Oct

24-26

Western Region Mutual Assistance Agreement (WRMAA) Annual Meeting (Oct 24-26)

Mutual Assistance is a key concern for all utilities. In 2003 the Western Region Mutual Assistance Agreement (WRMAA) was created and adopted by gas and electric utilities throughout Western North America to support one another in the event of emergencies affecting generation, transmission, distribution, or other business operations. Signatories meet in person annually to share best practices, discuss key emergency response issues, and elect new members of the Executive Committee and the custodian of the agreement.

Register Now

General Details

  • Program Chair(s)
  • Nancy Sacré, Project Manager, T&D Wildfire Program Management, Southern California Edison

    • Program Location
    • Marriott Tacoma Downtown
    • 1538 Commerce Street, Tacoma, Washington 98402
    • Who Should Attend
    • This program is open to signatories of the Western Region Mutual Assistance Agreement or by invitation.

  • Registration Options
  • WRMAA Signatory Member: $699 USD

    Registration price will increase $100 after October 3, 2022. Registration includes all program materials and meals.

  • General Cancellation Policy
  • Due to contractual obligations, cancellations received 15 business days prior to the program will receive a full refund. Cancellations received 6 to 14 business days prior to the event will receive a refund, less a $100 administrative fee. No shows and last minute cancellations, 5 business days prior to the event or less, will be responsible for the full registration fee. Substitutions from your organization for the same event are always welcome.
  • Participation Policy
  • Western Energy Institute programs and events are open to energy companies (including gas production and electric generation, gas and electric transmission and gas and electric distribution utilities). Select programs and events are open to energy industry product and service suppliers. Programs and events are closed to all media representatives and to the general public. Recording is not permitted for any portion of the event.
  • For more information contact Marco Henkel, Program Manager at (971) 393-3250.

Agenda

Monday, October 24, 2022

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

WRMAG Executive Committee Briefing

Anyone interested in future participation in the WRMAG Executive Committee is welcome to meet with committee members to ask questions and discuss options.

5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Networking Reception

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

7:00 AM - 8:00 AM

Networking Breakfast

8:00 AM - 8:15 AM

Welcome + Introductions
Speaker(s): Nancy Monika Sacré, Project Manager, T&D Wildfire Program Management, Southern California Edison

8:15 AM - 10:15 AM

WRMAG Workshop, Challenges, and Opportunities Roundtable
Facilitator(s): Tom Jacobus, Principal Manager, Southern California Edison
Speaker(s): Nancy Monika Sacré, Project Manager, T&D Wildfire Program Management, Southern California Edison

Please come prepared to participate and share your recommendations, experience, and answers.

  • What are the greatest challenges your company is currently facing?
  • What does your company do well that you’d like to share with others?
  • What do you hope to take away from this meeting?
  • A survey will be sent out to capture this information but we would like you to begin thinking about it. – In a blue sky situation, what would be your company’s baseline commitment to a large scale request for mutual assistance?

On Tuesday, August 30 there was a virtual workshop focusing on mutual assistance in the west.  Tom Jacobus will provide a brief summary and cover two key topics raised during the workshop.

  • Summary of Workshop
  • Operating Procedures update to ensure Exec Leadership Structure/Engagement required by WRMAG-EC when lacking and before we get to the CEO outreach for dig-deep or membership participation during activations

Align on what does and does not qualify as mutual assistance under the current agreement.        

10:15 AM - 10:30 AM

Networking Break

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Onboarding Process for Mutual Assistance Responders
Moderator(s): Nancy Monika Sacré, Project Manager, T&D Wildfire Program Management, Southern California Edison

This panel will look at various approaches to assimilating and integrating responding crews within your workforce. They’ll share lessons learned when it comes to onboarding mutual assistance responders.

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Powering Critical Incident Stress Management Through Peer Support.
Speaker(s): Mac Mikkelsen, Hydro Operations and Maintenance Manager - Lower Spokane River + Critical Incident Stress Management Coordinator, Avista Utilities

Mac Mikkelsen is Avista’s Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team Coordinator. He will share how they built their CISM program internally by developing a team of Peer Support Members (PSMs) to respond to assist in the needs of employees who have experienced a traumatic event. The PSMs were developed in order to educate, prevent, and mitigate the effects of high stress incidents among employees. CISM trained employees provide early, post event assistance through supportive listening and confidential engagement as well as referral to professional resources if necessary. Ultimately the hope is that employees can return back to work feeling less stress, and be able to help customers.

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM

Networking Lunch

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Lessons Learned
Moderator(s): Joanna Stelzig, Public Relations Manager, Tillamook PUD
Speaker(s): T.M. Sandulak, Manager, Emergency Management & Business Continuity Programs, FortisBC, Dennis Darling, Manager, Business Continuity and Emergency Management, Portland General Electric, Robert Amparano, Emergency Services Coordinator II, Imperial Irrigation District

2:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Networking Break

3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Supply Chain Challenges and Solutions
Moderator(s): Lydia Mertyris, Manager, Safety and Emergency Planning and Preparedness, Hawaiian Electric Company
Panelist(s): Wally Mealiea, Director, Preparedness & Recovery Policy, Edison Electric Institute, Cody Krogh, Supply Chain Manager, Avista Utilities, Hector Lucero, Supply Services Manager, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power

Supply chain issues are becoming more difficult by the day as we learn we have a lot of stuff, but not necessarily the right stuff. What is the supply chain picture from end to end? How is the skillset required of supply chain employees changing? Can the use of data analytics help us become more predictive than reactive? How do the supply chain challenges affect mutual assistance and what solutions are on the horizon?

4:30 PM - 5:00 PM

"What do I do if I need help?” – Understanding the WRMAG Process
Speaker(s): Nancy Monika Sacré, Project Manager, T&D Wildfire Program Management, Southern California Edison, Joanna Stelzig, Public Relations Manager, Tillamook PUD, Lydia Mertyris, Manager, Safety and Emergency Planning and Preparedness, Hawaiian Electric Company

There’s nothing more important than knowing who to turn to and what to do when you need help. We’ll walk step by step through the mutual assistance process with ample time for questions.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

7:00 AM - 8:00 AM

Networking Breakfast

8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

WRMAG Business Meeting
Speaker(s): Nancy Monika Sacré, Project Manager, T&D Wildfire Program Management, Southern California Edison, Joanna Stelzig, Public Relations Manager, Tillamook PUD, Lydia Mertyris, Manager, Safety and Emergency Planning and Preparedness, Hawaiian Electric Company

The Business Meeting will include and overview of Western Region Mutual Assitance Group activities as well as votes on the 2023 Secretary-in-Waiting and Custodian for 2023.

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Networking Break

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Roundtable for Sub-Committee Interest and Miscellaneous or Future Topics of Inte
Facilitator(s): Tom Jacobus, Principal Manager, Southern California Edison

  • Assemble a Resource Movement Plan sub-committee to address the following scenarios:
    • Typhoon in Hawaiian Islands
    • Cascadia Subduction Zone EQ (Pac Northwest)
    • Southern San Andreas EQ (Southern Cal)
  • Assemble an Exercise Design Program sub-committee to develop a series of exercises for the West (likely one annually) to test regional capability up to possibly requesting an NRE (national response event) should a Cascadia event impact more than one region. Something more expansive that done in the past. The WRMAG participates in the EEI NRE exercise; however, that does not fully engage our entire RMAG.

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Wrap Up and Adjourn

Hotel + Travel

  • Reservation Instructions
  • Please contact the hotel directly at (800) 228-9290 to reserve your room. Identify yourself as being with Western Energy Institute (WEI) and use the discount code ‘IEWIEA’ to receive a special rate of $179 USD/night. This rate is guaranteed until October 7, 2022 or until the WEI room block is full.

Onsite Safety + Health Info

Effective August 18, 2022, proof of vaccination status or results of a negative COVID-19 test will not be required for admittance into most WEI-hosted programs.

WEI continues to monitor all federal level CDC, Canadian government and public health agency recommendations, as well as local ordinances, as a policy baseline for in-person programs. We encourage all attendees to review the current guidelines related to isolation and precautions prior to traveling to a WEI event, as well as guidance for traveling to and from Canada, which may differ from guidance for traveling to or from the United States.

Some WEI-hosted programs may require proof of vaccination status, if essential for participation, in which case WEI will communicate this requirement in advance of the program start date.

Please refer to WEI’s Safety + Health Code of Conduct for other important considerations.

Meet The Speakers

Nancy Monika Sacré

Southern California Edison

Project Manager, T&D Wildfire Program Management

Joanna Stelzig

Tillamook PUD

Public Relations Manager

Lydia Mertyris

Hawaiian Electric Company

Manager, Safety and Emergency Planning and Preparedness

Robert Brandkamp

Avista Corp.

Senior Risk Program Manager

T.M. Sandulak

FortisBC

Manager, Emergency Management & Business Continuity Programs
Learn More

T.M. (Taras) Sandulak is the manager for FortisBC’s corporate emergency management and business continuity program and has been in the role since 2016, bringing with him several years of experience in various capacities of emergency response, crisis management and occupational health/safety. He is responsible for managing 88 business continuity plans, 44 regulated emergency response plans to include: natural gas transmission, distribution, LNG operations, propane plant facilities, natural gas for transportation, electric transmission/distribution and hydro-electric generation. T.M. also holds 23-26 regulated exercises per year to include 3-5 Full-scale exercises involving multiple agencies. He is also responsible for EOC operations, training and the management of real-time emergencies throughout the province, providing advice and recommendations to senior leadership and the company executive.

He is an NFPA 1001 professionally trained firefighter, high-angle and confined space rescue technician as well as NFPA 472 Hazmat Operations certified, certified to ICS 400 as well as holding a National Construction Safety Officer designation. Previously serving as both an Infantry non-commissioned officer and commissioned officer in the Canadian Army for a total of twenty-four years and bringing extensive institutional and operational experience.

T.M. has a Master’s Degree in Disaster and Emergency Management from Royal Roads University, in Victoria, British Columbia and is on the part-time faculty of Northern College where he teaches Terrorism Response and Recovery.

Mac Mikkelsen

Avista Utilities

Hydro Operations and Maintenance Manager - Lower Spokane River + Critical Incident Stress Management Coordinator
Learn More

Mac is the Manager of Hydro Operations and Maintenance at Avista’s Long Lake and Little Falls Dams on the Spokane River, and Team Coordinator for the Critical Incident Stress Management Program. In a previous career he worked as a Park Ranger for Washington State Parks and as a District Security Officer for the US Marshal Service. He serves as a School Board Director for the Nine Mile Falls School District, is a member of the Washington State School Board Director’s Association and the district’s representative for the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association. Mac has a bachelor’s degree from Washington State University and certificated through the Parks Law Enforcement Academy.

Dennis Darling

Portland General Electric

Manager, Business Continuity and Emergency Management

Placido Amparano

Imperial Irrigation District

Emergency Services Coordinator II
Learn More

Robert Amparano is currently the Emergency Services Coordinator II for the Imperial Irrigation District (IID).
Robert’s interest in emergency services started at a very young age and right out of high school at the age of 19. He started working in emergency services as an Emergency Medical Technician and Firefighter for Imperial County.
He later transitioned to the California Department of Corrections, Centinela State Prison, where he worked the main line and also provided in-service training for the department.
In 2005 he was hired by the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) and soon after transferred into the Emergency Services Department as the Emergency Services Coordinator II.
His work with the Emergency Services Unit includes providing ICS 100, 200, 300 & 400, SEMS, and NIMS training. In addition to First Aid and CPR Instruction. Robert took the lead in implementing Amateur Radio System throughout the IID. Currently, he is actively participating in recovery efforts as a result of multiple storm that impacted Imperial Irrigation District from 2021 and 2022.
He has helped manage several disaster proclamations projects for the IID, including weather events from 2007 and the Winterhaven Storm, most recently in 2022. In addition, Robert was instrumental in the recovery efforts due to the 7.2 Easter Earthquake in 2010. He has provided Mutual Assistance to outside agencies in 2017 and 2019 and Mutual Aid to local agencies within Imperial County. During the San Diego Wildfires, he assisted the Imperial County OA as the Deputy Ops Chief.
Robert enjoys spending time with his family; he loves to barbecue and cook for them. He enjoys fishing, hunting, camping, and being outdoors with his family and friends. Robert is a big part of Imperial’s Boy Scout Troop 4070. He assists and volunteers his time to help mentor our young men to be the future leaders of our community. Robert gives his time so that our fallen heroes will never be forgotten; he is a board member for the Imperial Valley 9/11 Stair Climb Committee and is instrumental in the annual I.V. 9/11 Stair Climb event to remember those who gave their lives on that dreadful day, September 11, 2001. Amparano does not only give his free time to his family and is a Council Member for the City of Imperial but to Imperial County as well. He volunteers his time to the IV Fairgrounds and is a big part of the annual Mid Winter Fair operations and security.

Thomas Jacobus

Southern California Edison

Principal Manager

Wally Mealiea

Edison Electric Institute

Director, Preparedness & Recovery Policy

Cody Krogh

Avista Utilities

Supply Chain Manager

Hector Lucero

Los Angeles Department of Water & Power

Supply Services Manager