The Pinal County Office of Emergency Management is to provide planning, resource coordination, public outreach and recovery services to emergency response agencies and the public in order to minimize the loss of life and property during emergencies and disasters.

What is Emergency Management?

Pinal County Office of Emergency Management (PCOEM) was originally created by the Board of Supervisors as the Civil Defense Organization in November 1951.  On December 18, 1961, the Board of Supervisor adopted the first Basic Civil Defense Plan.  Over the years the name of the department changed several times to reflect its responsibilities.  Today, the Office of Emergency Management is responsible for coordination of all hazard emergency efforts in preparedness, planning, response, recovery and mitigation for the unincorporated areas of the county.  The Civil Defense Plan has also changed over the years.  Today, the Office of Emergency Management is responsible for maintaining the County's Emergency Response Plan, the Long-Term Recovery Plan, The Multi-Hazard Multi-Jurisdiction Mitigation Plan, and the Local Emergency Planning Committee Hazardous Materials Response Plan.

IPAWS National Test

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system on October 3, 2018.

The test will assess the readiness to distribute an emergency message nationwide and determine whether improvements are needed.

The test messages will be sent using FEMA’s IPAWS, which enables authorities to send emergency messages to multiple communications networks, including the EAS and WEA as part of the nation’s modern alert and warning infrastructure.

Sending the WEA test message will begin at 2:18 p.m. EDT. The EAS message will be sent at 2:20 p.m. EDT.

This will be the first nationwide Presidential-level WEA test and cannot be opted out.

Originally planned for September 20, 2018, the test has been postponed until October 3, 2018. A back-up date is always planned in case of severe weather or other significant events.

Click link for more information: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-alert-test

Fact sheet:  https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/169396

Pinal County Office of Emergency Management Initiates Updated Wildfire Protection Plan
The Pinal County Office of Emergency Management has initiated the update of the 2009 Pinal County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) which was developed in accordance with requirements of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003.

The 2018 CWPP update process re-analyzed communities at risk from wildland fire within Pinal County and establishes a series of recommendations to reduce wildland vegetative fuel ignitability, structural ignitibility as well as recommendations for enhancing public outreach and education associated with wildland fire in the urban interface. These recommendations have been developed to reduce the threat of unwanted wildfire to communities.

The Pinal County Office of Emergency Management encourages public review and invites all residents to download and review the plan.  Click here to view the draft document.  The public will have 30 days beginning May 10, 2018 to review and comment on the draft plan.  Two public meetings will be held at the following locations for the public to learn more about the CWPP process and provide input or ask questions.

May 29, 2018, 6 pm – 7:30 pm
City of Maricopa Police Department
Copper Sky Substation Meeting Room
17985 N. Greythorn Drive, Maricopa

May 30, 2018, 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Town of Kearny
Constitution Hall
912-E Tillbury Road, Kearny

All residents are invited to submit comments you may have about the Pinal County Community Wildfire Protection Plan. You may submit comments on the plan either through email or mailing your comments to the following:

[email protected] 
                      or
Pinal County CWPP c/o Dylan George-Sills
Logan Simpson
51 W. Third Street, Suite 450
Tempe, AZ 85281

Want to be alerted of emergencies and important community events in your area?  Sign up for the
Pinal Emergency Notification System (PENS) and
stay informed with time-sensitive messages. 

CLICK HERE...

The Everbridge Mobile Safety application may be used as an extension of the Pinal Emergency Notification System (PENS) to facilitate two-way conversations with mobile recipients.  

CLICK HERE...

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Pinal County Office of Emergency Management is comprised of four major components:

Preparedness
We provide a continuous cycle of planning, training, exercising, evaluation and make corrective actions to ensure effective coordination during incident response. 

Response
We issue warnings, coordinate resources for the mobilization of response personnel and equipment, to minimize injury and loss of life, thus reduce property damage and economic loss, restore essential community and public services.

Recovery
We assist local governments and individuals to restore public facilities, homes and businesses to pre-disaster condition when possible.

Mitigation
We reduce disaster impact by aggressively seeking alternative funding for mitigation projects before a disaster strikes.