Trainings and exercises

Learn more about emergency management trainings and webinars, including our Emergency Operations Center 101 videos.

Washington State Homeland Security Region 6 is defined as the geographical boundaries of King County. Region 6 receives funds to address local terrorism planning, mitigation, response, and recovery issues through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security via Washington state. An element of this grant funding is dedicated to the training and exercising of local responders. King County Emergency Management, the local Homeland Security grant managing agency, is tasked with the equitable and appropriate distribution of these funds.

Upcoming trainings

Emergency Management Professionals webinar series

In our webinar series, we share practical strategies, techniques, and procedures for dealing with issues or incidents that may arise during emergencies or disasters. This webinar series will cover a wide variety of issues related to emergency management. These will help our King County partners and partners organizations.

Upcoming webinars

Date	Time	Webinar topic	Registration link
November 6, 2025	12 to 1 p.m.	Evacuation & Climate Displacement: Lessons on Populations at Risk (Dr. Tisha Holmes)	Register here
November 19, 2025	12 to 1 p.m.	Hurricane Milton: Social Media Insights in the Eye of the Strom (Chris Smith, Emergency Manager, City of Burien)	Register here

Past webinars on Vimeo

Topic	Presenters
Fire Season: What to know about State Mobilization, FMAG and King County	State Mobilization, FMAG/WA EMD, King County
Trash Talk: Debris Management after Disasters	King County Solid Waste Division; Port of Tacoma
Long-Term Disaster Recovery: Re-Engagement and Finding Vitality	Kira Mauseth, Ph.D., Co-Lead Behavioral Health Strike Team, WA Dept. of Health
Establishing and Maintaining a COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disasters)	Deborah Needham, Emergency Management Director, City of Renton; Michelle Theurer, Coordinator, City of Renton
Tohoku Case Study: A Tale of Two Schools	Elyssa Tappero, Tsunami Program Coordinator, WA EMD
The Fusion Center: What it Does and Why it Matters	Doug Larm, Regional Lead Analyst, Seattle Police Dept/Washington State Fusion Center
HLS Grants - Past, Present, and Future	Jennifer Schaal, WA EMD (retired) and Sierra Wardell, Financial Operations Section Manager, WA EMD
Washington's Volcanoes - Threats and Potential Impacts	Brian Terbush, Earthquake/Volcano Program Coordinator, WA EMD
Discover the Heart of Tribal Emergency Management: Building Meaningful Relationships	Lisa Figueroa, Emergency Manager, Redmond Fire Department
Navigating the Flames: A Six-month Reflection on 2023 Spokane County Wildfire Recovery	Quinn Butler and Zack Gifford, WA EMD and Chandra Fox, Spokane County Emergency Management
Crowd Talks: Insights into Effective Crowd Management	Tammy Knox, Witt O'Brien
Conversations with a Scientist Understanding the Türkiye Earthquake from a Scientific Lens	Recep 'Ray' Çakır, Ph.D., L.G. Geophysicist/Seismologist
Smart Exits: Harnessing Machine Learning for Safer Evacuations	Grady Joseph, Witt O'Brien and Tracy Spry, Laris Technologies
East Palestine Train Derailment: Emergency Response, Cleanup and Recovery	Mark Durno, EPA Region 5 On-Scene Coordinator
Hosting the World: Insights on Planning & Coordination for Large Scale Events	Capt. Gary Carter and Capt. Tom Simons, Salt Lake City Fire Department (2023 NBA All Star game)
Pathways to Resilience: Fire-Adapted Communities in Action	Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, RAND and Allen Myers, Regenerating Paradise
A Fork in the Road: 10 decisions for Emergency Managers in an Era of Uncertainty	Ed Conley, Presenter
Are Warnings Enough? A Conversation on Flood Communication from Alerts to Action	Ted Buehner, Presenter