Your Local Emergency Management Director

Your Local Emergency Management Director

By Dale Rowley, Director, Waldo County Emergency Management Agency

When most Maine residents review in their mind, the municipal services that they receive, they will typically think of the municipal office, the fire and police departments, sanitation, code enforcement, public works and parks and recreation. However, there is one service that is critical to your safety and well being that you probably don’t normally think about; or may not even know about. That service is the municipal Emergency Management program.

Every municipality in the State of Maine is required by state law to have a municipal Emergency Management Director. The Emergency Management Director is not in charge of, nor is a replacement for the police, fire, ambulance, or American Red Cross. Emergency Management is a system for coordinating and managing emergency response when more than one department is responding to a community emergency. The Emergency Management Directoris the individual (or team) that coordinates local response and recovery during an emergency. This is usually accomplished in two ways – through the development of local disaster plans and mutual aid agreements and the establishment of an EmergencyOperationsCenter.

The Emergency Management Director is responsible for coordinating the development of a municipal disaster plan, also known as an Emergency Operations Plan or EOP. This plan identifies the types of disaster events, such as floods, fires, hurricanes or ice storms, to which the community may be vulnerable. The plan also identifies actions to minimize damages from the events; the personnel, equipment, and supplies required to respond and recover from the disaster event; and the process to request resources from others when the needs exceed the community’s capabilities.

The local Emergency Management Director will also develop mutual aid agreements for disaster response and recovery with other municipalities, higher levels of government and other entities, such as local contractors or local service organizations. The Director may establish an EmergencyOperationsCenter or EOC. This will typically be set up at the local fire station or municipal office and will be staffed by representatives from the municipal government. The EOC is used to coordinate and dispatch municipal response and recovery resources and to plan out the most effective actions. During the Ice Storm of 98, many communities set up EOCs to coordinate their efforts at checking in on the elderly, distributing food and water, setting up shelters, clearing roadways and providing electrical power to public facilities. It is the Emergency Management Director who facilitates the preparations and operation of the EOC.

Local Emergency Management offices vary widely depending on the hazards present, the size of the population, and available funding. Most municipal Emergency Management program have one person and little of no budget. However, the responsibility for the community elected leaders does not go away if the municipality is small or large. Local government is the front line of the emergency management organization. The Emergency Management Director is the elected officials “go-to” person to prepare the community for emergencies.

Emergency response is handled at the local level whenever possible. State law requires municipalities to use all their available resources to the maximum extent possible to minimize loss of life and damages to public and private property in an emergency. When the resources of local government, the private sector, and volunteer agencies are inadequate, or it is evident they will be exhausted, a request for assistance is made through normal mutual aid avenues. When these resources are also exhausted, the County Emergency Management Agency Director is notified and a request for additional aid is made to meet any unmet needs. The CountyDirector is available to coordinate interjurisdictional assistance.

In Maine, the County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) coordinates emergency response when a disaster extends beyond the boundaries of the community or when several communities are involved. The CountyEMA is your link with State agencies. The County EMA Director can provide guidance, planning models, training and education, and workshops on emergency management. Many County EMA Directors also host periodic municipal Emergency Management Director meetings to keep the local directors provided with up-to-date information.

If an emergency is beyond the capabilities of both the municipalities and county involved, the CountyDirector contacts the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) with requests for State assistance. MEMA maintains an Emergency Operating Center (EOC) and full time staff. This is the Emergency Management system present in Maine today.

When your community is struck by a hazardous materials spill, hurricane, ice storm, forest fire, flood, tornado or other type of disaster event, your municipal Emergency Management Director will be the lead figure in the response and recovery efforts by your municipality. Yet, even before a disaster event occurs, your local Emergency Management Director will be busy behind the scenes working on disaster plans, attending meetings, organizing training and exercises for your public safety departments and providing public information on disaster preparedness.

The next time you are visiting the municipal office, be sure to ask about your local Emergency Management Director.