Governor declares Feb. 7-13 NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Awareness Week. For more information, click here.
Nicole Miller, Emergency Manager
Phone: (586) 446-2903
E-mail: nmiller@sterling-heights.net
The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) protects the lives and
property of all city residents, businesses, and employees by practicing
the mitigation of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from,
emergencies and disasters.
In the event of an emergency-
Tune into Sterling Heights Radio 1700
Watch Sterling Heights Television, channel 5 (Comcast), channel 10 (WOW)
The Office of Emergency Management operates and coordinates
the Sterling Heights Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The EOC
is a physical location where key decision makers come together during
an emergency to coordinate information, response and recovery actions,
and resources. The EOC is activated in response to large-scale
man-made or natural disasters. It is not an incident command
post; rather it is the operations center where coordination and
management decisions are facilitated.
All
EOC personnel and emergency responders operate under the Incident
Command System (ICS), which provides a standardized management
structure and system for conducting emergency operations. The
Incident Command System is applicable to routine daily operational
activities as well as major mobilizations. Because ICS operates
under a standardized structure with common terminology it is extremely
useful and adaptable to incidents involving multi-disciplinary or
multi-jurisdictional responses. ICS provides the flexibility
needed to rapidly activate and establish an organizational format
around the functions that need to be performed.
Emergency planning involves people at every level of municipal
government. The Sterling Heights Municipal Security Team (MST) consists
of the City Manager, Assistant City Managers, Emergency Manager, Police
Chief, Fire Chief, Public Works Director, Community Relations Director,
and the Finance & Budget Director. The MST is convened in
response to an event or threat of an event to mitigate the consequences
and to strategically plan when multiple departments and agencies are
needed in response to actions that can affect the City. The MST
oversees the Sterling Heights Emergency Services Operations Group
(ESOG).
The
Emergency Services Operations Group (ESOG) includes representatives
from the Police, Fire, and Public Works Departments as well as support
personnel from Information Technology, Purchasing, Risk Management, and
the Community Relations Department. The ESOG works together as a team
to identify and analyze the hazards that may threaten the city, and
Emergency Action Guidelines are developed accordingly. These
Emergency Action Guidelines are designed in an “All Hazards” approach
to address all types of disasters, some of which include lost power,
downed trees, tornados, winter storms, and acts of terrorism.
Exercises, ranging from tabletop versions to full-scale mock incidents
are conducted to validate and improve upon the Emergency Action
Guidelines.
The MST and ESOG, through its members and strategies, focus on the
complete integration of emergency services to efficiently and
effectively prepare for, mitigate, and properly handle critical
incidents or disasters. These two highly dynamic groups maintain
their singular goal of unrelenting preparedness for all threats, all
hazards, all emergencies, and all events that may occur at anytime
within or adjacent to the City of Sterling Heights.
City Council and City Administration are required to act in the most
prudent and efficient manner when called upon during emergency events.
Coordinated events during past emergency situations have resulted in an
excellent safety record in terms of injury and loss of life during
these events at a negligible financial loss to the city.
The emergency planning process encourages the public to be prepared for
all disaster situations. The Sterling Heights Community Emergency
Response Team (CERT) consists of volunteer members of the community who
have been trained to assist their families, neighbors, and places of
work during a disaster. Members of CERT promote emergency
preparedness and awareness by handing out emergency preparedness
workbooks at community events and by providing emergency preparedness
presentations.
Successful relationships have been established with local businesses
and the industrial community to further enhance the City’s capability
to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from a major disaster.
You may also tune into Sterling Heights Informational Radio at 1700 AM
for live National Weather Service severe weather reports. During Severe
Weather Warnings, the National Weather Service announces on-going
severe weather reports until the warnings are allowed to expire.
Did you know...
that during a disaster it has been shown time and time again that community members will spontaneously come together to provide assistance to those in need?
