfamiliar area that has been hit by a major emergency requires advance planning for resources, equipment and materials, and other considerations that may not be readily apparent. The Portland Water Bureau joined with other utilities in Oregon to form ORWARN (Oregon Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network) in 2006 after the Bureau sent two 35 member task forces to New Orleans in 2005 to assist the Sewer and Water Board of New Orleans with water, sewer and drainage system repairs. This had never been done before at this scale and there were many lessons learned by the Bureau.The path from home turf to an unfamiliar area can be fraught with peril. After being asked to help another organization and beginning to fill out a response plan the reality begins to set in; what needs to be considered to successfully get from point A to point B and back again? Post Katrina, ORWARN developed mutual aid agreements and a draft Operational Plan. Utilities in Portland, Eugene and Pendleton conducted three full scale exercises to explore moving personnel and equipment around Oregon to fulfill mutual aid requests and to build on lessons learned by the Portland Water Bureau in New Orleans.