OUR VISION

To be the most disaster resilient community in America.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Springfield-Greene County Emergency Management Program with community stakeholders strives to be a national model of best practices in mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery against high-impact events to reduce loss of life, damage to property and harm to the environment. The Springfield-Greene County Emergency Management Program will lead enhanced regionalization of emergency management across southwest Missouri.

EMAP ACCREDITED

Springfield-Greene County's emergency management program received national accreditation from the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) in April, 2012. EMAP is an independent & voluntary evaluation of state and local emergency management programs based on national best practices. At the time of our accreditation, Springfield-Greene County was one of only 13 local programs in the nation to be accredited by EMAP.

Location: 330 W. Scott St. in Springfield, Missouri

Ten Paid Staff:

• Interim Director
  Email: Larry Woods
• Emergency Planning Specialist
  Email: John Elmore
• Homeland Security Specialist
  Email: Shea Lane
• Training & Education Specialist
  Email: Ty Davisson
• Network Systems Administrator/COML
  Email: Jon Ayres
• Administrative Services Coordinator
  Email: Carole Kidwell
• Administrative Assistant
  Email: Erin Pope
• Emergency Planning Specialist - Municipal
  Email: Robert Taylor
• Public Information Officer
  Email: Dale Moore

Contracted Staff

• CERT/HometownREADY Director
  Email: Tara Hammer

The Office focuses on the four phases of Emergency Management which include:

• Mitigation:
  • This involves working on legislation, actions to eliminate risk, and planning documents to govern response and recovery activities.
• Preparedness:
  • The Springfield-Greene County Emergency Operations Plan is updated each January by office staff.
  • The Emergency Operations Plan is a major effort on the part of all emergency service agencies (police, fire, EMS, etc.) to plan for disaster response and recovery.
  • Training courses in Emergency Management for staff and other emergency service agencies are provided by federal, state and local agencies.
  • Exercises are conducted by a coordinated group of emergency service agencies, governmental officials, and business leaders under the guidance of the Exercise and Training Specialist. Two major exercises are conducted each year--a Hazmat exercise and another major disaster, i.e. airplane crash or tornado. Each exercise has a design team, coordinated by the Exercise and Training Specialist, which plans the exercise to address the particular hazard within the community and essential tasks tied to response and recovery from the particular hazard.
  • Public awareness and education are provided by OEM through work with the media, as well as other agencies, that may be involved. Disaster preparedness programs for schools, nursing home staffs, and civic groups are given by staff. Videotapes and printed materials are provided by federal, state and local Emergency Management, the National Weather Service, and the American Red Cross for this purpose.
• Response:
  • This involves coordination of all response agencies to a disaster. The Incident Command System (ICS) and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) are important factors in this coordination.
  • ICS is a command structure for all emergencies and disasters at the scene. Emergency Management has been teaching an abbreviated ICS course to assist in this effort. Emergency Management has been working with other Springfield and Greene County agencies to insure the ICS is used by all agencies for standardization.
  • EOC is a place where policy makers from government and other agencies meet to make major policy decisions required during disaster response and recovery.
• Recovery:
  • Following a disaster, there needs to be a coordinated effort in damage assessment, filling victims' and first responders' needs, and supplying resources.The EOC coordinates these actions with other agencies.