Wise County Office of Emergency Management

About the Program

Category: Risk and Emergency Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

In January of 2018, Wise County created the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and hired the first full time Emergency Management Coordinator (EMC). As a guiding principal for the development of the newly established office, the EMC established the following vision: “Building a safer future through effective partnerships of local government, emergency services, private sector, and volunteer agencies and the citizens of Wise County to save lives, protect property and reduce the effects of disasters through preparedness, prevention, planning, response, and recovery activities. Since the office was established in 2018, the OEM has grown from two full time employees to four, developed and implemented multiple public outreach and education programs, developed several preparedness initiatives, overseen state and federal funding programs, and retrofitted existing space into a purpose built, fully functional, Emergency Operations Center (EOC). While it was built and is always set up to serve as an EOC, the space and technology has also been made available to be used as a meeting and/or conference room.