The Osceola County Office of Emergency Management received state approval for updates to both the Osceola County Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) and the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP).
The county LMS is a multi-jurisdictional collaborative plan that identifies hazards. This plan assesses risks and vulnerabilities and identifies mitigation actions to reduce losses. It further identifies and establishes a coordinated process using a wide range of public and private partnerships. Osceola County’s LMS must be updated and approved every five years.
The Osceola County CEMP helps establish when and how the county›s Emergency Operations Center operates in times of disasters, including hurricanes, fires, terrorism or pandemic. The CEMP also establishes other program processes such as sheltering, training and post-impact recovery. Osceola County’s CEMP must be updated and approved every four years.
FEMA and the State requires local governments to develop and adopt these plans in order to receive non-emergency disaster assistance. Disaster funding also requires a current and valid CEMP.
“Osceola residents, visitors and businesses can depend on the Osceola County Office of Emergency Management’s professionalism in planning for our safety,” said Osceola County Board Chairman Brandon Arrington. “Their hard work means that preparation, response and recovery efforts for all types of disaster will be more effective and efficient.”
The process of reviewing, revising and receiving approval for each of these comprehensive and detailed documents is time and resource-intensive. Given that they have differing timetables for renewal, once every 20 years both documents are due simultaneously. This means that in addition to responding to the global viral pandemic of COVID-19, in 2020 the 6-person staff of the Osceola County Office of Emergency Management also worked diligently to finish the process of overhauling and updating these two extremely important and mandated documents.
“Completing this important work and receiving State approval on schedule is a testament to the dedication of this office and its staff,” said Bill Litton, director of Emergency Management. “This work really shows that county and city governments, working collaboratively with partner agencies and vested community and local volunteer groups can ensure that we are all more prepared to respond effectively in the face of an emergency.”
These documents are the foundation for the county meeting the five mission areas of emergency management, which are prevention, protection, response, mitigation & recovery.
Residents and business owners interested in preparing for emergencies are encouraged to visit readyosceola.org and follow @OsceolaEOC on Facebook and Twitter, as well as enroll in AlertOsceola, the County’s free emergency alert system. Those interested can sign up by simply texting the word AlertOsceola to 777888.
