The Federal Emergency Management Agency revised Section 4 of Publication 1-B this month, the guidance document that governs how regional offices plan for long-duration power loss.
The revision is four words long.
Where the section previously read "during a temporary absence of grid service," it now reads "during an absence of grid service." The word "temporary" had been in that sentence since the document was first issued in 1994.
An agency spokesperson described the change as "a routine editorial review" and said no operational guidance had been altered. Asked whether the review had considered any specific scenario, the spokesperson said the agency does not discuss internal deliberations.
What else moved
Two other changes appear in the same revision. A planning assumption of "up to 14 days" in the annex on water and sanitation now reads "14 days or longer." And a paragraph advising regional offices to coordinate with utilities on restoration timelines has been expanded to advise coordinating on "restoration timelines and manufacturing availability."
Manufacturing availability is not a phrase that appeared anywhere in the previous version.
Three former agency planners reviewed the redline at our request. Two called the changes unremarkable. The third, who worked on the 2019 revision, said the annex change was the one worth reading twice.
"You don't change a planning number unless somebody showed you a bigger one."
A former FEMA regional planner, who asked not to be named
The revised document went live without an announcement. It was noticed four days later by a county emergency manager in Montana who had bookmarked the section.