Fire - Rescue - EMS - Emergency Management

The Gillespie County Judge has overall responsibility for emergency management, preparedness, and response within the County.

To assist him in managing the day-to-day activities, there is an Emergency Management Coordinator.

Local emergency management programs include:

• Carrying out public education relating to known hazards
• Carrying out recovery activities in the aftermath of a disaster
• Coordinating emergency response operations during incidents and disasters
• Designing and implementing hazard mitigation programs
• Emergency planning
• Planning and conducting drills and exercises
• Providing or arranging training for local officials and emergency responders
• Threat identification and prevention activities

The County also maintains an Emergency Operations Center (EOC), staffed by members of its various departments, that is activated to manage the response to major threats and incidents and coordinate internal and external resource support. Gillespie County operates under the National Incident Management System (NIMS) to standardize operations and responses with other state and federal responders.

The County uses the Incident Command System (ICS) as our incident management scheme. Under ICS, an Incident Commander typically directs the on-scene response by local responders from a field command post set up at or near the incident site. Responders from Gillespie and other neighboring counties and cities, along with state and federal responders that have been called on to assist when local resources are not sufficient to deal with a major emergency, are also integrated into the local ICS.