FUND: GENERAL |
COMMUNITY SERVICES |
The Office of Emergency Management is a planning and coordinating agency. Our
primary function is to develop comprehensive all-hazard plans for Racine County.
Hazards can be broken down into three categories: natural, technological, and
civil defense. The office provides 24 hour/day, 7 day/week response capability
and serves as a centralized communications and warning center to monitor, track
and advise emergency authorities and the public of impending or actual
situations. Emergency Management activities include planning, training,
exercising, response and public awareness.
To meet our goal of keeping the County's plans and checklists current, we
updated the Racine County Emergency Operations Plans, Hazardous Materials Plan,
and Off-Site Facility Plans.
Preparing the community to respond to and survive natural and manmade disasters
is a consistent goal of this department. To achieve it, we conducted Tornado
Awareness, Winter Awareness, Heat Awareness & Fireworks Awareness campaigns. In
addition, the Director continues to write a bi-monthly column on emergency
preparedness for the Racine Journal Times. The department also coordinated a
day-long major training exercise simulating an airline crash in Lake Michigan.
The exercise involved more 200 participants and 20 agencies, including law
enforcement, fire and EMT services, hospitals, the Red Cross and Salvation Army,
the FBI and the NTSB, among others.
A third objective for this year was to prepare a Terrorism Response Plan as
required by Wisconsin Emergency Management. That Plan is now in place.
