Office of Emergency Management
The Bergen County Office of Emergency Management (OEM )
is the lead agency for emergency management in Bergen County. Under the
auspices of this office, the emergency management staff includes the County
Fire Marshall, a volunteer Emergency Medical Services Coordination Committee,
the Communications Coordinator, and emergency planners who work toward
planning for, and responding to and recovering from large emergencies that
would threaten the public safety in Bergen County.
Under the New Jersey Emergency Management Act (NJS App. 9-40 et. seq.), all
government jurisdictions in New Jersey are required to have an active
emergency management program. In Bergen County this office is under the Chief
of the County Police, who by County Charter is the County Emergency Management
Coordinator, is the lead agency for emergency activities. This office fulfills
and exceeds the requirements of the act.
As part of the statutory requirements, all jurisdictions are required to
formulate and submit for County and State approval comprehensive emergency
operations plans. Currently, 98% of the municipalities have an approved
emergency operation plan or are anticipated to have them completed by the end
of the calendar year. All governmental plans are certified for a four (4) year
period and must be revised and resubmitted for approval. In 1992, only 17% of
the municipal plans were approved.
This office evaluates emergency planning needs for the County. In addition to
formulating an overall County response plan to emergencies, this office has
worked on other planning initiatives. Our emergency plan for responding to the
emotional needs of victims in large scale incidents has served as a model for
the remainder of the State. Additionally, this County has a comprehensive plan
for responding to mass casualty incidents, large scale fires, losses of
utilities, and large traffic disruptions. All of these plans have been either
tested through exercises or put into effect successfully. All of the plans are
updated based on new information received from exercises or actual
occurrences. Other plans currently under development involve domestic animal
services during an emergency and coordination of search and rescue. This
office is continuing to work with large County agencies and large quasi-public
organizations, like hospitals, In Bergen to assist them in emergency planning
process. As the municipal plans reach 100% compliance, expanded effort is
being made to address this need.
The office regularly responds to large scale incidents in Bergen County. At
these incidents, representatives from Bergen County OEM assist either
municipal OEM coordinators or coordinate response of emergency equipment for
multi-jurisdictional emergencies. This office's strong planning platform forms
a solid basis for the coordination of resources to large emergencies.
Responding to an emergency can include the activation of an Emergency
Operations Center for the overall direction of resources on a County level.
This office has and can also serve as a public information point for the press
and private citizens during an emergency. This public information function
allows the municipal agencies involved to concentrate their resources on
responding to the incident at hand and still assures adequate public
information dissemination.
This office has published a Web
page for public information
purposes. Our page was the first, and remains the only such one in the State.
Information on the page is available for preparing for emergencies and how to
contact local and County OEM representatives. Future applications for the page
include interactive information on recovering from the effects of a disaster.
Recovery is an important aspect of emergency management that is addressed on
various levels through this office. After a large emergency this office
collects data for other levels of government to determine eligibility for
State and Federal Aid. Under federal law, County government is the agent to
request aid and the coordination point for this aid. This County has received
millions of dollars in the past five years through recovery efforts.
Prevention activities include guidance in hazard mitigation projects, a county
wide committee on identifying mitigation projects and fire prevention duties
for county facilities accomplished through the County Fire Marshal. The County
OEM also provides regular training to emergency management officials and
responders from the police, fire, public works and emergency medical services.
Minimizing the effect of emergencies is accomplished through planning,
coordination, training and proper public information.
The past five years has seen a positive change in the office. Our
multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplined approach to emergency management
has made Bergen County a better place to live. As the numbers of emergency
volunteers are declining and other governmental resources are not limitless,
coordination of these resources becomes more essential during large
emergencies. We will continue to build on past successes into the future.
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PO Charles R. Lekowski,
Systems Administrator and Webmaster
Copyright © 1998-2003 Bergen County Police Department. All rights
reserved.
Revised:
February 20, 2003