An Evaluation of City of Seattle's Emergency Management Program

The City of Seattle commissioned a study of its emergency management program. The consultant, BERK Consulting provided a verbal briefing to the Seattle Council committee responsible for emergency management in the city. King TV, a NBC affiliate covered the testimony in this story, Seattle warns [ed] its emergency management system is stretched thin ahead of major disasters  I believe this study was funded by the city itself.

The Cliff Notes summary is, Seattle Office of Emergency Management is understaffed and underfunded for the risks that the City of Seattle faces, both now and in the future. And, they have been sucked up needlessly in the past with helping to deal with homelessness and other issues not directly associated with the traditional role of emergency management and disaster resilience.

The full testimony by Brian Murphy, BERK Consulting to the Public Safety Committee can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIx3ZKlDQB8  I have not had the time to watch/listen to the full testimony. I can tell you that BERK Consulting is a firm I’ve used to support my King County and other regional emergency Management programs in the past and they do excellent work. I’ve also participated in consulting engagements as part of their team, and they are a quality firm that knows what they are doing when it comes to emergency management.

The thing that the City of Seattle needs to be prepared for is a decline in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant programs that have been traditionally provided in the past. So, while they are behind now in funding their city’s disaster resilience, you can expect even more monetary pressures on the agency’s ability to function in the months ahead. For example, all mitigation grants for 2025 were zeroed out and may not be restored, even though there have been some judicial rulings in the last few months to make that happen.