Waltham Emergency Management
DEPARTMENTS
Waltham Emergency Management provides emergency coordination of the resources of various city departments and other agencies during emergencies. The department is the conduit for state assistance through the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). The planning effort for the City is guided the Comprehensive Emergency Management (CEM) Plan which was developed in conjunction with MEMA.
The Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan provides the foundation and guidance for emergency management in the city. Although administered by Emergency Management, copies of the plan are found in the mayor's office, police department, fire department, department of public works and the school department. Each department is familiar with their role in emergency management, which would come into play in a major emergency. The plan takes into consideration that police, fire and emergency medical service, have the responsibility for day to day routine emergencies. The Emergency Management Department and the CEM plan only come into play when a major emergency situation arises affecting the whole community and stretching the day to day resources. Both police and fire have mutual aid agreements with other communities that can bring additional police and firefighters to their assistance. These systems work well, but if additional resources not within the mutual aid system are needed, emergency management would coordinate this assistance.
Waltham Emergency Management has the ability to request assistance in a major emergency from state agencies and other communities through the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency(MEMA), and if needed, MEMA can request federal assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Emergency Management's role is to coordinate the individual plans of each City department along with outside agencies, such as AMR Ambulance, Deaconess Waltham Hospital, the American Red Cross, the city's colleges, business and industry into one master plan that works in an emergency situation. Many of these diverse organizations have specialized equipment and technical or human resources that may be vital to the management of an emergency. The master plan identifies these resources and provides information on the appropriate contacts and telephone numbers. As personnel as well as the resources are constantly changing this contact information the planners must continuously review and update the plans.
Additional information on Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency click on the names to link to their websites.
The department also provides administrative support for the Waltham Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) which was established under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) to prepare the community for emergencies involving hazardous materials. Facilities are required to provide annual chemical inventories to the LEPC. This information is used to identify the hazardous chemicals in use and is the basis for the plan. Under the law, the LEPC is required to test the hazardous material plan on an annual basis.
These drills provide training for the emergency responders and
identify areas where revisions may be needed to the plan. Because of the
drills as well as federal and state focuses, the LEPC has also become
involved in planning for response to terrorist and explosive threats.
Because involvement by industry in the LEPC is required, technical and
management expertise is made available to the city that would not
ordinarily be available.
Emergency Operations Center
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC), is located in the 911 Emergency Communications Building. The center provides a place for representatives of the mayor's office, police, fire, emergency management, public works, and other city departments to assemble and coordinate the support of any type of emergency in the city.
The center equipped with computers and communications equipment enables officials of the various departments and outside agencies to communicate with their departments and to bring needed resources to the emergency. If additional resources from outside the community are required, Emergency Management will coordinate requests through the Mass Emergency Management Agency.
The EOC will support the incident commander of localized incidents such as large fires and hazardous material emergencies by coordinating outside resources to the incident. The EOC's role is to support and provide resources to the police, fire and other emergency responders, not to direct their individual operations.
In city wide or larger emergencies, such as hurricanes and blizzards, when a state of emergency has been declared by the mayor, the Emergency Operations Center may serve as the center of municipal government coordinating all services to the citizens during the emergency.
In less serious situations, such as flooding where, fire resources may be stretched, the EOC may coordinate non-emergency public services such as residential basement pumping so the 911 Operators and firefighters are freed up to handle emergency calls.