Organized and coordinated response efforts can quickly save lives, protect property and the environment.
EMA implements common strategies across the whole-community response organization to communicate incident impacts and promote unity of effort to stabilize community lifelines during emergency and disaster response.
EMA operates the Countywide Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This facility is the primary location that is established & equipped to enable chief elected officials, agency administrators, executives, and key stakeholders to assemble during emergencies, disasters, and major pre-planned events. From the EOC, personnel coordinate the strategic direction, control, and coordination for all responding agencies and organizations; facilitating the seamless integration of organizations & establishment of a consistent common operating picture & situational awareness required to enable response & recovery success.
Incident & Event Action Planning
EMA provides incident & event action planning (I/EAP) expertise for public safety & government agencies. Plans are developed in accordance with national best practices and standards which are utilized by incident managers & support personnel during emergencies, disasters, and major pre-planned events. This capability allows response organizations to implement operations in a coordinated & consistent manner that helps achieve the desired response objectives & priorities.
Mobile EOC Vehicle
EMA replaced its aging command vehicle with a new Mobile Emergency Operations Center (MEOC) vehicle in May 2023. The agency maintains & deploys the platform in support of local agency responses that are longer in duration or larger than a standard incident or event. As such, these incidents and events typically require a larger on-scene personnel & command presence that necessitates enhanced incident management support capabilities and resourced related to the essential functions of planning, logistics management, situational awareness, operational coordination & operational communications.
Duty Officer & Rapid Response
EMA maintains a 24/7 on-call Duty Officer that serves as the countywide watch officer and primary contact for assistance needed by program partners and stakeholders. The agency maintains small fleet of rapid response vehicles that can deliver EMA personnel & incident management support equipment/supplies to local incidents that require expanded scene & resource management operations that are not anticipated to be of duration or scope to require a full ICS deployment of the MCV or activation of the Emergency Operations Center.
Equipment & Disaster Cache
EMA maintains a cache of specialized equipment that can be deployed to assist jurisdictions with the myriad of incidents and events they may encounter. Some of the equipment is agency owned while other assets are housed & deployed by EMA under cooperative agreements with partners such as Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management and the Red Cross. Some of the equipment includes: a disaster response trailer, mass casualty trailers, shelter supply trailer, 6" trailer mount flood pump, sandbags, trailer mount sandbag machine, 4wd utility vehicles, handheld radios, barricades, portable data/communications station & other various pieces of support equipment.
Emergency & Disaster Logistics
EMA personnel coordinate and manage large emergency and disaster logistics management operations in support of local jurisdictions and regionally, as may be required. This centralized logistics support model increases resource efficiency, reduces duplication of effort, and creates a coordinated strategic logistics management system that can quickly be implemented, identify needs, streamline assistance acquisitions, and make priority resource allocation decisions across multiple jurisdictions and incidents. This type of logistics management model also leverages assistance from neighboring county, state, and federal resources.
