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Stephenson County officials highlight emergency-response trainings, weather alert upgrade and $22,344 EMPG grant
Summary
County officials reported joint active-shooter and mass-casualty trainings, CN Railroad hazmat exercises and a plan to auto-send dispatch reports to the National Weather Service; officials also said the county received an EMPG grant of $22,344 but noted federal funding uncertainty due to a government shutdown.
Stephenson County officials described a series of recent and upcoming emergency-response trainings and a small federal grant intended to support preparedness.
The county report, delivered by Mr. Bush and other officials, said Deputy Director Schwarzwalder attended Illinois Fire Service Institute active-shooter and school-safety training Feb. 12–13 and praised the joint law-enforcement and school-day format. Officials also recounted a Feb. 25 mass-casualty tabletop drill at FHN Mercy Health simulating a fatal bus crash that included sheriff's deputies, police, hospital staff, fire departments and other local agencies.
Why it matters: the trainings are intended to improve multiagency response to shootings, mass-casualty crashes and hazmat incidents, and the county said it plans more such joint exercises.
Officials described steps to improve weather-related situational awareness. Mr. Bush said the county is working to automate the transmission of dispatch entries from its CAD/911 system to the National Weather Service office in Davenport so critical weather incidents (flash flooding, tornadoes on the ground, heavy snow) are emailed to the NWS as soon as a dispatch is entered.
The report also noted training connections with CN Railroad, which runs annual incident-response and hazmat familiarization events for local fire and hazmat squads following a derailment near Nora earlier this year.
Grant funding: Mr. Bush reported the county received $22,344 in EMPG (Emergency Management Performance Grant) funds for fiscal year 2024–2025—the full amount the county applied for—but added that a federal government shutdown has paused additional allocations and left some counties without full funding.
What’s next: officials said Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program training is scheduled April 1–2 at the county courthouse and that senior-officials NIMS training will be scheduled before May 16. County staff said they will continue to review mutual-aid agreements and bring recommendations back to the board.
The meeting also included routine business and a coroner-related appointment recommendation discussed later in the session.
