FY2019 Arlington Fire Department Annual Report FY 2019 | Page 40

Office of Emergency Management
The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is responsible for coordinating large-
scale City of Arlington emergency response operations, managing and testing the
outdoor warning system, maintaining the operational readiness of the Emergency
Operations Center (EOC), monitoring for severe weather events impacting the City,
overseeing Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) funds from the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, conducting training classes for the citizen volunteer Community
Emergency Response Team (CERT), and coordinating volunteers through the
Arlington Christian Disaster Network (ACDN).
Emergency management administrator
irish hancock
72 CERT members volunteered a total of 1,172 hours
in FY19. They trained on a variety of topics including a
seven part “CERT Basic Refresher” course, Stop the
Bleed, and Skywarn by the National Weather Service
office in Fort Worth.
The Emergency Management Accreditation Program
(EMAP) is the voluntary standards, assessment,
and accreditation process for disaster preparedness
programs throughout the world by establishing
credible standards applied in a peer-review
accreditation process.  EMAP was created by a
group of national organizations to foster continuous
improvement in emergency management capabilities.
It provides emergency management programs, the
opportunity to be recognized for compliance with
industry standards, to demonstrate accountability,
and to focus attention on areas and issues where
resources are needed. The City of Arlington Fire
Department’s Office of Emergency Management
was the second city in Texas to receive the EMAP
accreditation, and the sixth city in the world to achieve
the accreditation by itself without partnering with
another agency or jurisdiction to meet the 64 EMAP
standards. OEM was originally accredited in 2014 and
recently re-accredited in 2019.
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