The Tidal Basin Preparedness, Resiliency, and Emergency Management (PREM) team recently supported John Wayne Airport’s (JWA) triennial, full-scale exercise in Orange County, CA.

Tidal Basin’s PREM team began working with John Wayne Airport (JWA) in 2019. Our team facilitated the Homeland Security Exerciseand Evaluation Program (HSEEP) planning meetings to ensure the airport’s triennial exercise, originally scheduled for April 2020, would move along smoothly.

As work was underway, the airport requested further contract support in the form of a Family Assistance Training held in March of 2020, just prior to the stay-at-home orders issued in mid-March by many of the country’s governors. During the Family Assistance Training, our experts, Director of PREM PM, Ashlee Delventhal, CEM, CM and VP of PREM, Stephanie Murphy, MS, CEM provided guidance on establishing a Friends and Relatives Center and a Passenger Gathering Area, what responsibilities the airlines and airport hold during events, and maintaining empathy throughout potentially traumatic incidents.

According to the HSEEP doctrine, a full-scale exercise is operations-based and is typically the most complex and resource-intensive of the exercise types, often involving multiple agencies,jurisdictions/organizations, and real-time movement of resources.

The PREM team will finish out the project with JWA next month supporting their Airport Emergency Plan tabletop exercise and their Airport Security Program’s Aviation Security exercise.

Tidal Basin is a comprehensive, all-hazards emergency management company focused on providing preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation consulting services to our clients. We are built on the principle that, when a disaster strikes, communities need to facilitate their own recovery and enhance their future resiliency. Our expert staff provides public and private sector clients with solutions that enhance their preparedness, resilience and their ability to respond to and recover from incidents of any scope.