We strive to provide proactive emergency management for our citizens, employers, and visitors that enhances their safety before, during, and following a disaster, minimizes property loss, damages and economic hardship, and facilitates the return to normalcy both in the short term and long term recovery. We will accomplish this by focusing on the four core components of a comprehensive emergency management program:
Preparedness - Activities taken prior to a disaster to ensure the county is prepared to meet the challenges of any given disaster by building the capabilities and capacity of emergency responders and emergency management. A key activity is public education and family preparedness.
Mitigation - Steps taken to change the nature of a threat, decrease the vulnerability to damage, and lessen the impact of a hazard.
Response - Actions taken before or immediately after a disaster to react to the effects of a disaster while meeting the needs of those directly impacted by the disaster.
Recovery - Activities that return critical infrastructure to operating standards immediately and meet the social, economic, and psychological needs of those affected by the disaster. They also cover those activities that return life back to normal or improved levels on a long term basis.
We will further our success by building and fostering relationships with all the departments and city officials throughout the county as well with our regional partners that will be mutually beneficial for everyone involved without infringing upon the autonomy of each entity. It is through these partnerships that we will nurture an environment of trust, respect, cooperation, and coordination that will translate into success during all phases of emergency management.
Vision Statement
Ellis County Office of Emergency Management will utilize a proactive, all hazards approach to develop a comprehensive emergency management program.
This will be accomplished by the application of science, planning, technology, best practices, and management to coordinate an effective response to events that can injure or kill large numbers of people, do extensive damage to property, or disrupt community life.
Partnerships
The emergency management program will be greatly enhanced with strong partnerships not only with jurisdictions within the county, but by productive partnerships with volunteer agencies such as the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, VOAD, RACES, and with our colleagues throughout the region.
By accomplishing this, we will become a model of success for our county and the North Central Texas region as well as the state.