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Emergency management: EMPG grant reinstated; county explores weather stations and mass-casualty drills
Summary
Emergency management staff said FEMA lifted a pause on Emergency Management Performance Grant reimbursements and that the county will seek reimbursement for earlier quarters. Staff also discussed requests for sirens, weather stations and a planned mass-casualty drill with local partners.
County emergency management staff told the board that FEMA has lifted a pause on Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) reimbursements and that the county will submit claims for the first two quarters.
"The EMPG funding was still on pause from FEMA. I received an email yesterday morning that that has been lifted," the emergency management staff member said. The staff member told the board the grant will reimburse about $24,000 for the county’s eligible expenses and that the office expects to file claims by the end of the week for the first two quarters.
Staff described ongoing coordination with regional partners on storm-season readiness and damage-assessment procedures and said they attended an IEMA (Illinois Emergency Management Agency) and DHS partner web conference on preparedness. The county also participated in a regional surge drill at Rock River Center, a mass-casualty exercise intended to test EMS and hospital surge capacity.
Emergency management staff said local fire chiefs and villages have asked for help procuring storm sirens and that some communities have requested weather stations to improve local road and icing information. The county engineer has proposed installing two higher-tech stations next year that could detect roadway icing; staff said they will explore combining requests through the local emergency planning commission to reduce costs.
Staff said a mass-casualty drill involving the Fire Chiefs Association, local law enforcement and the Freeport School District is being planned for September; details and data were not yet set.
