What is HEPAC?

The Hometown Emergency Preparedness Ad Hoc Committee (HEPAC) was created by Maryland Municipal League President Craig A. Moe in July 2009. You'll find the Committee's mission and vision statements here: HEPAC Mission Statement. HEPAC met ten times over the course of its first year, which included the development of this webpage and the MML Elected Officials' Guide to Emergency Preparedness, which will be available here soon.

What Every Municipal Official Should Know About Emergency Preparedness

The first thing every municipal official should understand about emergency preparedness is that "every emergency incident is local." Regardless of your town's size, when disaster strikes municipal officials will find themselves on the front line. For a better understanding of the municipal role in an emergency, see this Municipal Maryland article from November 2006: Emergency Management: The Municipal Role. Similarly, an analysis of municipal emergency management authority appears here: Municipal Emergency Management Authority in Maryland.

Among the documents your city or town will want to have in place when an emergency strikes is an Emergency Operations plan which should include a Continuity of Operations Plan or COOP. The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers a general template guiding you on recommended COOP content: FEMA COOP Plan Template. HEPAC has also created a special page to help you navigate the many acronyms that populate the emergency management field, which will be available here soon.

Federal & State Resources

While every emergency is local, a major catastrophic event may necessitate assistance from the state, the federal government, and neighboring jurisdictions. Among the resources every municipal leader should be aware of are:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - http://www.fema.gov/government/index.shtm

The Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) - http://www.mema.state.md.us

The Centers for Disease Control and Flu.gov when it comes to pandemics and other health emergencies:
http://emergency.cdc.gov/
http://www.flu.gov/

And know who your county emergency manager is:
http://www.mema.state.md.us/MEMA/content_page.jsp?TOPICID=emmgrs

Training

FEMA strongly recommends that all elected officials who may be involved in responding to an emergency incident have a basic understanding of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). City of Laurel Emergency Services Director Marty Flemion has created a PowerPoint presentation providing a helpful summary of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) and why these protocols are essential to emergency response and recovery, available here: ICS PowerPoint Presentation. For full course descriptions, including how to take classes online, visit FEMA's NIMS training page at: http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/NIMSTrainingCourses.shtm

Citizen Involvement

Volunteerism and community awareness are key components in the emergency preparedness and response effort. Two great resources for understanding and facilitating involvement on the part of your citizens are Citizen Corps: http://www.citizencorps.gov/ and Ready.gov: http://www.ready.gov/.