We’re Ready to Respond: Force Multipliers and Trusted Advisors Throughout the Disaster Management Cycle

Over the last five years, Hagerty Consulting has deployed emergency management professionals to disasters across the country including hurricanes, wildfires, infrastructure failures, floods, transportation accidents, human services operations, and most recently, a global pandemic. 

Throughout our firm’s nearly 20 year history, we have supported clients in nearly every state:

On every project, our mission is the same: to be a trusted partner  for our clients — and an advocate for the communities they serve — as they prepare for,  respond to, and recover from disasters. 

As we head into hurricane and wildfire season, below are insights into our current and past performance and how we may be able to assist you with your community or organization as you prepare to respond.

Preparedness

To help communities increase their resilience and readiness, Hagerty supports local and state governments, private sector companies, higher education institutions, as well as hospitals and healthcare systems with the development and execution of planning, training, and exercise initiatives, including: 

• Conducting gap analyses and capacity assessments to identify where additional information, resources, or guidance are needed most;
• Developing response and recovery plans to clarify and describe organizational structures, coordination mechanisms, and operational concepts; and
• Building practitioner-informed tools to support the implementation of plans, policies, and protocols (e.g., templates, position checklists, decision support tools).

Our planners, exercise designers, and training specialists seek input from our Response and Recovery personnel to solicit promising practices and lessons learned from real-world operations — and ensure they are reflected in and incorporated into all preparedness efforts.

Hagerty helped a state government develop sheltering plans and supporting operational tools. An infrastructure incident occurred in the state, displacing thousands of individuals, and requiring a temporary housing mission. The state sought out Hagerty’s support to mobilize, operate, and demobilize five housing sites—implementing the sheltering plans developed during the preparedness phase.

Response

When disasters strike, Hagerty personnel deploy to Emergency Operations Centers and field-based operational sites to help our clients save lives, reduce suffering, as well as to protect property and the environment. Our responders provide critical subject matter expertise and force multiplication that enables our clients to:

• Expand the breadth and depth of their services and operations to reach more individuals in a more timely and efficient manner;
• Provide overworked staff with a respite period and/or enable them to return to their primary job functions; 
• Build internal capacity (e.g., on-the-job training and mentorship); and
• Memorialize promising practices and lessons learned into After-Action Reports (AAR)  and revised plans, policies, and procedures.

Our metrics for success during response include:  

• The client was able to serve its constituents in a more timely, efficient, equitable, and comprehensive manner; 
• The client experienced increased capacity through Hagerty’s on-the-job training, mentorship, and documentation efforts; and

• The client was able to use time efficiencies gained for strategic planning and positioning for future disasters.

In instances where we have previously supported our clients with preparedness efforts, we are able to immediately utilize institutional knowledge to help them implement pre-disaster plans, engage critical stakeholders, and navigate known “pain points” and challenges during disaster response.

Hagerty helped a state government establish state-level Recovery Support Functions (RSF), modeled after the federal equivalent. After experiencing devastating wildfires, the state initially sought Hagerty’s support to help implement the RSF concept to organize the state’s recovery operations, and eventually expanded Hagerty’s scope of work to include staff augmentation for Emergency Operation Center (EOC), Joint Field Office (JFO), and field operations support.

Recovery, Mitigation and Resilience

Post-disaster, navigating the recovery processes can be incredibly complex, especially for incidents that constitute a major disaster and thereby warrant federal assistance. To help our clients successfully chart their road to recovery, we:

• Interpret new or evolving federal policy and regulations to understand implications for local and state response and recovery actions; 
• Develop long-term recovery plans to help communities rebuild in a more resilient manner; 
• Administer post-disaster grants and other assistance programs;
• Compile and analyze cost recovery documentation (e.g., incident-specific expenditure tracking); and
• Support pre- and post-disaster mitigation efforts to support community recovery and resilience.

In instances where Hagerty can support a client with both response and recovery needs, our response professionals provide critical continuity and institutional knowledge for recovery operations — providing context for key response decisions and actions, including any operational limitations or extenuating circumstances. 

A large municipality utilized Hagerty’s support to build a cost recovery plan, which helped the jurisdiction organize, track, and assess incident-specific expenditures to maximize eligibility for federal reimbursement. This partnership has since expanded to include advisory services and staff augmentation for response and recovery operations for multiple major disasters.

Conclusion

Hagerty is able to provide crucial expertise, staff augmentation, and advisory services to clients before, during, and after disaster strikes. Our team is composed of individuals with deep knowledge and experience in emergency management and related disciplines. We are practitioners who understand the limitations, constraints, and stresses of disasters, but are also armed with the expertise, tools, and mission-focused mindset to help our clients navigate times of chaos, crisis, and uncertainty. 

Consider establishing a comprehensive stand-by response and recovery contract today, which allows your community to procure support services proactively, in advance of a disaster, at no cost to the community until the contract is activated. We stand ready to support you.

Nicole Morales is Hagerty’s Deputy Director of Response and Preparedness. Over the last decade, she has supported public sector, private sector, and non-governmental organizations with preparedness initiatives and response operations. Prior to joining Hagerty, Nicole served as a consultant to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and United States (US) Department of State on domestic and international preparedness. 

Want to join Hagerty’s Response Team?

Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch!