What Is Emergency Management?

About the Department

Since May 2001, the department has been under the supervision of coordinator Don Button. He is also the chairperson for the Grant County Local Emergency Planning Committee. This committee is comprised of both local business and other members of both county and city departments.

What is Emergency Management?

No matter where we live or work, emergencies and disasters are a fact of life. Natural or man-made, disasters can strike with little or no warning or be predicted with few days or hours advance notice. Members of public safety organizations know their responsibilities and how they are expected to conduct their job, but how do they interact with each other? How do they work with other government agencies? Hazardous materials, mass casualty incidents, and tornadoes tax the resources of our community. Emergency Management assists in the coordination to help agencies operate more efficiently. Emergency Management is a resource for other emergency services.

Kansas law requires every municipality and county to have a state approved Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), and to appoint an Emergency Management Coordinator (EMC). The EMCs, in conjunction with local governments, are responsible for coordinating the necessary actions to protect lives and property before, during, and after times of disaster and/or emergency.

The Emergency Management Philosophy

There are four aspects to Emergency Management's philosophy:

  • Mitigation - Preventing or reducing the impact of possible events
  • Preparedness - Identifying hazards and preparing plans for particular hazards
  • Response - The hands-on response to the emergency event
  • Recovery - Operations that will insure the orderly return to normal, near-normal, or improved levels following a disaster

Mission

The mission of Emergency Management is to provide the residents of Grant County with the security and protection from many different elements. It is our role as a member of emergency services to provide the necessary information vital to the other responding departments and to help develop an all hazard emergency operations plan. Our coverage area is approximately 576 square miles and a population of approximately 7,816 in 2014. After September 11, 2001, our mission has increased in size with adding terrorism and bio-terrorism planning into our local emergency operations plan and becoming even more involved in helping coordinate with other departments in the protection of our community.