Preparedness

Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan

A planning team comprised of representatives from the Pima County, Oro Valley, Sahuarita, Tucson, Marana, South Tucson, Pascua Yaqui, Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center and Tucson Airport Authority has been meeting regularly to participate in a hazard mitigation planning process. The purpose of this process is to develop a multi-hazard mitigation plan for the participating entities according to The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA2K). The DMA2K requires all local, county, tribal and state governments to have a FEMA approved hazard mitigation plan in order to be eligible for certain federal disaster mitigation funds. This plan focuses on the area's most threatening hazards and provides a strategy to reduce or eliminate the risk from those hazards to the people and property of Pima County. The first draft of the Pima County Hazard Mitigation Plan has been completed and is ready for public viewing and comment. The Plan may be viewed from November 1st until November 10th. For more information please contact Jeff Guthrie at the Pima County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, 798-0600 or Jeff.Guthrie@Pima.gov

Planning makes it possible to manage the entire life cycle of a potential crisis. Strategic and operational planning establishes priorities, identifies expected levels of performance and capability requirements, provides the standard for assessing capabilities, and helps stakeholders learn their roles.  The planning elements identify what an organization’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) or Emergency Operations Plans (EOP) should include for ensuring that contingencies are in place for delivering the capability during a large-scale disaster.

To this end, Pima County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security continually updates and improves it’s spectrum of planning documents to ensure that the population of Pima County is safer from natural and man-made disasters.

Planning Guidance Documentation

The National Response Framework

The National Response Framework, and it’s corresponding Emergency Support Functions, as well as Support and Incident Annexes, presents the guiding principles that enable all response partners to prepare for and provide a unified national response to disasters and emergencies – from the smallest incident to the largest catastrophe.

This important document establishes a comprehensive, national, all-hazards approach to domestic incident response.

The Framework defines the key principles, roles, and structures that organize the way we respond as a Nation. It describes how communities, tribes, States, the Federal Government, and private-sector and nongovernmental partners apply these principles for a coordinated, effective national response. It also identifies special circumstances where the Federal Government exercises a larger role, including incidents where Federal interests are involved and catastrophic incidents where a State would require significant support. The Framework enables first responders, decision makers, and supporting entities to provide a unified national response.

Pima County has updated all of it’s plans to mirror the principles and practices laid out in the National Response Framework, ensuring that the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security is ready to respond to local, regional and national incidents.

All-hazards Planning Theory

All-hazards planning is built upon scalable, flexible, and adaptable coordinating structures that allow for planning documents to be useful for both the expected and unexpected incidents, as they arise, no matter the size, scope or complexity.

Encouraged from within Federal doctrine, such as the National Response Framework, all-hazards planning has become the preferred method and is in use across all Pima County planning documents.

How our plans make the community safer

Local police, fire, emergency medical services, public health and medical providers, emergency management, public works, environmental response professionals, and others in the community are often the first to detect a threat or hazard, or respond to an incident. They also are often the last to leave an incident site or otherwise to cope with the effects of an incident. The local senior elected or appointed official (the mayor, city manager, or county manager) is responsible for ensuring the public safety and welfare of residents. In today’s world, senior officials and their emergency managers build the foundation for an effective response. They organize and integrate their capabilities and resources with neighboring jurisdictions, the State, NGOs, and the private sector. Increasingly, businesses are vital partners within communities wherever retail locations, service sites, manufacturing facilities, or management offices are located. NGOs and not-for-profit organizations also play a key role in strengthening communities’ response efforts through their knowledge of hard-to-reach populations, outreach, and services.

Recognizing this, Pima County Office of Emergency Management makes every effort to ensure that planning documentation includes all aspects of the local level of response to and recovery from incidents, small and large, when it creates is planning documents. In doing so, it can be insured that the actions made before, during and after a disaster are the best possible given the situation, helping to save lives and protect property within the region.

Planning Partners

Pima County works closely with all of the jurisdictions within its borders to ensure that plans are consistent and organized.