At the completion of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Identify the Federal authorizations for debris removal operations.
• Describe debris management staff roles and organization at the Federal, grantee, and subgrantee levels.

When important public facilities and infrastructure are damaged in a major disaster, the President will authorize the Public Assistance—or PA—Program for emergency work to be performed.

Activation of the PA Program begins a process to help get the infrastructure up and running again as quickly as possible.

Persons at varying levels of government have a role in administering the PA Program.

FEMA personnel receive and review the Request for Public Assistance from their State partners, attend the Applicant Briefing, provide technical assistance from application through project closeout, including completing project worksheets, describing the scope of work, damage description, cost estimates, special considerations on all projects, and obligate funds to the State grantee.

The State grantee prepares the FEMA-State Agreement, schedules and conducts the Applicant Briefing, ensures compliance with environmental and historic preservation requirements, provides technical support by estimating debris quantity and identifying feasible solutions to removal problems, ensures timely distribution of funds, and maintains an accurate record-management system for all PA grant documentation.

The subgrantee—or applicant—may be a local government, a tribe or tribal organization, and some eligible nonprofit organizations.

Subgrantees must identify damaged sites or facilities and estimate the costs to repair or replace sites or facilities, request assistance, manage and implement the entire debris removal operation, provide information to the State to support requests for assistance, and maintain documentation for 3 years after project closeout.

Together, Federal, State, and local representatives form a team to ensure effective completion of PA projects.

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended, commonly known as the Stafford Act, addresses debris operations in three sections:

• Section 403 covers Emergency Work including debris removal and demolition.
• Section 407 specifically addresses debris removal.
• Section 502 authorizes direct Federal aid for debris removal.

The Stafford Act also authorizes the FEMA Public Assistance Program to award Federal grants to State and local governments, federally recognized tribes or tribal organizations, and eligible private nonprofit organizations for Presidentially declared disasters.

FEMA’s involvement with debris removal operations occurs after receipt of the Request for Public Assistance and the assignment of a Public Assistance Coordination (PAC) Crew Leader at the Kickoff Meeting, following the Applicant Briefing. The Public Assistance Program goal during recovery operations is to supply staff and technical support for the timely, efficient, and accurate award of Public Assistance grants.

Debris operations staffing and planning are part of the Joint Field Office (JFO) activities. The number of staff devoted to debris operations varies considerably with the size and type of disaster. A sample organizational chart for debris operations at the JFO is displayed on the next screen.

A sample Public Assistance (PA) organization chart for Debris Operations is shown below.

Click on this link to access a description of the roles and responsibilities for these positions.

PA Infrastructure Branch Director/Deputy: Coordinates the restoration of essential public services and administers the Public Assistance Program.

PA Group Supervisor: Manages the overall Public Assistance Program.

PA Debris Task Force Leader (DTFL): Manages the debris operations under the direction of the PA Group Supervisor.

Public Assistance Coordination (PAC) Crew Leader: Serves as customer service manager for the applicants to ensure eligibility considerations and PA grant status. Manages resources and coordinates with debris staff on PA Program issues.

PA Debris Technical Specialist: Functions as a subject-matter expert for applicants to collect the necessary documentation for a PA grant. Provides technical assistance and support to applicants and staff for debris management issues and debris eligibility concerns.

PA Debris Monitoring Specialist: Monitors and documents debris-removal activities to ensure compliance with the rules and regulations for FEMA-funded activities.

Environmental and Historic Preservation Specialists: Provide technical assistance to the Public Assistance staff, management, and the applicants on environmental and historic preservation considerations for debris operations.

Legal Advisors: Interpret Public Assistance regulations and policies and provide legal review and recommendations on issues that may impact the Public Assistance grant process.

External Affairs Specialists: Responsible for all of the Public Assistance communications to outside media outlets including newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet.

The PA organization at the State level varies depending on how the State organizes for disaster response and recovery. The State structure does not have to match FEMA positions. The organizational structure used should:

• Include personnel in all debris removal functional areas.
• Be consistent with the jurisdiction’s and Emergency Operations Center’s (EOC’s) organization.
• Assign specific job titles to each position and define the skill requirements and responsibilities for each job.
• Fulfill its requirements to interact with Federal personnel, subgrantees, and other external partners.

The ability to manage debris clearance, removal, and disposal is dependent on the size of the local jurisdiction, and the magnitude of the disaster. Ideally, there is a Debris Management Plan that local officials activate when responding to the disaster. The Debris Management Plan should identify a primary decisionmaker, for example–a Debris Project Manager–who coordinates the debris activities in multiple functional areas. Additionally, the plan enables the local jurisdiction's force account labor to understand how their normal job functions apply to debris operations.

Details for developing a Debris Management Plan are covered in the next lesson.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to manage and implement debris removal operations. Under the Public Assistance Program, the applicant:

• Must identify its damaged sites and facilities to the State and FEMA.
• Should attend the Applicant Briefing to initiate the PA process.
• Must submit a Request for Public Assistance within 30 days of designation of the county.
• Must provide the documentation needed to complete the damage assessment and project application process.
• Is accountable to the grantee for the use of the funds provided by FEMA.

This lesson explained the roles and responsibilities of the debris management team at the Federal, State, and local levels.

Lesson 3 will address the operational strategies and procedures of the debris removal process.