2011 EPA Emergency Preparedness Conference.

Pittsburgh to Host Emergency Preparedness Conference

Release Date: 10/13/2011
Pittsburgh will host one of the largest gatherings of emergency responders, counter-terrorism specialists and other emergency-related professionals in the nation when the 2011 Emergency Preparedness & Hazmat Response Conference comes to town October 30 through November 2.
Co-sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Pittsburgh Regional Business Coalition for Homeland Security, the annual conference is expected to attract more than 700 disaster experts from across the country.
The conference offers an opportunity for emergency responders to obtain valuable training in terrorism awareness, radiation accidents, and other emergency response challenges. The conference also offers an ideal setting for local responders such as firemen, police officers, and paramedics to share new ideas and success stories on what they are doing in their communities to prepare for and respond to emergencies. 
More than 100 exhibitors also will be displaying the latest trends of state-of-the-art emergency equipment, protection gear and technologies that are available to help emergency responders provide the best service possible.
It will be held at the Wyndham Grand Hotel, located at 600 Commonwealth Place in downtown Pittsburgh.

The 2011 U.S. EPA Region III Emergency Preparedness Conference

November 3, 2011

Emergency responders, emergency managers and fire department personnel from throughout the Mid-Atlantic descended on Pittsburgh Pennsylvania this week as the city hosted the 2011 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region III Emergency Preparedness & Hazmat Response Conference which wrapped up Wednesday. The venue for the conference was the Wyndham Grand Hotel located just across the river from Heinz Field.

The four-day conference, which was hosted by “the Pittsburgh Regional Business Coalition for Homeland Security “ consisted of tours, workshops and training sessions and is advertised as the “Nation’s Premier All-Hazards Conference for Government and Industry with Quality Education, Training, and Networking” according to conference organizers.

A majority of the conference agenda was filled with workshops and training programs where attendees heard about lessons learned from hazardous materials incidents throughout the nation as well as different response and planning methods used to address spills and chemical releases from a growing hazardous materials transportation industry.

One course titled “current trends in terrorism and explosives” was lead by the Philadelphia Police Bomb Disposal Unit. The instructor covered different bomb making concerns and a growing threat of lone-wolf events which may be inspired by international Islamic terrorist with no direct association between either. Specifically covered were events in Israel, London England, and Madrid Spain where small groups of individuals conducted coordinated attacks on mass transit targets with devastating results.

On day three of the conference, organizers held the “opening general session” which consisted of remarks from U.S. EPA officials but the keynote speaker was Eric Greitens. Greitens, who is a Navy Seal Officer and author of the New York Times Bestseller “The Heart and the Fist…The Education of a Humanitarian. The Marking of a Navy Seal” spoke on his experiences in Iraq and as a Navy Seal and how the lessons he learned can be used in every day life to cope with obstacles. Greitens donated his combat pay from a tour in Iraq to found The Mission Continues. The Mission Continues is an organization dedicated to assisting wounded soldiers who can’t return to active duty by allowing them to continue their quest for other public service opportunities here at home.

The conference ended on Wednesday with a general session where the speakers discussed the response surrounding the deadly and destructive May 22, 2011 Joplin Missouri tornado. The tornado, which claimed 159 lives destroyed St Johns Hospital and EMS personnel where at the conference to speak on their experiences from that mass care response.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region III Emergency Preparedness and Hazmat Response Conference is an annual conference hosted by the U.S. EPA. Past host locations have included Baltimore, Maryland and Richmond, Virginia.