Maitland City Talk

By now we all know that hurricane season started June 1, and you’ve probably been bombarded with all types of information from news organizations, emergency management agencies and other groups.

Keeping that in mind, this article is intended to provide some insight into how emergency management functions, what plans are in place, an individual’s roll during emergencies, and how an individual or company can create their own emergency plan.

Emergency planning and response is not the sole realm of the federal government. More efforts are expended, and solutions to emergencies achieved, at the level of local government than at any other agencies. Locally is where the disaster or emergency becomes personal.

The city of Maitland has developed a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) in preparation to address emergencies in a prudent and calm manner. The plan consists of procedures for all city departments to follow during a disaster or emergency incident. A system of five preparedness and decision making phases of operation known as EMCONS, Emergency Conditions, have been established as guidelines for dealing with disaster or emergency situations.

At the time of a looming emergency, such as an approaching hurricane, EMCONS are declared and actions are activated based upon a timeline of the storm’s arrival in our area. Employees, management and elected officials are informed of the impending storm and preparations are implemented to protect our citizens and city assets. Additionally, emergency responder staffing is increased and our Emergency Operations Center is opened and staffed. After the passage of the storm, recovery efforts begin with the clearing of roadways, checking on the welfare of citizens and employees, damage assessment and repair efforts.

While government can address issues in the community at large, it cannot provide exacting services to each individual, family, or business within a municipality, county or state. Therefore, in order to help ensure the safety of families, homes and/or businesses, it is necessary to undertake disaster planning and preparations on an individual scale.

Developing a personal or business disaster plan has become easier in recent years with the advent of the Internet. A web search involving disaster planning provides a number of resources such as:

www.fema.gov - The Federal Emergency Management Agency website with information dealing with both family and business emergency planning.

www.ready.gov/are-you-ready-guide - This site provides a very useful resource available to both families and businesses.

www.floridadisaster.org - The Florida State Office of Emergency Management website

In addition to web resources, many books can be obtained and consulted for planning, such as the Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs, NFPA 1600 available for purchase through the National Fire Protection Association website at nfpa.org, and other titles may be found through Amazon.com or Barnes and Nobles.

A copy of the information contained in this article will be made available to our citizens and businesses in the form of a flyer presented for pick up at Maitland City Hall and posted on our city website.

We encourage each family and business to plan and prepare for emergencies both large and small. Contingencies should be in place to provide for the safety and health of individuals and businesses. Your Maitland Fire Rescue Department realizes such planning may seem daunting at first and stands ready to provide guidance and assistance as needed at 407-539-6226.

Dennis Marshall, CET, FCO

Fire Marshal

Maitland Fire Rescue Department