FY2016 Arlington Fire Department Annual Report FY 2016 | Page 15

Office of Emergency Management

The Fire Department’ s Office of Emergency Management( OEM) is responsible for coordinating large scale city emergency response operations. This team’ s mission is to protect lives, property, and the environment through preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery efforts for natural and man-made disasters.
Irish Hancock Emergency Management Administrator
Typical duties for OEM include conducting monthly outdoor warning siren tests, maintaining the operational readiness of the Arlington Fire Department’ s Emergency Operations Center( EOC), maintaining Arlington Emergency Management Plans, monitoring for severe weather events impacting the City, conducting training classes for our Community Emergency Response Team( CERT) citizen volunteers, coordinating volunteer management through the Arlington Faith Based
Organizations( FBO) and the Arlington Christian Disaster Network( ACDN), facilitating response training and exercises for public safety, fulfilling citizen requests for public education preparedness presentations to civic groups in Arlington, and participating in numerous regional, state, and national committees for public safety planning and response activities, as well as Homeland Security grant management and administration.
The City of Arlington Fire Department’ s Office of Emergency Management program is an accredited EM program recognized by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program( EMAP). AFD OEM was the second city in the State, the first in North Central Texas, and the sixth stand alone City in the nation to achieve this honor since EMAP was created in 1997. EMAP establishes EM program standards, conducts assessments, and provides an accreditation process for disaster preparedness programs throughout the country, while fostering excellence and accountability in emergency management and homeland security programs through establishing credible standards applied in a peer review accreditation process.
DUTY / HONOR / COMPASSION / EXCELLENCE 14