A FORMER DUNCAN POLICE DEPARTMENT DIVE TEAM CONDUCTS A TRAINING EXERCISE FOR WATER RESCUE .
( NIMS ) Consultant for the City of Duncan . City governments nationwide are required by law to adhere to NIMS guidelines to ensure incident management protocols are uniform throughout the United States .
“ The purpose is to make sure all communities and jurisdictions look the same in organization structure during a disaster and during recovery ,” Pryor said . “ The primary reason for this is when we assist neighbor communities , we can blend in easily . Units from Oklahoma have been able to assist in events all over the world , because the system we use is the same as in New York City , New Orleans or Oklahoma City .”
Pryor works with both Emergency Management and Incident Command to ensure that the NIMS is followed during the planning and response process .
“ Duncan is very proactive in this system and works actively to develop
“ WE CONDUCTED A SEARCH FOR A CHILD FOR 11 DAYS . WE HAD HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE BEGGING TO HELP … WE ALL CAME TOGETHER AS ONE , WITH ONE COMMON GOAL AND IT WAS TO FIND THAT CHILD . I HAD NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE , BUT IT DEFINITELY MADE ME PROUD TO BE PART OF THIS COMMUNITY .”
Tera Mathis City of Duncan Emergency Management Director
and exercise this system with other jurisdictions ,” Pryor said .
Mathis explained that while natural disasters can usually be identified in advance , man-made disasters such as active shooters , acts of arson , terrorism and biological threats are mostly unpredictable , which is why there must be plans already in place . “ COVID-19 was definitely one that wasn ’ t predicted ,” Mathis said . “ I will say , the Health Department and hospital had plans in place on what to do if a pandemic broke out and they handled it very well . Of course , they didn ’ t know the type of pandemic that would break out , but history has taught us that pandemics can and will occur . I just don ’ t think anyone really predicted how devastating this one would be .”
Mathis described one of the more touching moments in her Emergency Management career .
“ Of all the disasters I have worked on , I will say the flooding and search and rescue of 2016 had the most profound effect on me …” Mathis said . “ We conducted a search for a child for 11 days . We had hundreds of people begging to help ... We all came together as one , with one common goal and it was to find that child . I had never seen anything like that before , but it definitely made me proud to be part of this community .”
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