Staff
| Director |
Sam Lorenz |
slorenz@co.grant.wa.us |
| Senior Coordinator |
Michele Haughton |
gcem@co.grant.wa.us |
| Emergency Management Coordinator |
Sandi Duffey |
sduffey@co.grant.wa.us |
| Communications Coordinator/Public
Information |
Kyle Foreman |
kforeman@co.grant.wa.us |
Emergency Management in Grant County
Grant County has an operational emergency management
program with a full time paid staff of a Director and
four Project Coordinators, with direct responsibility
for the organization, administration and operation of
the emergency management program for the County and
fourteen incorporated cities and towns, and operation of the
Emergency
Operations Center (EOC). The county's Director of
Emergency Management is the administrative head and
subordinate to the Board of County Commissioners.
History of Emergency Management
The current Emergency Management organizations in the
nation developed over several years from a series of
programs for Federal, State and Local programs. In most
nations, disasters created organizations to manage the
impacts of disaster and in some cases develop
preparedness.
The greatest natural disaster in the history of the
United States happened in September of 1900, when a
hurricane literally submerged Galveston Island. In the
city of Galveston alone, at least 6,000 people died,
nearly half the homes were swept out of existence, and
not a single building went undamaged. Including the
destruction outside the city itself, as many as 12,000
people may have died and well over 3,500 structures
destroyed.
The Galveston hurricane was a far greater disaster than
better-known events such as the Chicago fire of 1871,
which killed 250 people, the 1906 San Francisco
earthquake, which killed 480, or the Johnstown (PA)
flood in 1889, which claimed over 2,200 lives. Between
1803 and 1950, more than 100 disasters of various types
across the nation were fought with federal resources.
In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt issued a statement
on espionage requesting that all citizens, including
state and local officials, turn over relevant
information to the FBI. The FBI began surveying plants
that were under contract to manufacture defense
materials and prepared a plant protection manual for use
by local police chiefs. Shortly after making his
statement, Roosevelt established an Office of Emergency
Management. As the world crisis intensified, the
coordination responsibilities of the OEM were expanded.
For example, it coordinated a wide range of
defense-related housing. In 1941, Roosevelt abolished
the CND and established the Office of Civil Defense
within the Office of Emergency Planning. Like its
predecessor, the OCD was linked with what was by then a
nationwide network of 44 state and 1,000 local defense
councils. Between 1945 and 1949, various agencies
undertook studies of civil defense. In 1948, President
Harry S. Truman appointed the president of Northwestern
Bell Telephone Company to direct the newly formed Office
of Civil Defense Planning.
In the early 1950s, there was shift in civil defense
policy. A "Blue Book" report proposed “...the
operational responsibility of civil defense would rest
with state and local governments and the federal
government would assist in ways it believed to be
appropriate.” The report also recommended
legislation be submitted to Congress establishing a
federal civil defense administration that would report
directly to the President. In December 1949, President
Harry S. Truman established the
Federal Civil
Defense Administration.
A Civil Defense Ordinance was established in 1956 with
the original purpose of developing emergency procedures
for dealing with events related to nuclear threat or
attack. As the threat of nuclear war diminished,
emphasis shifted towards the risks of both natural and
human-caused disasters. Real emergencies and disasters
were known to be reoccurring and federal state and local
government began to introduce programs to prepare
citizens and mitigate disasters.
In the late 1970s the
Grant County
Department of
Emergency Services evolved from the former
Office of Civil
Defense. The emergency management responsibility
was transferred from one organization to another, always
with a greater emphasis to the parent organization. On
July 1, 1996, the organization was finally established
as a full time emergency management organization,
broadening its scope for planning and coordination for
all phases of disaster management — preparedness,
response, recovery, and mitigation. Currently an update
for the original ordinance is proposed to adopt the
program title of “Emergency Management”.
Responsibilities
Emergency Management draws its mandate from
Chapter 38.52 RCW
Comprehensive Emergency Management requiring that
Emergency Management prepare, maintain and implement
policies and procedures relating to preparedness,
response and recovery from emergencies and disasters in
Grant County.
Chapter 38.52 RCW requires that all counties must
establish an emergency management program and cities and
towns have an option to establish an independent program
or adopt the county's program. All fourteen incorporated
communities within the county are part of the county
program.
Planning and Research
Emergency Management assists with the preparation,
review, and enhancement of emergency preparedness
programs, training exercises, and resource development
for municipalities, school divisions, government
departments and agencies, and the private sector.
Emergency Management also reviews and recommends
amendments to emergency measures legislation and ensures
that departmental, municipal and private sector
emergency plans are consistent with existing
legislation.
The Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan
Emergency Management is responsible for maintaining the
Comprehensive
Emergency Management Plan (CEMP). The CEMP is the
linchpin in Emergency Management capacity to provide a
coordinated and effective response to emergencies and
disasters. It explains the local emergency response
concept, emergency response structure, and the roles and
responsibilities of departments and agencies responding
to emergencies and disasters.
Training and Education
Emergency Management provides training and education in
the form of courses, workshops, exercises, and
conferences to local and county government officials,
emergency response personnel, public interest groups and
non-government representatives who would be tasked with
principal emergency management responsibility in the
event of an emergency or disaster.
The staff members of Emergency Management are active in
the organizing committee for the annual
Washington State
Emergency Management Association's Emergency Management
Conference, as well as supporting of the annual
Partners in
Preparedness Conference.
Public Information
Emergency Management disseminates Public Information on
matters relating to emergency preparedness, response and
recovery by distributing educational brochures and other
awareness materials to individuals, businesses, agencies
and institutions. One example is the Family Emergency
Plan Handbook.
Emergency Response
Emergency Management assists with major emergencies and
disasters through coordination of the disaster response
process, including the coordination of local, state,
federal and non-government agency resources to assist
municipalities. Services provided to the municipalities
include consulting, planning support, event activity;
post emergency reports, and public information on
response activities.
Public Assistance Program and Recovery
Emergency Management is responsible for the local
administration and the systematization of recovery
assistance programs.
The Public
Assistance Program enables local and state
governments, special purpose districts, private
non-profit organizations, and Indian tribes to recover
from the immediate and long-term impacts of disasters.
The program provides state and federal funds to local
governmental agencies for a portion of the costs for the
repair and restoration of damaged public facilities, as
well as to reimburse the agencies for a portion of the
costs associated with emergency work and debris removal
due to the disaster.
