A Conversation With Denver's Director of Emergency Management

By: Eric Holdeman on June 10, 2010

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Denver/National Energy Technology Laboratory/Department of Energy

Dan Alexander is the director of Denver's Office of Emergency Management. He entered emergency management with a background in law enforcement and has been an emergency management director for two medium-sized cities. He discussed with Emergency Management magazine his background, his experience as an emergency management director and much more.

You come from a law enforcement background. How has that helped or hindered you in being an emergency management professional?

My law enforcement background, I think, has actually helped me as an emergency manager. Back in Wisconsin, emergency management was really comprised of both fire and law enforcement, though it may have tilted a little more toward the fire service. Coming from law enforcement allowed me to bring even more law enforcement entities to the table, since I was perceived as being one of them. I did quickly recognize that an emergency manager is in a delicate position. In many ways, the job is about relationships — building them, nurturing them and striving for continual inclusion. You have to be very careful about the perception of being aligned to one specific discipline.

You have been the director for two medium-sized cities, Milwaukee and Denver. What are some of the significant differences that you have found by making the switch from one city to the other?

Actually I have found my experiences to be similar. Both Milwaukee and Denver face the same natural hazards: tornadoes, severe weather, blizzards, etc.

The biggest difference between the two cities is how they are organized around their emergency management and homeland security programs. In Wisconsin, emergency management and the use of homeland security funding, was very much centered around local initiatives, relationships and building local capability. This allowed for local agencies to develop relationships with their neighboring jurisdictions and to develop a regional construct from the ground up, something that is very important and successful.

Since moving to Denver, I was surprised and impressed to see the level of regional integration that had occurred. The state had defined emergency management/homeland security regions, and a coordinator exists within each region to facilitate the development of homeland security strategies, grant funding and information sharing, among other things. Therefore, there was a lot of integration in planning and capability building across entire regions.

I also think the [2008] Democratic National Convention greatly helped in forming a more regional approach to emergency management. I started my position after the convention, but what I learned of planning for the event, and what I observed as its aftermath, highlighted for me the fact that to put on such an event, you have to act regionally. And I am impressed that that regional concept has been sustained.

Has there been anything significant that you have found in the state laws of either Colorado or Wisconsin that provide an advantage you would like to have had in your present or previous position?

Actually I found Wisconsin and Colorado to be very similar in their political makeups and their structure. Both states are home rule states, where political power is pushed to the lowest levels of government. This can sometimes be perceived as an impediment in emergency management when trying to develop statewide initiatives. Also, both states are similar in that the state emergency management agency is not the same as the state’s administrative agency for homeland security grant funding. I was used to dealing with separate agencies in the emergency management and homeland security aspects of my job.

Regarding state laws, the Wisconsin Legislature had incorporated certain local [hazardous materials] teams as a state asset, covering their liability, workman’s’ compensation issues, etc., when those services were requested by another jurisdiction. This proved to be a tremendous help in promoting regional mutual aid. It would be great to have this type of legislation in Colorado, especially if it was extended to other specialty teams for mutual aid.

I think of the Incident Command System (ICS) as being stronger in the western states because of the wildfire experiences than what you might find in the East or Midwest. Has that been your experience?

I would have thought the same thing, but I think ICS has really taken hold throughout the country. When I was a police officer in Milwaukee, ICS was being taught and implemented within our response protocols. I also saw it being implemented as the city’s emergency management director. After coming to Denver, I saw the region working to create incident management teams, and the implementation of incident command on a daily basis. At least in my experience, the best practices lessons and the requirements from the Department of Homeland Security have really taken hold and that ICS is regarded as the best way to manage a response. Some agencies and regions may have had more intimate experience with it, and there may be varying levels of implementation, but overall, I think there has been an acceptance of its principles.

The key is to continue pushing agencies and jurisdictions to continual self-improvement. Just because an agency uses the term “incident commander” or “section chief” does not mean they are fully implementing ICS. There needs to be a real commitment on the part of a jurisdiction or agency to understand the concepts of ICS and to implement them. This is where I see a major role for emergency management. It is the job of emergency management to be that ICS resource for their jurisdiction — to help agencies understand its concepts and encourage its proper implementation.

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Eric Holdeman

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.

E-mail: ericholdeman@ericholdeman.com

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