HISTORY OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION OF TENNESSEE

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Updated: September 16, 2020

    EMAT Board of Directors HISTORICAL COMMITTEE:

    Daryl Justice, Chairman

    Donnie K. Smith, Member

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

TEMA Newsletter, September 1982

 

Civil Defense Bulletin, Series 82-8/23, Federal Emergency Management Agency,

SUBJECT:  Status of FY-83 Appropriations, (also found in TEMA Newsletter, March 1983).

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TEMA Newsletter, September-October 1985

 

EMAT Executive Council minutes, August 1985.

 

EMAT Executive Council conference records and papers, 1987-1988.

 

EMAT Executive Council minutes, November 1987 to September 1989

 

EMAT Executive Council minutes, May 1989

 

EMAT Listing of officers, 92-93

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EMAT Conference Registration Form, 1993

 

EMAT Executive Council minutes, October 24, 1993

 

EMAT Executive Board minutes, November 25, 2003

 

EMAT Executive Board minutes, December 2005 to October 2014.

EMAT Executive Board minutes, August 2005 to April 2008.

 

TEMA Hazardous Materials Oversight Operations Guide, p. 1, December 1, 2008

EMAT Board of Directors minutes, January 2015 to October 2015.

 

EMAT Executive Board minutes, 2009-2014.

 

EMAT Board of Directors minutes, October 2014 to present.

 

 

GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS

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ALKOR          An early acronym for the Alcoa-Knoxville-Oak Ridge area that never caught on and is rarely used

CDOA             Civil Defense Operational Area

CEMP             Certified emergency management professional (the top professional level of an emergency manager established by EMAT to reflect a

                       person with lengthy service in the field [10 years or more], at least 150 hours of formal professional training, and specific knowledge of

                       certain technical areas not common to many first responders or the public, e.g., federal emergency operations procedures and

                       logistics, hazardous materials, recovery, etc.) 

CEU                Continuing education units (usually describing the conversion of training or classroom time to college credits, most often the study

                       time required for updates of medical personnel, but spreading to other fields for the same purpose)

CPA                Certified public accountant

CSU                Columbia State University

CTAS              County Technical Assistance Service, an element of UTK

CUSEC           Central United States Earthquake Consortium (a pact of 8 states which have banded together to plan for another major earthquake

                       centered near Missouri)

DOE                Department of Energy (the federal agency overseeing nuclear power facilities, but not operating them)

EMA               Emergency management agency

EMAT             Emergency Management Association of Tennessee (comprised of local emergency management directors and others with emergency

                       management duties, to include many responders

EMST             Emergency management support team (an organization unique to Tennessee built by EMAT to provide expertise to a mayor’s response

                       to a disaster)

ESF                Emergency support function (a field established by the TEMP to ensure that a state agency is placed in charge of a critical area. The

                       federal government has ESF’s also, but they don’t all match the state ESF’s.)

FAX                Facsimile (an outdated transmission system, paper copy)

FBI                 Federal Bureau of Investigation

FCDA             Federal Civil Defense Agency

FEMA             Federal emergency management agency

HAZMAT        Hazardous materials

HEPACO         The acronym is the name of a company in Charlotte, North Carolina, that contracts to clean up hazardous waste spills or releases

ID                    Identification (usually used as an acronym for identification cards)

IAEM               International Association of Emergency Managers

IEMS               Integrated Emergency Medical Services

IMT                 Incident management team (a federally recognized team established to enhance the response to an emergency anywhere in the

                       nation, also shown as TNAHIMIT and AHIMIT or all hazards)

IPAWS            Integrated Public Alert & Warning System, conceived to replace NAWAS, but it has not yet done so

IRS                 Internal Revenue Service

JFO                Joint Field Office (a FEMA headquarters near a disaster to coordinate federal and often state assistance to survivors)

LEMD             Local emergency management directors (county or city)

LEPC              Local emergency planning committee (an organization required by SARA Title III to protect local communities from hazardous

                       materials)

LPG                Liquid propane gas

MTAS             Municipal Technical Assistance Service, an element of UTK

NAWAS          National Warning System

NCCEM          National Coordinating Council of Emergency Managers (an early forerunner of emergency managers who established IAEM in 1998)

NIMS              National Incident Management System

NOAA             National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the organization over the National Weather Service, used interchangeably)

NRF                National Recovery Framework

QTH                QTH.com (a web hosting company from LaCrosse, Wisconsin)

RFP                Request for Purchase, a state procedure required by law for state departments or agencies to begin a purchasing process

SARA              Superfund Amendments and Recovery Act, a federal law, usually stated as SARA Title III, which establishes the rules for handling and

                        managing hazardous materials; also created LEPC’s.

SEOC              State Emergency Operations Center (the coordination center for all agencies in a state-level declared emergency in Tennessee,

                        supported by TEMA)

TARS              Tennessee Association of Rescue Squads

TCA                 Tennessee Code Annotated (state law)

TCDA              Tennessee Civil Defense Agency

TCSA              Tennessee County Services Association (comprised mostly of mayors, county commissioners, highway superintendents, and other

                        county employees)

TEMA             Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (the mother agency at the state level for emergency management by law, to support and

                        coordinate state emergency management issues and activities, including preparation and some response, especially nuclear and

                        other major emergencies and areas not resourced well in counties)

TEMP             Tennessee Emergency Management Plan (a plan established by law as a governor’s standing executive order specifying duties and

                        tasks assigned to specific state and local agencies in the event of a major disaster, implemented by a formal declaration of

                        emergency. The plan carries the weight of law with penalties for failure to execute in some instances.)

TESAC            Tennessee Emergency Services Advisory Council, an early organization to guide emergency organizations, no longer exists

THP                Tennessee Highway Patrol

TML               Tennessee Municipal League

TNCAT           Tennessee Crisis Action Team (an exercise to test the crisis action team, or executive decision-making section, of the SEOC.

TVA                Tennessee Valley Authority (a quasi-federal agency built to provide economical electric power to the South, including nuclear facilities,

                        enhanced flood protection and recreational services)

UTK                University of Tennessee-Knoxville (also UT)

VFIS               Volunteer Fire Insurance Services (an insurance company based in York, Pennsylvania)

WebEOC        Web emergency operations center, a computer program and network developed to manage response and recovery in all types of

                       disasters. WebEOC has been adopted by TEMA for all state partners in emergencies.

WICAB           Wireless Interoperable Communications Advisory Board, a board established by the Governor to improve the network of

                       communications for emergency responders, eventually determined to be too expensive

WTLEPC        West Tennessee Local Emergency Planning Committee

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Grammatical rules:  County directors are followed by the county in parentheses. If the person is a county representative and is other than the director, a description is provided. Once identified in a meeting, the  additional information is not usually repeated.

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Editor’s remarks are in italics and are included for clarity and understanding where implied remarks are made.

             

 Any definitions provided above are abbreviated and minimal and  may not fully cover all aspects of the acronym.