Meet the Denver Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)

By Pat Williams, Denver Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security

In Denver, a group known as the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) meets quarterly to look at natural and manmade hazards within our communities. Our goal is to have an informed community that understands what hazards exist in our own backyard. This group is comprised of volunteers from the private sector, government agencies, elected officials and citizens.

Denver’s LEPC was reenergized in 2010 and has hosted a variety of speakers over the past years, including: a terrorism brief from the Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC); a transportation brief from the Transportation Security Authority (TSA); a hazards brief from the Denver Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (OEMHS); a Strategic National Stockpile brief from Denver Public Health; and agency briefs from Denver Fire Hazardous Material Unit and Denver Environmental Health to let us know about their capabilities. In addition to speakers, we have subcommittees that work to help us develop emergency planning for Denver.
Invitations to the LEPC meetings go to the Registered Neighborhood Organizations to pass to their neighbors. Anyone can attend and would benefit from the information that is being discussed. The next meeting is April 24 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Denver Police District One Community Room, 1311 W. 46th Ave., and we welcome the Park Hill community to attend this and future meetings.

For more information, visit denvergov.org/oem or contact Pat Williams at patricia.williams2@denvergov.org or 720-865-7897.