Emergency management jobs in Allen County are spread throughout several agencies. The County Health Department’s Emergency Preparedness Division has a team that includes emergency management specialists from the Allen County Sheriff’s Department and other government specialists from the Allen County Office of Homeland Security.
Under the leadership of the Emergency Preparedness Division, these organizations coordinate with other disaster relief officials from private and non-profit agencies such as the Red Cross, which has its main office in Fort Wayne. Organizations conduct regular emergency management training in Allen County for a range of disaster scenarios to ensure they are fully capable of meeting any challenge posed by a natural or man-made event.
Strategic Planning for Emergency Management Careers in Allen County
The process of becoming an emergency management specialist in Allen County is designed to select the best candidates from a pool of applicants who may go on to be the future leaders of disaster relief and emergency preparedness. Because of the scope of careers involved in the field, there are several relevant subject areas for an emergency management associate’s or bachelor’s degree. These include:
- Public Policy
- Engineering
- Meteorology
- Psychology
- Communications
- Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Emergency management certification in Allen County is offered by various agencies including the Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s Emergency Management Training Program. The National Incident Management System Training offers programs at its Emergency Management Institute open to Allen County residents. Certificate programs offered between these agencies for emergency management specialists include:
- Resource Management
- Public Information Systems
- Multi-agency Coordination Systems
- Management for Emergency Managers
- Instructor Development Workshop
- Damage Assessment
- Mass Fatalities
Biological Threats to Allen County
Although the usual target for biological warfare attacks is thought to be hundreds of miles away at the nation’s capital, emergency management coordinators will caution that Allen County may be a more likely recipient of such an attack than the general public might think. Less than two hundred miles from the county lies the site of a former military production facility for anthrax, and with the relative ease with which one can develop the toxin ricin or spread the tularemia bacteria, it is no wonder that the Emergency Preparedness Division trains for scenarios involving anthrax, the bubonic plague, botulism, smallpox, and other biological threats. Many agencies even have their own biological threat experts, who are particularly valuable to the county team of emergency management specialists.
Those entrusted with emergency management careers in Allen County are also prepared for a different kind of biological menace which threatens the county: West Nile virus. Out of the county’s 12 total cases in 2012, two were fatal, and there has already been a 2013 detection of the virus in Fort Wayne. Up to the point of the recent detection, emergency management specialists had been overseeing the collection of mosquitoes for random testing throughout the county. Because of their foresighted planning, specialists had a plan ready to implement upon the first sign of positive tests, and this is exactly what recently happened. Emergency management coordinators released reports to be announced to citizens via public information officers, liaised with urban planners and biologists to determine where to increase testing for the virus, and briefed hospital officials on the situation.