Partners Connect gain valuable insights into Pulaski County EMA

Pulaski County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Richel Fox recently gave the Pulaski County Human Services group, “Partners Connect,” an inside look into how the county EMA operates. The lunch meeting took place in the EMA office on Friday afternoon, June 13. In its most basic form, the EMA director manages daily operations and emergency responses, while also developing and maintaining emergency plans and procedures for the county. Fox responds to any accidents that involve chemical spills and works on coordinating clean-up as well. Fox does administrative work regularly and writes grants to try to make trainings and classes available for first responders to attend. She also works closely with the state, attending a number of trainings and classes in Indianapolis for herself. She explained that she recently learned that her office can hold countywide fire and tornado drills. She would like to try to coordinate this next year. The Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) also functions with EMA. The role of the LEPC is to develop and manage emergency response plans pertaining to accidental chemical releases from facilities and to distribute information to the general public. The LEPC hosts an annual emergency response exercise for all emergency responders in the county. The training exercise includes realistic scenarios involving mock state-recognized hazardous materials and other types of  hazardous situations.