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State Exercises and Resources

Two interrelated cyclical diagrams representing the emergency preparedness and improvement planning processes. The left cycle outlines the preparedness process based on identified threats, hazards, and risks. It includes the steps: Organize, Equip, Train, Exercise, Evaluate, and Plan, supporting the development of preparedness priorities. The right cycle illustrates the improvement planning process, with steps: Evaluation, Conduct, Design and Development, Project Management, and Program Management, used to manage and implement corrective actions and capability enhancements. Both cycles emphasize a continuous, integrated approach to building and sustaining emergency preparedness capabilities.


The Washington Military Department is committed to its goal of minimizing the impact of disasters on our communities, property, economy and environment in Washington state. That means leading an Exercise Program to ensure our first responders, emergency managers, government leaders, non-governmental partners and private citizens have the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to perform key tasks when disasters strike.

Exercises are an important component of preparedness by providing the whole community with the opportunity to shape planning, assess and validate capabilities, and address areas for improvement. An exercise is an event or activity, delivered through discussion or action, to develop, assess, or validate plans, policies, procedures and capabilities that jurisdictions/organizations can use to achieve planned objectives.

The Exercise Program is a comprehensive program designed to build and sustain strategic, compliance and core capability-based preparedness activities throughout the five FEMA Mission Areas of Preparedness, Protection, Mitigation, Response and Recovery. The program leads an all-hazards Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) to assist Washington in preventing, protecting, mitigating, responding to and recovering from man-made and natural disasters.

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Exercise-Specific Training

Washington State Exercise Program recommends the following Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) professional development training available through the National Disaster & Emergency Management University.

Level 1 – Awareness/Beginner Stage

  • IS-120 Introduction to Exercises
  • IS-130 How to be an Exercise Evaluator

Level 2 – Intermediate Stage

  • K/L0146 Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)

Level 3 – Advanced Course Stage

  • K0051 Exercise Program Management
  • E/L/K0139 Exercise Design and Development
  • E/L0050 Exercise Control and Simulation
  • E/L0131 Exercise Evaluation and Improvement Planning

Level 4 – Master Exercise Practitioner Program (MEPP)

MEPP is designed for mid-level exercise practitioners with ideally three (3) year’s experience designing and conducting emergency management exercises consistent with the HSEEP doctrine. Participants refine and practice skills critical to performing the phases of the HSEEP cycle, such as exercise program management, MSEL writing and evaluation data analysis.

  • E0132 Exercise Foundations, Program Management, Design and Development
  • E0133 Exercise Conduct, Evaluation and Improvement Planning
  • K0136 MEPP Capstone Presentation

Prior to application to the Master Exercise Practitioner Program, the following foundational courses are recommended:

  • IS-13 NDEMU Conduct and Behavior
  • IS-100 Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS)
  • IS-200 ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
  • IS-230 Principles of Emergency Management
  • IS-235 Emergency Planning
  • IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction
  • IS-800 National Response Framework (NRF), An Introduction
  • IS-2200 Basic Emergency Operations Center Functions

FEMA Exercise Support Programs

Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC)

The Integrated Emergency Management Course is a four-day, exercise-based training activity for Emergency Operations Center personnel to practice simulated, but realistic, crisis situations, within a structured learning environment. The IEMC combines classroom lectures, discussions, small-group planning sessions, and exercise-based training to expose participants to new ideas and increase their awareness of the coordination needed among other agencies and organizations. During IEMC exercises, participants are assigned roles equivalent to their actual position in the community EOC.

For information on the program, visit: https://training.fema.gov/iemc

*Applications must be sent to the Washington Emergency Management Division to receive appropriate endorsements. POC is the State Exercise Officer (SEO)

National Exercise Program
State, local, tribal, territorial and other whole community partners can receive technical assistance and support for exercises at no cost from experienced exercise specialists in the National Exercise Division.

For more information visit, visit FEMA's site.

*NEP Exercise Support Requests must be submitted through the Washington Emergency Management Division Exercise Program to the FEMA Region 10 Regional Exercise Officer. POC is the State Exercise Officer (SEO).

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Exercise Design Resources

Technical Assistance
Emergency Management Division staff is available to assist cities, counties, tribal entities and state agencies in the design, conduct, and evaluation of their exercises for all hazards. This assistance can be provided in the form of: planning conferences, workshops, and site visits; technical review of exercise documents' exercise design, control, and evaluation' and State EOC exercise play. Contact our Exercise Program Staff for information.

Discussion based Exercise Scenarios

Washington based set of simple scenario templates that can be used for local context building if that’s for discussion-based exercise or THIRA scenarios or any other simple scenario needs from a localized scenario perspective. 

FEMA Preparedness Toolkit

The FEMA Preparedness Toolkit is an online portal that provides the whole community with tools to aid in implementing all six areas of the National Preparedness System. Along with the HSEEP Policy and Guidance, tools include templates for:

  • Exercise Program Management
  • Exercise Design and Development
  • Exercise Conduct
  • Exercise Evaluation
  • Improvement Planning
  • Exercise Evaluation Guides

Click HERE to register for access to additional interactive tools:

  • Exercises (allows for collaboration and coordination)
  • Corrective Actions Management (tracks improvement items from After-Action Reports)
  • Hazard Explorer (interactive map to see hazards and impacts in specific locations)
  • Emergency Management Toolkit (complete toolkit to plan, train, test, assess and engage specific threats and hazards)

For more information on the toolkit visit: https://preptoolkit.fema.gov/web/hseep-resources

Exercise Starter Kit on Reconstituting Operations
FEMA’s National Exercise Division and the National Continuity Programs have collaborated to develop an Exercise Starter Kit on Reconstituting Operations. This Exercise Starter Kit is designed to be shared across the whole community to help organizations, including government agencies, conduct their own planning workshops to navigate the complexities of returning to full operations during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The toolkit is organized into four discussion areas: people, facilities, messaging/communications and resources/logistics. The toolkit includes a set of sample conduct slides and a sample facilitator guide that organizations can adapt and customize for their own needs depending on the organization type and current situation.

EMI Virtual Tabletop Exercise Program
The Emergency Management Institute (EMI) conducts a monthly series of Virtual Table Top Exercises (VTTX) using a video teleconference platform to reach community based training audiences around the country and provide a virtual forum for disaster training.

For more information visit: https://training.fema.gov/programs/emivttx.aspx

CISA developed the COVID-19 Recovery CISA Tabletop Exercise Package
Approved by the White House Task Force, and with input from the Federal interagency, this CTEP also provides organizations the opportunity to discuss how ongoing recovery efforts would be impacted by concurrent response operations to a potential “second wave” of global pandemic infections.

For more information visit: https://www.cisa.gov/publication/covid-19-recovery-ctep-documents

Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) Exercise Templates:

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Corrective Action Program

The Corrective Action Program (CAP) assists in discussing, validating, prioritizing and assigning tasks for observations identified in After-Action Reports (AARs) from exercises and activations. Improvement planning (IP) translates "area for improvement" into "corrective actions" for implementation (IP to CAP). The Corrective Actions are then tracked through oversight, maintenance and regular reviews by stakeholders of Washington State Emergency Operations Center as part of the continuous process.

After-Action Reports
After-Action Reports (AARs) document the evaluation and analysis of tabletop, functional, and full-scale exercises. AARs include an overview of performance related to each exercise objective and associated core capabilities, while highlighting strengths and areas for improvement. This also applies to real-world activations and AARs. State After-Action Reports are available upon request through the General Email address below.

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Contact Us

Exercise Program - Shared Inbox
General Inbox | EMD.exercise@mil.wa.gov

Phil Figuerres
Exercise Program Manager - State Exercise Officer (SEO) – SAA-EPOC
(253) 921-2141 | phillip.figuerres@mil.wa.gov

Jeffrey Brink
Exercise Program Coordinator – State Exercise Coordinator
(253) 512-7136 | jeffrey.brink@mil.wa.gov

CGS exercise IMG_2939

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