Staff from the Neighborhood Services Department (NSD) and the Building Safety Division (BSD) participated in Damage Assessment Training presented by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA). Staff from other area government agencies including the University of Illinois and Champaign County attended the training as well. Due to recent staff turnover in both NSD and BSD, Building Safety Supervisor Randy Smith requested this training from the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency.
The first half of the training focused on the reason for completing damage assessment quickly after an event. Damage assessment provides information that the State can use to request Federal Assistance. The damage assessment teams are used mostly to assess the damage to residential properties.
The second half of the training focused on using the newly developed forms for tablets to perform damage assessment. The IEMA staff provided tablets to use for hands on training. The attendees were able to complete sample forms and see how the information was uploaded to a central location.
The BSD Staff that attended: Randy Smith Duane Allen, Nick Schubach, John Finn, and John Kunich.
The NSD staff that attended: Tim Spear, Jeremy Kleparski, Ricardo Alvarez, Steven Lowe, and Dan Gaskin.