GENERAL
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION
what we were, and are:
Emergency
Management as we now know it now, is based from a 65 year history. In 1941 the
United States was looking at war and a invasion and Civil Defense was born as a agency
but this was a low priority at the time and loosely developed as WWII was
progressing.
A symbol was developed to annotate official personnel on their helmets, areas of protection
(shelters), supplies/boxes of material. The CD symbol can still be found
in many areas.
During 1941-1945 WWII Civil Defense took a larger role, mostly as civilian coastline defense but this waned after the war in 1945.
After Russia exploded it's first Atomic bomb in late 1949; in early 1950 the U.S. Government suddenly mandated the establishment of the Federal Department of Civil Defense to protect citizens and funneled hundreds of millions of dollars (which would be Billions in 2006 money) into the development of the system of shelters, stand-by equipment, material and public awareness over the course of the next 2+ decades. CD symbols were everywhere and many joined the ranks of the "first" Emergency Managers, almost all were volunteer. As the civil defense agency was concentrated on the cold war and developed public awareness, many of us "older folk" can remember the film (circa 1951) and drills in where we "ducked and covered" under a desk in case of a nuclear attack.
Many persons who were in elementary public school's as late as the early 70's can still remember the original "Duck and Cover" and "Atomic Alert" films, the air-raid drills, in where they left what they were doing and go to a protected shelter or dove under their desks. Despite the mandated requirement for the public schools to practice Civil Defense drills, during the late 1960's Public Civil Defense volunteers declined drastically due to politics and the Vietnam war.
As the mid 70's progressed, the drills and national attention to civil preparedness was diminished. By the fall of Eastern European Block Russian Communism in the 80's, a national attention to civil preparedness was translucent at best.
This was much of the extent of federal assistance in the case of national emergencies, and no true local assistance coordination was available and this was prevalent throughout the 1970's and early 80's. As hurricanes and other widespread disasters became noticed as regional disasters, the focus changed and a national interest was regenerated but there was a vacuum in where this interest needed to be addressed. Some local areas and states were fairly well prepared while most just ignored their situation and hazards. Although FEMA traces it's beginnings to 1803, it was formally formed 1979 under President Carter and became the premier national disaster response agency.
In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Joe M. Allbaugh as the director of FEMA. Within months, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th occurred. Many criticisms occurred and focused the agency on issues of national preparedness and homeland security, and tested the agency in unprecedented ways. FEMA then was directed to coordinate its activities under the newly formed Office of Homeland Security, and FEMA's Office of National Preparedness was given responsibility for helping to ensure that the nation's first responders were trained and equipped to deal with weapons of mass destruction.
Billions of dollars of new funding were directed to FEMA to help communities face the threat of terrorism (remember the 1950's and the "bomb", we come full circle) and as a off-shoot, natural and other man-made disasters . Just a few years past its 20th anniversary, FEMA was actively directing its "all-hazards" approach to disasters toward homeland security issues. In March 2003, FEMA joined 22 other federal agencies, programs and offices in becoming the Department of Homeland Security. The new department of Homeland Security, headed by Secretary Tom Ridge, who brought a coordinated approach to national security from emergencies and disasters - both natural and man-made. Today, FEMA is one of four major branches of the Department of Homeland Security. About 2,500 full-time employees in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate are supplemented by more than 5,000 stand-by disaster reservists.
Local areas such as states, counties and cities were mandated to provide emergency planning. To assist with this responsibility, the EMPG (emergency management planning grant) was established and covers 1/2 of the salary of local emergency managers, approved assistants, and their operating expense and the other 1/2 being developed by the agency i.e. State, County, City.
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McKINLEY COUNTY
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
What does the office of McKinley County Emergency Management do currently?
The office consists of one person who writes grants, procures equipment,
issues equipment, plans for all contingencies to the best of their ability,
provides mitigation in the case of large scale and long term disasters
however is
often called upon to respond to and mitigate individual household disaster
circumstances, although this is not his ultimate responsibility. The
office directly interacts with the Fire Director, EMS CDR, FIRE CDR regularly
and in times of emergency.
The McKinley County
Emergency Manager is:
Written By: Ken Hoffman