Emergency Management

In addition to general public safety responsibilities, counties have specific statutory duties to provide emergency management, both individually and in partnership with state and federal agencies. Inter-county and intra-county mutual aid agreements also are becoming more prevalent and are increasingly important to ensure seamless services across jurisdictional lines. Counties engage in planning and preparedness activities, and often are the front line for response and recovery efforts. These functions traditionally have involved natural disasters, such as floods, fires, windstorms and earthquakes. More recently, the focus has broadened with a sense of urgency to include human-caused disasters such as terrorist and biological attacks.

WSAC Policy:
Although many disasters can create eventual far-reaching impacts, every disaster is felt first in a local community. Counties work hard to develop disaster-resistant communities with local and regional response capabilities adequate to meet basic needs until outside assistance can be secured. WSAC supports local and regional mutual aid agreements, and supports continued partnerships with the state Emergency Management Division, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Office of Homeland Security, tribal governments, as well as other relevant agencies and private industry. With the recent heightened potential for terrorist activity, counties now face significant demands for enhanced security, specialized training, public education, new equipment, and time-consuming multi-jurisdictional simulation exercises. However, WSAC strongly believes that addressing terrorism must not weaken counties’ traditional emergency management focus on natural disasters. WSAC enthusiastically supports an “all-hazard” approach for emergency management planning, preparation, training, and mitigation activities.

In order to adequately respond to demands for anti-terrorism planning, preparation and response capacity, counties must receive increased state and federal funding. WSAC supports a legislative proposal to establish a new stable revenue source that would bolster local emergency management programs statewide, and further supports the proposal that this new revenue be raised through an annual surcharge on property insurance, as is done in other states. WSAC supports no or low matching requirements to receive new funding. WSAC further supports flexibility in the use of state and federal funds, which will allow counties to better meet unique local needs and maximize the benefits of an all-hazard approach to emergency management.
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