How BOAT became a leader in post-disaster damage assessment.
 
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Aftermath of the deadly EF-4 storm outbreak that ripped through Garland, Texas, on Dec. 26, 2015, spawning 12 tornadoes that killed 11 people and left hundreds without homes.
 
Texas has the potential for more types of disasters than most other states in the nation. Recently, Texans have seen hurricanes, floods, wildfires, explosions, tornados, severe weather and even earthquakes. These disasters are impacting small Texas communities like West and Wimberley; midsize communities like Rowlett and Cleburne; and large cities like Houston, Dallas and Garland. Any disaster can have a profound impact on a municipality and its residents — financially, emotionally and physically.

Police, fire and emergency management departments have developed excellent mutual aid programs that provide statewide initial disaster response to help protect damaged areas and perform search and rescue operations in devastated areas. Following that mutual aid structure, a TML Affiliate — the Building Officials Association of Texas (BOAT) — has become a leader in providing post-disaster damage assessment.

Following the recent tornados in North Texas, 42 professionals from BOAT's Disaster Response Team deployed to Ellis County, Glenn Heights, Rowlett and Garland. The teams were made up of building officials, building inspectors, code enforcement officers and engineers from Benbrook, Carrollton, Coppell, Dallas, Garland, Hurst, Jasper, Irving, Mesquite, Plano, Rockwall, Rowlett, Wichita Falls, as well as the Structural Engineers Association of Texas (SEAoT). These teams performed rapid safety evaluations on almost 2,400 structures in just three days in inhospitable conditions. They posted more than 600 structures as "Unsafe", more than 400 as "Restricted Use" and more than 1,300 as "Inspected".

BOAT's current damage assessment program is primarily focused on homes and buildings, but through a partnership with SEAoT, BOAT is working to possibly assist municipalities with damage assessment to public infrastructure. The current damage assessment program addresses two major issues following a disaster:

  • The first is safety. It is of utmost importance that we attempt to protect our residents from further injury while they work at rebuilding their lives. BOAT's Post-Disaster Damage Assessment Teams provide a rapid safety evaluation on structures to determine if they are safe for entry. Each structure is placarded with a red "Unsafe", yellow "Restricted Use" or green "Inspected" placard. This lets residents and others know if it is safe to go into a building or a portion of a building.
  • The second is data collection on damaged structures. To obtain a disaster declaration from the state or from the federal government, the municipality must provide counts on the number of homes that are affected. Both the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency want to know how many buildings have minor damage, major damage and/or are destroyed in addition to the total dollar value of damage. BOAT's Damage Assessment Teams complete a form on every evaluated structure that provides a percent of damage to that structure. With this data, a municipality can quickly determine the number of structures that are damaged, what category they fit into and the estimated damage amount.
  In addition to the recent North Texas tornados, BOAT's Disaster Response Teams completed this same type of rapid safety evaluation for the fertilizer explosion in West, tornados in Cleburne and Van, and floods in Wimberley and Garland.

It is BOAT's mission to provide this type of service to any jurisdiction that is impacted by a disaster, regardless of the size of the municipality or disaster. BOAT uses the statewide mutual aid agreement to respond anywhere in Texas, and by state law the municipal inspectors are protected by a Good Samaritan provision.

 
Members of the Building Officials Association of Texas Disaster Response Team that was deployed to Ellis County, Glenn Heights, Rowlett and Garland following the December 2015 tornados in North Texas. The teams were made up of building officials, building inspectors, code enforcement officers and engineers from Benbrook, Carrollton, Coppell, Dallas, Garland, Hurst, Jasper, Irving, Mesquite, Plano, Rockwall, Rowlett, Wichita Falls, as well as the Structural Engineers Association of Texas. These teams performed rapid safety evaluations on almost 2,400 structures in just three days in inhospitable conditions.