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| Cuyahoga County Office of Emergency Management | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cuyahoga County Office of Emergency Management |
| Type | County agency |
| Headquarters | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Region served | Cuyahoga County, Ohio |
| Leader title | Director |
| Parent organization | Cuyahoga County, Ohio administration |
Cuyahoga County Office of Emergency Management is the county-level public safety agency responsible for coordinating preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery activities across Cuyahoga County, Ohio, including the city of Cleveland, Ohio and suburban jurisdictions such as Parma, Ohio, Lakewood, Ohio, and Euclid, Ohio. The office operates within the framework of federal statutes like the Stafford Act and partners with agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Ohio Emergency Management Agency, Cuyahoga County Sheriff, Cleveland Division of Police, and healthcare systems such as University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic. It liaises with regional stakeholders from Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District to transit authorities like the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.
The office traces origins to civil defense initiatives during the Cold War and evolved through influences from events including the Hurricane Katrina response, the September 11 attacks, and the Northeast blackout of 2003. Local milestones involved coordination after industrial incidents on the Cuyahoga River fire era and metropolitan planning projects tied to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation expansion and county reorganization under administrations of Timothy M. Hagan and Frank G. Jackson. Federal grant programs such as Homeland Security Grant Program and reforms after the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act shaped its capabilities, while regional exercises linked to Great Lakes Compact stakeholders informed water-related contingency planning.
The office is structured with divisions for planning, operations, logistics, public information, and volunteer coordination, mirroring incident command principles codified by the National Incident Management System and Incident Command System. Leadership typically reports to the Cuyahoga County Executive and coordinates with county executives such as Armond Budish and municipal executives including Justin Bibb. It maintains formal liaisons with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation emergency planners, county agencies like Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners, and mutual aid partners in Summit County, Ohio and Lake County, Ohio.
Primary responsibilities include hazard mitigation planning consistent with the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, mass care coordination with organizations such as the American Red Cross, public health coordination with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health and Ohio Department of Health, and continuity planning for institutions like Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Services include emergency notification through partnerships with ReadyNotify-style systems, damage assessment coordination with municipal engineering departments, and coordination of resources such as search and rescue teams from groups like Cuyahoga County Search and Rescue and Ohio Task Force 1 affiliates.
The office develops and maintains hazard mitigation plans, all-hazards emergency operations plans, continuity of operations plans for county agencies, and annexes addressing threats such as winter storms affecting Interstate 90 (Ohio), industrial incidents in the Cuyahoga River corridor, and pandemic scenarios informed by the 2009 swine flu pandemic and COVID-19 pandemic. Programs include grant management for Urban Area Security Initiative funds, community preparedness efforts aligned with National Preparedness Goal objectives, and specialized plans coordinating with utilities like FirstEnergy and rail operators such as CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway.
Training programs follow standards from the FEMA National Training and Education Division and the Emergency Management Institute, offering courses in ICS and unified command for personnel drawn from Cleveland Division of Fire, county EMS providers, and municipal emergency managers. The office organizes multiagency exercises in accordance with the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program, tabletop exercises with hospital partners including MetroHealth System, and full-scale drills simulating events like major winter storms, hazardous materials releases near U.S. Route 422 (Ohio), and mass gathering incidents at venues such as Progressive Field and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
During incidents the office activates the county Emergency Operations Center to coordinate response among law enforcement agencies like the Cleveland Division of Police, emergency medical services including Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner interfaces, fire departments, public works entities, and utility companies. It implements mutual aid agreements under frameworks similar to the National Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreement and liaises with federal partners including the FEMA Regional Office V, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency for environmental hazards such as spills affecting the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie shorelines.
Community outreach includes public information campaigns coordinated with media outlets such as The Plain Dealer and television stations including WKYC and WEWS-TV, distribution of preparedness guidance to communities like Shaker Heights, Ohio and Strongsville, Ohio, and partnerships with nonprofit organizations including the American Red Cross Greater Cleveland and neighborhood associations. Programs promote citizen preparedness initiatives modeled on Community Emergency Response Team training, business continuity workshops for employers like KeyBank and Progressive Corporation, and school safety collaborations with districts such as Cleveland Metropolitan School District and higher education institutions like Cuyahoga Community College.
Category:Emergency management in the United States Category:Cuyahoga County, Ohio