About

History
  • Civil Defense began during WW II and was followed by the Texas Civil Protection Act of 1951.
  • In 1963 it was turned over to the Department of Public Safety and the Texas Disaster Act of 1975 provided for the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management.
  • Title 37 of the Texas Administrative Code requires cities / counties to have an Emergency Management Plan and appoint an Emergency Management Coordinator to oversee the plan and to assist during an emergency.
  • Chapter 418 of the Government Code provides that each inter-jurisdiction shall have an Emergency Plan providing for mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
Adoption of Joint Emergency Management Program
  • A joint resolution was signed in 1983 between Kerrville, Ingram and Kerr County to have one program or plan cover the three jurisdictions.
  • After adoption by the cities of Kerrville and Ingram, as well as Kerr County, the City of Kerrville Fire Chief was appointed as the coordinator in 1983.
  • The Mayor and/or County Judge signs off on the basic plan. When the plan is adopted by the cities and county, the state does not require jurisdictions to re-adopt again unless lines of authority and organizational relationships of the basic plan are changed.
The Basic Plan (EOP)
  • Defines the organization, sets lines of authority, organizational relationships and identifies resources to be used.
  • Assigns responsibility to organizations or individuals for carrying out specific actions used to respond to an emergency.
  • Plan is flexible for all emergencies or All Hazards due to the strong basic foundation it provides, and the fact that many activities for one disaster are required or cross-over to other emergencies.
The Twenty-two (22) Annexes to the Basic Plan
  • They provide a focused and detailed explanation of how support functions such as Warning, Evacuation, Public Information, Shelter & Mass Care, Donations Management, Communications, Fire, Health and Medical, Terrorism etc., will be accomplished.
  • These annexes are assigned to individuals that work closely with each area or have the ability to coordinate with individuals or organizations to accomplish tasks within that particular area (Examples- Annex A Warning - Sheriff; Annex B Communication - Police Chief; Annex F Firefighting – Fire Chief; Annex K Public Works and Engineering – Public Works Director; Annex V Terrorist Incident Response – Police Chief).
  • Plans meet one of three levels of preparedness, which depend on the number of annexes addressed (Basic - 10, Intermediate - 19 and Advanced – 22).
  • Currently, as of 09/08/2014, Kerrville/Ingram/Kerr County Emergency Management has an advanced Emergency Management Plan. The Plan and the Annexes have to be updated every five (5) years.
The Basic Plan vs. Procedures

  • The Emergency Operations Plan is general and does not go into detail on all aspects of the emergency management effort. This would be impossible.
  • It’s an “All Hazards” plan. Responsibilities for certain actions are assigned to individuals or agencies and specify the assignee’s accountability….Whom do they report to? Or, With whom do they coordinate?
  • Details or Standard Operational Procedures (SOP’s) during mitigation, preparedness, response or recovery of an incident would be left up to the individual or agency organization to develop and implement (simple example – The Fire Department is responsible for putting fires out, but the plan does not detail what should be done, how it should be done or what equipment will be used at the incident….the Fire Department would be responsible to have procedures [SOP’s] detailing specifics).