Emergency management officials, 1st responders gather in Las Vegas
Hundreds of first responders and emergency management officials are in Las Vegas this week for the National Homeland Security Conference.
The conference, which began Monday and continues through Thursday at the MGM Grand Conference Center, serves as an annual meeting of homeland security officials from around the country, including law enforcement, emergency medical services, hospital personnel, private security companies, volunteer response organizations and mutual aid partners, according to a statement from Clark County.
This is the first time the conference has been held in Las Vegas, county spokeswoman Stacey Welling said.
Multiple local officials spoke during the conference’s opening ceremony Tuesday morning, including Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, Clark County Fire Chief John Steinbeck and Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Billy Samuels.
The opening ceremony focused on Las Vegas’ network of emergency response officials and first responders, especially during the aftermath of the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting and the formation of the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center.
Caleb Cage, Nevada’s former COVID-19 response director, delivered the keynote address, telling officials that by focusing on resiliency, communities can emerge from disasters stronger than before. But large disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic, along with intense political divides, are making it harder for officials to adequately respond to major emergencies, Cage said.
“The political crisis that we face as a nation right now is becoming the crisis, and everything else is filtered through that lens,” Cage said. “So we have tropical storms, we have wildfires, we have pandemics ongoing, we have active shooters ongoing, and all of these things are made more difficult because we cannot work together toward unified goals as a nation.”
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.