The Emergency Rapid Response (ERR) Program awards state grants to local and tribal governments to restore essential community services following declared disasters or emergencies. An emergency or disaster is an event or set of circumstances that demands immediate action to preserve public health, protect life, and protect public property or to provide relief to a community overtaken by such circumstances.
This program was created by the Legislature in 2022 to support the immediate local response to emergencies and disasters. ERR funds the continuity of essential lifelines that become diminished during an emergency, such as food, water, sewer, power, transportation, communication, and shelter.
Funding availability
$3 million per state fiscal year (July 1 to June 30). Funding requests are considered on an ongoing basis until funds have been exhausted.
How to apply for funding
To begin requesting emergency response funding, complete the Emergency Response Funding Request.
The funding request is open until all funds for that fiscal year are awarded. Funding requests will be considered and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. These funds are available for the fiscal year in which the award is made, retroactive to the date of the declared disaster or emergency.
Program guidelines
Who can declare a disaster or emergency?
- Federal Government
- Tribal Government
- State Government
- Local Government
Eligible applicants
- Federal Government
- Tribal Government
- State Government
- Local Government
Essential lifelines
- Safety and Security – Law enforcement/security, fire service, search and rescue, government service, community safety
- Food, hydration, shelter – Food, hydration, shelter, agriculture
- Health and medical – Medical care, public health, patient movement, medical supply chain, fatality management
- Energy – Power grid, fuel
- Communications – Infrastructure, responder communications, alerts, warnings, and messages, finance, 911, and dispatch
- Transportation – Highway/roadway/motor vehicle, mass transit, railway, aviation, maritime
- Hazardous materials – Facilities, HAZMAT, pollutants, contaminants
- Water systems – Potable water infrastructure, wastewater management
Disaster types eligible for assistance
The ERR grants program can fund a wide range of cases to address gaps in state and federal funding. No two emergencies are the same. Disaster types eligible for assistance are identified in the Washington State Enhanced Hazard Mitigation Plan (2018). The types include, but are not limited to, the top seventeen most common natural and human-caused hazards in Washington State.
Natural Hazards
- Avalanche
- Coastal Hazards
- Drought
- Flood
- Landslide
- Severe Weather (Hail, Lightning, Severe Wind, Tornado, and Winter Weather)
- Tsunami
- Volcano
- Wildfire
Human-caused Hazards
- Agriculture Disease Outbreak
- Dam Safety Incident
- Public Health Incident/Pandemic
- Terrorism
- Hazardous Materials Incident (Oil Trains, Pipelines, HAZMAT)
- Cyber Incident (Incorporated into Terrorism profile)
- Radiological Incident
Evaluation
The program prioritizes:
- Financial need: Prioritizing applicants who do not have viable and timely access to other funds/resources (reserves, insurance, other emergency funds).
- Readiness: Resources are in place to expend the award within the fiscal year.
- Equity: Prioritizing distressed communities with vulnerable populations.
- Funding efforts: Prioritizing applicants who have pursued other funding or for which federal funding is not available.
Resources
- Response and mitigation of floods in Whatcom County
- Funding trucked water in San Juan County to mitigate a water quality issue with PFAS/PFOA, where levels were found so high that a do not drink advisory has been issued
- Spokane County Fires funding debris removal through an interagency agreement with Emergency Management Division
- Snohomish County Culvert failure – providing funding to reestablish access for essential services to homeowners left stranded after their road was washed out
- Whitman County sewage lift station repair where the Albion town Clerk was having to sleep in the electrical room to manually operate the pump switch system to prevent sewage from backing up in houses and businesses.
- Grays Harbor County where the program co-funded with the Public Works Board, the emergency repair for the Aberdeen wastewater line running under the Wishkah River
- Benton County – providing funding for emergency sheltering, water, and air testing and remediation for houses impacted by the food storage facility fire. The largest in Tri-Cities history.