Politics & Government

Emergency Management Volunteers Provide Invaluable Service, More Volunteers Needed

McHenry County Emergency Management Agency encourages more people to step up to volunteer.

 

The McHenry County Emergency Management Agency has a long history of volunteerism. McHenry County Emergency Services Volunteers, who donate their time and talents, provide an invaluable resource to the County.

These individuals donate countless hours every year serving to make McHenry County a safer place to live. In each, 2010 and 2011, individuals donated over 4,400 hours in volunteer hours annually.  As of July of this year, Emergency Services Volunteers  contributed 3,200 hours.

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Individuals serve in a wide capacity in the McHenry County Emergency Management Volunteer’s many divisions. The Search and Rescue, Communications, Weather Observation, Support, Mass Care, and Executive Staff are the volunteer divisions that support the operation of the McHenry County Emergency Management Agency.  A breakdown of responsibilities is given below as to how these divisions support our County operations. 

The McHenry County Emergency Services Volunteers is always seeking new participants! General Membership Meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month (except July & December) at 7 p.m. Join us if you would like to explore the volunteer opportunities.  We will be glad to have you!

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McHenry County Emergency Management Agency volunteer divisions:

 

Search and Rescue

All SAR team members are trained in crime scene preservation, evidence searches, ground search and rescue operations, first aid, CPR, helicopter operations and search incident management. The team is available to assist law enforcement and other public service agencies as appropriate.  To further enhance resource availability for large-scale incidents, the team is a part of the multi-county search and rescue mutual aid system, consisting of counties within northern Illinois. Organizational affiliations also include Illinois Search and Rescue Council (ISARC) that operates state-wide, facilitating standardization and coordination of Search and Rescue discipline in the State of Illinois.

 

Communications

EMA communications is split between the following two groups:

Telecommunications provides trained volunteer operators for public safety radio communications, as well as telephone and messengers for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Mobile Command Post.  The EOC radio room has been equipped with three state of the art electronic communications consoles, a computer aided dispatch workstation, and four call taker positions.

Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES) are a group of trained Amateur Radio operators who volunteer time and resources to assist our community during times of disaster or other communications emergencies.  They provide communication support for public events and non-profit organizations.  While primarily serving McHenry County, efforts are coordinated with other Illinois counties, the state and ultimately federal organizations.  Weekly radio nets and periodic training drills are conducted to insure that preparedness level continues to improve.

 

Weather Observation

Weather Operations consists of a group of volunteers trained for severe weather observation, who report conditions to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the McHenry County Government Center.  This division is activated whenever Severe Weather threatens the county.  These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather that are then used to take the steps to protect the citizens of the county, such as issuing warnings.  Members are trained on thunderstorm development, fundamentals of storm structure, how to identifying potential severe weather features and, how to efficiently report that information in a safe and responsible manner.

 

Support

The Support Division assists with maintaining vehicles, communications equipment, and the Emergency Operations Center in a readiness state.  All of the equipment and vehicles maintained can be deployed locally and/or statewide during disasters.  This division manages mobile backup generators that have been utilized to insure continued operations of critical infrastructure such as water lift stations that provide drinking water, as well as local and county facilities during power outages.

 

Mass Care

Mass Care assists with locating sheltering facilities and preplanning the needs to operate a shelter, in home care and functional needs within the county.  This division has extensive planning input for shelter qualification.

 

Executive Staff

The Volunteer Executive Staff Members act as liaisons on behalf of the EMA Director between the EMA volunteers and the Full-time staff.  The Volunteer Executive Staff also assist with the planning and training of volunteers for the organizations needs.

 

For more information, please contact the McHenry County Emergency Management Agency at 815-338-6400 or ema@co.mchenry.il.us.

 

 


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