Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101 Released by FEMA

by Carrie Little, CEM, City of Grapevine Office of Emergency Management

Understanding that planning is an essential part of homeland security, the Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101, Producing Emergency Plans: A Guide for All-Hazard Operations Planning for State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal Governments was developed to provide communities with guidance for emergency operations planning. CPG-101 conveys to planners what constitutes and effective emergency plan; shows that emergency planning is a process that integrates, coordinates, and synchronizes response activities at the tactical and operational levels; and focuses planning efforts on well-established planning principles and best practices.

The CPG-101 was developed leveraging long standing experience from a group of more than thirty (30) emergency practitioners. Stakeholder committee members included representation from state officials, local officials, university representatives, and professional association representatives. EMAT member Carrie Little, served on the CPG-101 stakeholder committee representing local government.

CPG-101 replaces the State and Local Guide 101 (SLG 101). The updated CPG-101 planning document incorporates concepts from the National Incident Management System and the National Response framework, lessons learned from recent disasters, and recommendations from the Nationwide Plan Review. CPG-101 is the cornerstone for a series of guidance documents to address a variety of hazards and emergency functions. The CPG-101 document also describes the integration of planning concepts between local and state planning processes and the federal integrated planning system.

The CPG-101 provides a process for easy transition across mission areas; uses a mix of scenario-based, functional, and capabilities-based planning, and can be employed by a range of planners in a range of settings – from rural to major metropolitan jurisdictions. The CPG-101 does not direct a specific plan format; rather, it provides content guidance for jurisdictions to develop plans to best fit the geographic, political, and social environments that surround them.

CPG 101 continues the more than 50-year effort to provide guidance about emergency operations planning to State, Local, Territorial, and Tribal Governments. Predecessor material can be traced back to the 1960s-era Federal Civil Defense Guide. Long-time emergency management (EM) practitioners also will recognize the influence of Civil Preparedness Guide 1-8, Guide for the Development of State and Local Emergency Operations Plans, and State and Local Guide (SLG) 101, Guide for All-Hazards Emergency Operations Planning, in the CPG-101 document. While CPG 101 maintains its link to the past, it also reflects the changed reality of the current emergency planning environment.

FEMA Press Releases provided source material for this article.

Copyright © 2009 Emergency Management Association of Texas ®. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy