BISMARCK -- Governor Kelly Armstrong has proclaimed August as Emergency Management Awareness Month in recognition of the often-unnoticed work emergency managers do every day to keep North Dakotans safe. Local, tribal and state emergency managers coordinate preparedness, prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery efforts across communities, ensuring that communities are ready when disaster strikes.
“We’re usually behind the scenes of public safety – the people you don’t know you need until you really need us,” say Angela Herda, President of the North Dakota Emergency Management Association. “I’m so proud to work alongside and represent the Emergency Managers we have here in North Dakota, answering calls at 3:00AM for train derailments and writing grants on a Friday afternoon to help a fire station replace their water tender. We might be unseen, but the impact is felt.”
City, County, and Tribal Emergency Managers are adept at shaping their program to the local hazards, geography, population, infrastructure, and even local budgets for the communities that they live and work in. Local Emergency Managers make their communities more resilient with their work every day. Countless individuals, families, and businesses have recovered from disasters, rebuilt stronger, and enhanced their resilience against future emergencies because of their Emergency Manager.
“North Dakota is actually considered a leader in Emergency Management at the national level,” shares Darin Hanson, Director of North Dakota’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management division. “We are one of few states who can run a state-led recovery program. Because of our longstanding fiscal responsibility and the strength of our plans, FEMA has accredited us to be able to manage disaster recovery fund programs at the state level. FEMA has written white papers that not only is our model faster, but it is also far more cost effective. They’re encouraging other states to look more like North Dakota.”
Emergency Management at the state level is fulfilled by the Homeland Security and Emergency Management division within the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services. The Department is directed by the Adjutant General, leader of the North Dakota National Guard.
The division coordinates disaster response from the 24/7 Watch Center, activates and runs the State Emergency Operations Center, oversees millions of dollars in assistance distributed to impacted communities, administers mitigation grants that save the state billions in response and recovery costs, and helps to fund local public safety initiatives across the state.
Emergency Management is one of three focuses of Governor Armstrong’s Public Safety Subcabinet alongside Fire and EMS.
