This division was created in 1978 as the lead agency or entity to coordinate multi-organizational community planning, response, and recovery. Emergency Management creates and nurtures effective partnerships in advance of a disaster through the development of a proactive, comprehensive emergency operations plan. During a disaster, response and recovery efforts are coordinated from an Emergency Operations Center staffed by paid and volunteer personnel and representatives from all emergency service departments and agencies involved in operations.
Emergency management begins at the municipal level, as required by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Service Code. Every county, city, borough, and township in the Commonwealth (a total of 2,638 municipalities) is required to have an emergency management coordinator who is selected by the elected officials of the jurisdiction. The Emergency Management Coordinator's role is to develop plans, conduct training, and coordinate all available resources in the community. The ultimate responsibility for Emergency Management always rests with the chief elected officials and governing body.
When two or more municipalities are involved in a disaster, the county assumes overall emergency coordination. When two or more counties are involved in a disaster, the state assumes overall coordination. When two or more states are involved in a disaster, the federal government assumes overall coordination. Thus, the responsibility and authority for emergency management always lies with the lowest level of government affected, and a unified incident command system is implemented that is all- inclusive, yet never usurps local authority.