Nothing to report

News & Events

News

Spontaneous Unaffiliated Volunteers Training Series

WRHSAC announces the availability of the Spontaneous and Unaffiliated Volunteer (SUV) Training Toolkit. This toolkit is designed to provide the resources necessary to effectively plan for and safely operate a volunteer management system based on the Incident Command System (ICS).  This planning and training series was developed by Berkshire Regional Planning Commission under guidance and […]

COAD Summit 2015

The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council will host the second Community Organizations Active Disasters Summit on Thursday, April 30 at the UMass Center in Springfield. Click here to register. The event is free. The Western Massachusetts Community Organizations Active in Disasters (COAD) Summit provides an excellent opportunity for emergency personnel to learn about the wealth […]

UMASS Hampshire MRC Sheltering Exercise in the News

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports on the upcoming large scale UMass / Hampshire MRC shelter exercise. More than 275 people are expected to participate. WRHSAC is providing funds to support the exercise. To read the article click here.

Emergency Rest Center Guide

The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council has shared the recently completed Emergency Rest Center Guide and other related templates. These documents are a result of the latest work of WRHSAC’s  Faith Community Partnering for Emergency Preparedness project. The Emergency Rest Center guide can be adapted by any Faith Based or other organizations that are […]

WRHSAC COAD attends National VOAD Conference

On May 14-15, Tracy Rogers, project manager for the Western Mass. COAD project, attended the National VOAD conference in Indianapolis. She attended workshops listed under the “LEAD – Leadership, Engagement, and Development” track of the conference. These workshops provided information on how to start up new VOADs and COADs, whether a VOAD should consider becoming […]

Public Safety Field Day – Touch A Truck

 

Hampshire County Emergency Shelter Exercise

Registration is now open to participate in the Hampshire County Hampshire County Sheltering Exercise at UMass Amherst on Thursday, April 10 – Friday, April 11, 2014 The main event will be on Thursday evening, however participants are encouraged to spend the night in the shelter. To register as a shelter volunteer or as a shelter […]

Community Organizations Active in Disasters Summit

  The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council together with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments presents the Western Massachusetts Community Organizations Active in Disasters Summit on Wednesday, March 26th at the Clarion Hotel in Northampton. The Summit provides an excellent opportunity for emergency personnel to learn about the wealth of non-governmental, ready-to-serve organizations that […]

Winter Preparedness For Those in Need

The Ready Campaign of FEMA recently posted a bulletin about Winter Preparedness. The full bulletin can be found here. The summary below shares some of the tips from the bulletin. Winter care for seniors While winter poses risks for all affected by the severe weather, it can pose a higher risk to seniors if precautions […]

Hampshire MRC Full Scale Emergency Sheltering Exercise

The Medical Reserve Corps of Hampshire County has issued a Save-the-Date announcement for their upcoming Emergency Shelter Full Scale Exercise. The exercise will be held on Thursday, April 10, 2014. Further details and registration information will be posted soon. This exercise is WRHSAC funded.

Safety Tips for Extreme Cold

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has issued the following safety tips for extreme cold. A PDF of the tips is also available. FRAMINGHAM, MA – The National Weather Service (NWS) is issuing Wind Chill Advisories throughout the Commonwealth for the remainder of the week. Temperatures are expected to plummet and wind chills can reach -25 […]

CERT Train the Trainer

MEMA sponsored CERT Train the Trainer Course. November 13 through 15, 8am to 4pm. Click here to register.

Psychological First Aid Training

Community Health Programs of Great Barrington, MA is sponsoring a Psychological First Aid Training on Friday, October 25, 2013 from 8:30am – 4:30pm. Continuing Education Units have been requested for Psychologists, EMS, and LADC. For the information flyer, click here. To register, click here.

Lets Make A Plan

This class has been cancelled. Would you like to be safer in a disaster? Do you want your community to be more resilient? If “YES” then this class is for you! Let’s Make a Plan (LMaP) is a free 90 minute community education workshop designed to teach you how to prepare yourself and your family […]

Community Organizations Active in Disasters Seeking Members in Franklin County

The Pioneer Valley COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disasters” is actively recruiting Franklin County organizations to become members. The COAD is in the process of writing an emergency response plan and practicing it so response to the next disaster is a more efficient and coordinated effort. If you work for a human service or faith-based […]

Faith Community Rest Centers

Thank you to MassLive.com for publishing this article on WRHSAC’s Faith Community Partnering for Emergency Preparedness Emergency Rest Center project.

New Blog Post Faith Community Partnership

Faith Community Partnership new blog post provides and overview of the current efforts to build emergency rest center network in western Massachusetts.

MEMA 2013 Hurraince Evacuation Guidance

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has issued Hurricane Evacuation Guidance for 2013. This flyer provides useful preparedness planning information for you and your family included: how to receive emergency notices; how to prepare for possible evacuation; what to do if public officials ask you to evacuate; and what to take with you.

Let’s Make A Plan!

Let’s Make a Plan (LMaP) is a free 90 minute community education workshop designed to teach you how to prepare yourself and your family for emergencies. This preparation makes the whole community more resilient, because if you have an emergency plan you are more capable of helping yourself and then reaching out to help your […]

Disaster and Town Management Training Series

The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council awarded funds to the Franklin Regional Council of Governments to conduct a Disasters and Town Management Training Series. This series focused on providing members of town management, such as Selectboard members, Town Administrators and other officials, with pertinent skills to better prepare them for their roles in relation […]

Western Mass Tech Rescue Team

The Western Massachusetts Tech Rescue Team continues to take formation. WRHSAC has supported the development of the team with funds for both training and equipment. The Hampshire Gazette recently caught up with the team during a training day in Northampton. The article can be found here.

Western Massachusetts Regional Tech Rescue Team

WGGB ran a good story about the Franklin County Tech Rescue and how it has lead to the formation of the Regional Tech Rescue Team. http://www.wggb.com/2013/04/23/new-tech-rescue-team-to-protect-region/ The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council (WRHSAC) has provided funds to the Western Massachusetts Fire Chiefs Association to conduct both Rope Rescue Training and Confined Space Rescue training […]

Let’s Make a Plan

Let’s Make a Plan (LMaP) is a FREE community education program designed to teach individuals how to prepare themselves and their families for emergencies Participants receive all the materials necessary to give LMaP workshops. The training class will be approximately 4 hours long and dinner is provided. More information is available here. Register by April 10, […]

Food Bank of Westen Ma Emergency Food Networks

In preparation for the potential severe weather threat from Winter Storm NEMO, the Food Bank of Western Ma has shared their Emergency Food Networks list for each county with their emergency planning / preparedness partners. The Food Bank encourages responders to direct people to these resources if the need arises. Download the pdfs: Berkshire County […]

Active Planning for Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities

The UMass Medical School’s E.K. Shriver Center is looking for MA cities and towns to participate in an emergency preparedness project to build greater capacity in your town to meet the needs of citizens with disabilities. The Shriver Center will provide a free disability awareness workshop for public health and public safety emergency responders, planners […]

Public Health/MRC and School-Based Emergencies

The Hampden County Health Coalition and Medical Reserve Corps are holding an informal “brain-storming” discussion regarding school-based emergencies following calls-for-action received in response to the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Public Health emergency planners, Board of Health members, Health Directors, school educators, parents, Medical Reserve Corps leaders and volunteers are invited to attend. For more […]

BearCat Armored Vehicle

The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council provided funds for the BearCat Armored response vehicle. The Bearcat is housed in Pittsfield and operated by the Berkshire Special Response Team. The Bearcat was recently presented to western Massachusetts law enforcement agencies at a trade show in Holyoke. See the MassLive.com article of that event here.  

Vermont Yankee to Test Sirens

 On Saturday, November 3, 2012 at noon, state and local public safety agencies will conduct an audible sounding of the 37 sirens within the Vermont Yankee 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) which includes the Massachusetts communities of Bernardston, Colrain, Gill, Greenfield, Leyden, Northfield and Warwick. The three-minute siren testing is conducted by the Vermont, New […]

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is currently moving through the Caribbean and is projected to move northward off the eastern Florida coast in the next two days. Although it is still too early to determine Sandy’s precise long-term track, there is increasing confidence that the storm will impact Southeastern New England, including Massachusetts. The extent of impact will […]

Franklin County Public Health Leaders Issue WNV/EEE Advisory

Wednesday afternoon local public health leaders issued a local statement on the current increase in reported cases of West Nile Virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE).   The advisory was issued by the Mohawk Area Public Health Coalition (MAPHCO) — the region’s public health preparedness coalition.   According to Gina McNeely, Health Director for the Town […]

Western Mass READY and National Preparedness Month

As part of September National Preparedness Month, the Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council has organized a month’s worth of events designed to make preparedness a part of everyone’s daily lives. Project partners include the American Red Cross; Public Health Preparedness Coalitions; the Medical Reserve Corps; municipal officials in cities and towns in Berkshire, Franklin, […]

WRHSAC Launches New Websites

Today, the Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council (WRHSAC) launched its new websites WRHSAC.org and WesternMassReady.org.

Events

Community Organizations Active in Disasters Seeking Members in Franklin County

The Pioneer Valley COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disasters” is actively recruiting Franklin County organizations to become members. The COAD is in the process of writing an emergency response plan and practicing it so response to the next disaster is a more efficient and coordinated effort. If you work for a human service or faith-based […]


Fatal error: Uncaught ArgumentCountError: Too few arguments to function eventsCalendar(), 0 passed in /homepages/33/d134314424/htdocs/wp-content/themes/maready/news_events.php on line 138 and exactly 1 expected in /homepages/33/d134314424/htdocs/wp-content/themes/maready/functions.php:526 Stack trace: #0 /homepages/33/d134314424/htdocs/wp-content/themes/maready/news_events.php(138): eventsCalendar() #1 /homepages/33/d134314424/htdocs/wp-includes/template-loader.php(106): include('/homepages/33/d...') #2 /homepages/33/d134314424/htdocs/wp-blog-header.php(19): require_once('/homepages/33/d...') #3 /homepages/33/d134314424/htdocs/index.php(17): require('/homepages/33/d...') #4 {main} thrown in /homepages/33/d134314424/htdocs/wp-content/themes/maready/functions.php on line 526
WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on this website.

Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.