By Mari Radtke
As governments around O’Brien County are readying their budgets for the coming fiscal year starting July 1 EMA Director Jared Johnson is sharing and showing the councils the various programs offered by the county’s Emergency Management and the partnerships his organization has with each of them.
Johnson has visited the O’Brien County Supervisors and several city council meetings. Besides his work with assisting with equipment, supplies and training Johnson also works to improve access for the citizens, working with local emergency organizations for preparedness and other assistance programs.
One thing Johnson has presented repeatedly is the O’Brien Alert. This alert system is a simple sign up to get messages to your cell phone. This O’Brien Alert is an upgrade now referred to as “Alert Iowa.” Alert Iowa sends messages citizens located in an area of weather concern with watches or warnings. One point Johnson is sure to point out is the recent recognition that in storm situations the city sirens may not provide sufficient warning. During the recent windstorms it was learned that the sound of the wind is louder than the sound of the emergency sirens. He offered O’Brien Alert as a good back up for notification. At the same time he offered weather radios as yet another layer for notification of dangerous weather.
“Amber Alerts” are announced on O’Brien Alert as well. The idea is to get more eyes for a missing person sooner in a wider area.
Project Lifesaver is a favored program of Johnson’s. O’Brien County purchased several kits 2 years ago. Ten kits remain available to the public in need at no charge. An individual prone to wandering can carry or wear a sending (tracking) device. In the event they are lost a trained rescue team will go out and search for an electronic signal from the tracing device. Finding the signal reduces the area needed to be searched to find the lost person.
This year Johnson introduced a financial preparedness catalog. This tool allows families to catalog their financial assets, policies, locations account numbers and more for easy access in the event of an emergency.
These programs are only a sample of the activities of O’Brien County Emergency Management. More information about these and other activities of O’Brien County Emergency Management can be found at www.Obrienema.org.