Township of Irvington New Jersey

MUNICIPAL BUILDING 1 CIVIC SQUARE IRVINGTON, NJ 07111
Main Phone: 973-399-8111
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Public Notices

Office of Emergency Management (OEM)

John F. Brown

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR

Email: jbrown@irvingtonnj.gov
Phone: 973-399-6555

Physical Address
21 Wagner Place
Irvington, NJ 07111

Responsibilities:

The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) brings together the public safety and administrative departments in the Township to ensure that cohesive multi-level planning is undertaken before a disaster strikes.

It is the primary responsibility OEM to coordinate. Township services, which may be required during the time of man-made or natural emergency and/or disaster.

When there is a declared State of Emergency by the Governor, it is the duty of the OEM to coordinate between different departments in the Township as well as with the Essex County and State to ensure that the Township’s response is efficient and effective.

Helpful Links

Four Phases of Emergency Management

There are four phases to the emergency management model:

1) Mitigation

2) Preparedness

3) Response

4) Recovery

Mitigation: Refers to actions taken before an event occurs to prevent or lessen the impact the event has to life and property. Examples of mitigation include; building codes, zoning ordinances, grant funding and training.

Preparedness: Refers to plans of action for when disaster strikes. Goals of Preparedness include actions taken in advance of an emergency to develop operational capabilities and to facilitate an effective response when the event does occur. Strategies to be considered are assessing and taking inventory of resources (personnel, equipment, and facilities), planning, training, exercises, and developing procedures.

Response: Mobilization of resources to meet the needs of the community in response to the nature of the disaster. Mobilization includes local, county, state and federal resources as necessary. Response is usually associated with the period of time immediately after the event and necessary to ensure life safety issues are handled. Examples include; Fire and EMS services, Search and Rescue, debris removal, public works activities and law enforcement.

Recovery: Refers to long term mobilization of support operations that work toward returning the community to its pre-event condition.

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is a nationally supported, locally implemented initiative that teaches people how to better prepare themselves for hazards that may affect their communities. CERT members are volunteers who play a role in supporting professional first responders. They learn basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, and medical operations.

Part I: Treatment strategies for life-threatening conditions and principles of triage.

  • Disaster Preparedness
  • Introduction to disasters specific to the community, and the impact of disaster on infrastructure.
  • Disaster Fire Suppression
  • Identifying and reducing potential fire hazards and basic fire suppression.
  • Disaster Medical Operations

Part II: Head-to-toe patient assessment and treatment for various injuries.

  • Light Search and Rescue Operations
    Techniques for sizing up and searching, lifting, cribbing and removing victims; rescue safety.
  • Disaster Psychology & Team Organization
    The post-disaster emotional environment will be discussed. CERT organization, decision making and documentation.
  • Terrorism
    A brief overview of terrorism weapons. Identifying targets in an area and discuss time/distance/shielding.
  • Final Exercise
    Disaster Simulation realistic to your community.
To find a CERT training program: FEMA Preparedness Community