2011 EPA Emergency Preparedness Conference.
This was the website for the 2011 EPA Emergency Preparedness Conference. The content is from the site's archived pages. Archived pages also included information on the 2010, 2012, & 2013 conferences.
2011 PRESS RELEASES
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.
CIRCA 2011
Join us in Pittsburgh for a prime opportunity to meet and mingle with key decision makers in the emergency preparedness and prevention field. Our conference will bring you face to face with many of those often hard to reach customers. Call our Conference Hotline at (800) 364-7974 or register online to reserve your booth today.
We've planned an agenda with a broad range of audiences in mind. You'll find numerous topics and training opportunities for:
- Local emergency planning committee representatives
- Environmental, emergency and safety staff from federal facilities
- Environmental, health and safety, and operations representatives from industry
- First response personnel from fire, emergency medical, and law enforcement agencies
- State emergency response commission members
- Hazmat response teams
- Emergency managers and planners
- Regulatory compliance specialists
- Emergency medical personnel
- Medical, safety and environmental personnel from hospitals
- Maritime industry personnel
- Transportation and distribution industry personnel
- Power and utility industry staff
- Safety and environmental personnel from colleges and universities
- Counter-terrorism professionals and specialists
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If you attended, you know this was an informative conference. Living in the world of post 9/11 in New York City emergency preparedness is a hot subject for both the professionals and the rest of us New Yorkers. Another emergency disaster is always lurking in the dark recesses of my imagination having been here during 9/11 and the aftermath. I really enjoy discussing the potential for another disaster and our preparedness for it with my fellow lawyers, who have various takes on civil liberties that might have to be set aside in a terrorist attack. Former Queens Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Pred suggests that we might actually lose some of our rights in regard to free speech, free assembly, etc. if preventing an attack becomes a big enough concern. I tend to agree, but feel that we in NY are much too spoiled to permit those rights to be taken without a fight. Ben says there won't even be a fight - those rights will go away along with an edict declaring Marshall law or a directive from Homeland Security. I hope we never find out. Interestingly, Benjamin Pred has had his own battles, as he recently triggered a bout with rhabdomyolysis by overdoing a fitness routine and ended up in the hospital - Ben mentions that experience here. This personal challenge demonstrates that even those at the forefront of emergency preparedness and civil liberties discussions are not immune to the risks of pushing themselves too hard in other aspects of life.