Each morning on Maui, Clint Wilson, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu District local government liaison, attends a cooperators’ meeting with representatives from local government, nongovernment organizations, and state and federal agencies assisting with the emergency response to the Hawai’i wildfires that occurred Aug. 8.
The meetings are intended to facilitate a free flow of information between all the participating agencies and organizations.
According to Wilson, attending meetings has allowed him to connect with other stakeholders involved in the emergency response efforts. Several have introduced themselves after recognizing his white “USACE Emergency Operations” polo.
“Attending the cooperators’ meeting lets me meet face to face with various federal, state, and local responders. I find communication is clearer in person, and it is easier to keep track of the many names, faces and organizations once we have met,” said Wilson.
The meetings are an initiative of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which has provided representatives to assist with emergency response efforts at the request of Maui County and as part of CAL FIRE’s Incident Command Process.
“The point is to bring in all cooperators or stakeholders who don’t have a seat at the emergency operations center,” said Marty Hobbs, liaison, CAL FIRE. “We have two goals. One is to receive concerns from cooperators and stakeholders; the second goal is to then connect them with an incident commander or someone who can address their concerns.”
Stakeholders receive an operations briefing and provide their own contact information so that representatives can follow up.
“It’s one of the ways we gather contact information so that we can reach out to cooperators if someone has a question,” said Hobbs.
As members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Debris Planning and Response Team working with partners to evaluate courses of action related to private property debris removal operations, the cooperators meeting presents opportunities for information sharing.
“I think the meeting can be a valuable connection point for USACE, especially as debris and critical public facilities teams ramp up activities,” said Wilson.