Statewide OEM conference draws 500 to Colorado Springs

More that 500 emergency managers and first responders from across the state were in Colorado Springs this week for the annual Colorado Emergency Management Conference.

The conference was held at the Hotel Elegante in Colorado Springs.

This year’s theme was “Capability & Capacity: Preparedness Isn’t By Chance.”

Organizers said the city was an appropriate location for the event considering the variety of disasters — wildfires, floods and landslides — to affect the area since 2012.

The conference focused on lessons learned and the chance to improve the knowledge and skills needed to increase homeland security and emergency management capabilities.

“We’ve learned a lot,” said Erin Duran of the Colorado Springs Office of Emergency Management. “We focus a great deal on after-action reviews where we can determine what the deficiencies were when we had a disaster. We learned a lot, we made changes and built programs to fill those gaps.”

Organizers said the conference dates to the civil defense days of the 1960s but threats are changing to include active shooter situations.

“It’s vital that the emergency management community become more accustomed to what that new normal might look like in terms of active shooters and homegrown violent extremists, because there’s differences with that,” said Dana Reynolds of the Colorado Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The conference began Tuesday morning and ended Thursday evening.

Colorado Springs last hosted the conference in 2010.