Adams County
Emergency Management Agency
When natural or man-made disasters occur the
local government has the responsibility to respond and
recover from such incidents. In Illinois the chief
elected official in each county has the ultimate
responsibility for ensuring that the county’s response
is adequate and that necessary resources from outside
the county are requested and coordinated. In Adams
County this has been delegated to the Adams County
Emergency Management Agency by the Chairman of the Adams
County Board. Our mission is “To strengthen Adams
County’s ability to readily, effectively and efficiently
prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate
against all types of natural and man-made emergencies
and disasters through coordinating resources of the
County, State, and Federal agencies.” We take a lead
role in each of the four phases in emergency management
Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Mitigation.
In preparedness we participate with other
community groups in educating individuals and business
on how they can become prepared for disasters or
emergencies. Furthermore, we coordinate the development
and maintenance of a county-wide Emergency Operation
Plan. It is this plan that delegates responsibilities
to agencies and organizations in times of disasters and
establishes priorities for local governments to follow.
The ACEMA develops and instructs a diverse training
curriculum to prepare our local emergency responders for
large events and then tests the plans, training, and
knowledge base of responders with disaster exercises.
We work with individuals and businesses to develop
methods for mitigating disasters, or lessening the
effects of a disaster. These could range from
floodplain buyouts to building disaster resistant
structures and infrastructure. Mother nature may not be
able to be controlled, but we can control the
environment in which we live, work and play.
Should a disaster occur the response phase
moves to the forefront. The ACEMA is responsible to
coordinate resources and information flow for the
incident(s). This is accomplished through the staffing
of an Emergency Operation Center. This center is the
central coordination point for disasters. A full
activation would require over 17 city and county
agencies to sit at the same table to coordinate
resources to ensure the most efficient use and to avoid
duplication of effort. The transition from response to
the recovery phase may seem transparent; however,
recovery is the clean-up and rebuilding efforts to
return to normalcy. As in the response phase the ACEMA
remains the coordination entity and works with local
organizations state agencies and FEMA to provide
assistance to local governments, businesses and
individuals. The ACEMA has created within its
organization three volunteer divisions to assist with
the response and recovery phases. The communication
support function is amateur radio operators who assist
with providing back-up or supplementary communications.
Temporary facilities such as shelters, command posts,
staging areas or reception centers may require
communication support and these systems may need to be
setup following the initial impact of the disaster.
Amateur radio operators also assist with severe storm
spotting allowing for real-time information from the
field enabling prompt decisions for early warning of the
public. The second division is the Volunteer Management
Support Team. They will operate a volunteer reception
center to coordinate the spontaneous volunteers that
come from the community in times of disaster. Their
goal is to match the volunteer’s skills with a need in
the community with the process taking 5 -10 minutes.
The last volunteer division is a Management Assistance
Team. This division encompasses a variety of tasks and
general support of the ACEMA’s mission. They provide
manpower for search and rescue and incident command
management assistance. The ACEMA is a multi-faceted
agency with volunteer opportunities within the
community.
We believe that engaging individuals within
the community will help prepare us for catastrophic
events. However, in order to effectively respond every
individual must be prepared to some level. We hope that
this guide helps you prepare you and your family for
emergencies and disasters. Included in this guide is a
listing of hazards that we face here in Adams County.
It will also present agencies and organizations that
work together to respond in disasters; but remember that
even though there is a good response network assistance
may not be able to reach you for many hours or even
days. Therefore, we have included information on what
to consider in becoming prepared in your home and at
work. We appreciate your time in doing your part in
preparedness. If you have any questions or concerns
about disasters or anything contained in this guide
please contact the Adams County Emergency Management
Agency.
