Presenter: Lt. Jim Reidy, Brandon Murray and Eric Jones

This session, which focuses on disaster-related sheltering for evacuees and responders, will be presented by San Antonio Fire Department personnel who have operated all aspects of evacuee and responder shelters, starting with Hurricane Katrina and involving Rita, Dean, Dolly, Edouard, Gustav, Ike, and Alex. The session will look at facilities, resources, personnel, and operations from pre-incident planning to demobilization. Topics to be discussed will include Shelter Manager, Shelter Assistant Manager, Shelter Worker, FNSS, and Pet Shelters along with relationships and interaction with involved agencies and organizations. Based on actual hands-on experience, best practices, and lessons learned from events involving multiple operations running simultaneously with populations from 200 to 8,000 at one mega shelter, this session will increase the capability for cities and communities to be self-sufficient in the area of disaster sheltering.