On Friday, August 24, following unprecedented flooding in Dane County, state and local emergency management officials contacted the AIA Wisconsin Disaster Assistance Committee coordinators for help with post-flood building safety assessments.

My colleague Stacey Keller and I put out the call to activate over 20 volunteers with CalOES Safety Assessment Program (SAP) Evaluator training.  We assembled SAP teams of AIA architects and local representatives in Mazomanie, Black Earth, and Cross Plains.   Volunteers worked tirelessly over 8 long days to complete Building Safety Assessments on 547 flood damaged buildings.

Thanks to the generous and tireless efforts of many volunteers, we were able to provide essential and timely information to residents and public officials that will aid in the recovery of these communities.  As the rain, severe weather and flooding continued, the Governor declared a State of Emergency for the entire state and later the President announced the Federal Declaration, allowing more funding to be available for these local residents and businesses.