Emergency Management

GOALS

Community

To prepare and promote the community’s ability to prepare for and to take mitigation measures against, an emergency/disaster. Provide public education and training.

Employee

To prepare City, School District and Hospital employees to handle an emergency/disaster at home and in the workplace, so they can respond to the City’s needs when disaster strikes.

Internal

To revise, implement and test the City of Arlington Emergency Operations Plan.
To strengthen City departments, the School District and Hospitals ability to respond to and recover from an emergency/disaster.
To prepare, acquire and maintain systems, supplies and other logistical items to support Emergency/Disaster response and recovery.

External

To prepare and coordinate with external agencies and organizations to assist the City in its preparedness efforts, mitigation measures, disaster response and recovery.

MISSION STATEMENT

The City of Arlington through the combined efforts of its many departments, and public and private partnerships seeks to enhance the quality of life and protect the citizens of Arlington by providing professional and progressive Emergency Management Services in the event of a catastrophic incident within the City of Arlington. While providing these services, we are committed to personnel safety by promoting and supporting the force that makes this task successful.

Arlington Community Wide Emergency Management will provide emergency management program leadership, continuity, and direction to enable the City of Arlington, Arlington School District, Cascade Hospital, and their partners to respond to, recover from, and mitigate the impacts of natural, man made, or technological disasters upon its people and/or property.

Potential Hazards of Arlington

Arlington is exposed to many hazards, which have the potential for disrupting the community, causing damage and creating casualties. Natural hazards include floods, earthquakes, severe storms, and volcanoes. Arlington also faces the threat of hazardous material accidents involving transportation, manufacture and storage of chemicals on the highways and in the city’s industrial areas.

Addressing the Potential Hazards

To address these potential threats, Emergency Management publishes the City’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. The Plan provides the framework upon which the City of Arlington prepares for, responds to and performs its emergency response functions during time of natural or man-made disasters or national emergencies. This plan is currently under revision to become the Arlington Emergency Operations Guide which will encompass a more holistic approach to City Wide Emergency Planning. The plan is based on the four phases of Emergency Management which are:

Mitigation: Activities which eliminate or reduce the probability of disaster
Preparedness: Those activities which governments, organization and individuals develop to save lives and minimize damage.
Response: Actions to minimize loss of life and property damage and provided emergency assistance.
Recovery: Those short and long term activities which restore services and help return the community to a “normal” state.

Emergency Operations Center

When the City of Arlington faces an emergency and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated, Emergency Management works with appropriate city departments, the Arlington School District, Cascade Hospital as well as various county, state and federal agencies to respond effectively and quickly to provide for the continuity of services to the public.

Training & Exercises

EM plans and holds training and exercises with city departments, the School District, Cascade Hospital, local business, public and private organizations and agencies to develop common operating policy and procedures to assist with City Wide Emergencies.