Emergency Management Plan – Texas County

Emergency Management Plan – Texas County

In Texas county, ESF-5 Emergency Management is not only organized in accordance with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) but also upholds the Incident Command System (ICS).  For emergency management to be effective, it has to cover all mission areas, which include protection, prevention, response, recovery, and mitigation (Canton, 2019). It also requires comprehensive plans and procedures, personnel and material resources, operational facilities, and effective communication to make it as effective as possible. Other than coordinating with the primary case agency and the Texas Division Emergency Management (TDEM), it also includes other state agencies, non-governmental organizations, institutions of higher education, and private sector partners. 

According to Texas county directives, the emergency management director is the chief elected official of a jurisdiction. The responsibility of the emergency management director (EMD) or the counties appointed emergency management coordinator (EMC) includes developing and maintaining emergency operations plans and also responding to incidents in their jurisdiction (Drabek, 2012). In case of an incident becoming too much or maybe a threat to the jurisdiction, the EMD/EMC will have to ask for help from another jurisdiction with which it has a mutual aid agreement. 

Additionally, in case of more resources being needed, the EMC/EMC will be forced to contact their TDEM district coordinator (DC). After that, the DC has to coordinate with the Disaster District Chair, the Texas Highway Patrol (THP) district captain or lieutenant when the state requests for assistance, who then will allocate resources from the Disaster District Emergency Management Council Representatives (DDEMC-R) (https://tdem.texas.gov). In case of additional resources being needed, the resources will be forwarded to the State Operations Center (SOC), with awareness to the Regional Emergency Operations Center (REOC).  The REOC who is coordinated with the regional TDEM assistant chief is responsible for enhancing communication with the region’s DDEOCs and is formulated to assist the DDEOCs with the significant functions of emergency management during a disaster. 

Lastly, it is the responsibility of the SOC to coordinate statewide responses to emergencies, incidents, and disasters, fulfill resource requests, play a role as a statewide warning point, and develops and maintains situational awareness for senior state leadership. The SOC is responsible for its tasks on the basis 24/7. Moreover, the readiness of SOC depends on the level, and thus, the level of preparedness for significant threat starts from Level IV-Normal Conditions to any other three levels of preparedness. Activation of members of the Texas Emergency Management Council (TEMC) is always needed when there is a need to increase SOC readiness. Processing of assistance requests is coordinated through the States of Texas Assistance Request (STAR).        

References 

Canton, L. G. (2019). Emergency management: Concepts and strategies for effective programs. 

John Wiley & Sons. Drabek, T. E. (2012). Emergency management: Strategies for maintaining organizational integrity. Springer Science & Business Media. “State of Texas Emergency Management Plan.” TDEM, tdem.texas.gov/state-of-texas-emergency-management-plan/.