Fairfield County Emergency Management Agency

AGENCY NEWS

Community Emergency Response Team

A new class of the Fairfield County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is starting now. Register here!  Curious to know what CERT is?  Check out our CERT page. 

Updated Training Classes and Dates 2023/24

Fairfield County EMA is excited to offer a Public Information Officer (PIO) training class this Fall and a Sport and Event Safety Training Class this upcoming Spring. Check out our training page for registration details.

The EMA

Consider an emergency: a house fire, car accident, or a security breach. These emergencies can be handled by the resources of the county. The Law Enforcement and Fire Departments are highly trained and ready to respond and care for these emergencies. But what if the fire consumes a city block… this might be too much for any single fire department to handle. Well before these emergencies occurred, there are “Memorandums of Understanding” in place with other area fire and law departments where they have agreed to help each other out.

A disaster occurs, when the emergency is so large, that the resources in the county and with the help provided by Memorandums of Understanding, cannot cover the need for the situation.

This is when the EMA steps in to coordinate a response. If the emergency was a tornado that destroyed 100 homes, or if the power was out for a week in half the county, this would require resources that are more than our county could handle. We need additional help and support. By bringing the decision makers together at the Emergency Operations Center, we can coordinate with all the county resources to decide the best way to help our residents. This may include asking the state for assistance.

Winter is coming... are you prepared for the Winter Storm?

CURRENT EMERGENCIES

Thankfully, we are not currently reponding to any emergenices or Disasters.

If you are still in search of COVID 19 information, please visit the Health Department's website.

Alert Fairfield logo

What is Alert-Fairfield County? Alert-Fairfield County is an emergency notification system used by city and county public safety organizations throughout the United States to issue government related messages to residents and businesses. The system has the capacity to send thousands of messages via landline, cell phone, TTY, e‐mail, text and fax, all within minutes. Only authorized officials are allowed access to the system.

Learn more

Fire Departments:

Amanda Township Fire Department

Basil Joint Fire District

Berne Township Fire Department

Bloom Township Fire Department

Bremen-Rushcreek Township Fire Department

Clearcreek Township Volunteer Fire Department

Greenfield Township Fire Department

Hocking Township Fire Department

Lancaster Fire Department

Pleasant Township Fire Department

Rushville-Richland Township Fire Department

Walnut Township Fire Department

Violet Township Fire Department

Police Departments:

Village of Baltimore

Carroll Police Department

City of Lancaster

Lithopolis Police Department

Village of Millersport

City of Pickerington

Sugar Grove Police Department

Conservancy Districts:

Hunter's Run Conservancy District

Rushcreek Conservancy District

South Licking Watershed Conservancy District

Other:

Fairfield County Sheriff's Office

Fairfield County Health Department

Fairfield County Fire Chiefs' Association

Fairfield Medical Center

American Red Cross

Fairfield County Amateur Radio Club

EPA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Local Emergency Planning Committee:
Mission "To enhance the protection of the community and the environment from hazardous materials incidents through planning, preparation and communication between citizens, business and government."

Homeland Security Advisory Committee:
The purpose of HSPD-8 is to “establish policies to strengthen the preparedness of the United States to prevent and respond to threatened or actual domestic terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies by requiring a national domestic all-hazards preparedness goal, establishing mechanisms for improved delivery of Federal preparedness assistance to State and local governments, and outlining actions to strengthen preparedness capabilities of Federal, State and local entities”

Healthcare Coalition:
The Healthcare Coalition is a group that integrate, coordinate and organize regional health care preparedness activities and response coordination. They're a key requirement in the 2012-2017 Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) and Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Cooperative Agreements.

There are currently over 47 Severe Weather sirens operating within the county. These sirens are controlled by the Fairfield County Sheriff's Dispatch. There are 2 special sirens that will also alert to a breach in the Buckeye Lake Dam.

Siren Spotter Report

In order to ensure that the warning sirens will work during an actual emergency, all sirens are tested every Wednesday at 12 noon. The tests are activated by the Fairfield County Sheriff's Dispatch Center. If you do not hear a siren that you normally hear during these tests, please let us know as your feedback will help us ensure the system is operating properly. Call the EMA office at 740-654-4357 or send an e-mail to ema-lepc@fairfieldcountyohio.gov.

The Buckeye Lake Dam Safety Warning sirens are also tested the First Thursday of every month.

Additional information on our county sirens can be found here - SIRENS!

Join the Siren Spotter Team! If you are interested in joining the team to inform the EMA office of sirens that do not sound on the Wednesday test, please considering signing up to be a member of our Siren Spotter Team, sign up here!

Siren Spotter Team image and link