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Emergency Management
 

How Does OEM...

How Does OEM Prepare for Disasters?

Milwaukee County has adopted a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) as the result of collaborative efforts between the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management and the many other governmental, non-profit, and private sector departments and agencies that have assigned roles and responsibilities. The CEMP provides the framework for the Milwaukee County government and partner entities to respond to public emergencies within the local jurisdiction and regionally. The CEMP establishes a unified command and control structure for emergency response operations to ensure a coordinated and effective response. The CEMP also incorporates the concepts and processes of the National Incident Management System as the standard for emergency response operations. 

Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan

 

The Milwaukee County 2017 Hazard Mitigation Plan profiles significant hazards to our community and identifies mitigation projects that can reduce their future impacts. The plan promotes sound public policy designed to protect citizens, critical facilities, infrastructure, private property and the environment from natural hazards. The MC Hazard Mitigation plan was approved by Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and adopted by the Milwaukee County Board. This plan covers the County, and the municipalities that have adopted the plan, for the next five years and makes them eligible for FEMA mitigation grants. Has your municipality adopted? 

Download the MC
Hazard Mitigation Plan

 

   How Does OEM Warn the Community?            

  • Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA): This system is used to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children and other critical situations.
    • How does it work? 
      • Authorized national, state or local government authorities may send alerts regarding public safety emergencies using WEA.
      • The alerts from authenticated public safety officials are sent through FEMA's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) to participating wireless carriers
      • Milwaukee County OEM is now one of these authorized government authorities.
    • Who receives the alerts?
      • Alerts are broadcast to coverage areas that best approximate the zone of an emergency.
      • Mobile devices in the alert zone will receive the alert.
      • You do not need to sign up for this service. WEA allows government officials to send emergency alerts to all WEA-capable devices.
  • Milwaukee County Outdoor Warning Sirens: when there is a tornado warning, these sirens will be sounded in Milwaukee County.
    • These sirens are meant to be heard outside and should not be counted on indoors.
    • OEM tests these sirens on the second Wednesday of each month at noon (weather permitting). We also take part in annual statewide testing.

 

How Does OEM Work With Our Communities?

Local Emergency Planning Committee Meetings

Location: UW- Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences

Upcoming Meetings

  • Community Right To Know/Emergency Response Subcommittees:
    1. May 23, 2019 at 8:30 - 11:00 a.m.
    2. Aug. 15, 2019 at 8:30 - 11 a.m.
  • Local Emergency Planning Committee:
    1. May 28, 2019 at 8:30 - 11 a.m.
    2. Aug. 19, 2019 at 8:30 - 11 a.m.

Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act, each county in Wisconsin is designated as an Emergency Planning District with a Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). LEPC membership is broad and includes representatives from: elected state and local officials, emergency management, law enforcement, fire service, local health, emergency medical service, local media, community groups and industry. This means local people are making local decisions about how to plan for, train for and respond to chemical emergencies in your community. The LEPC is the point of contact for the public to receive information on storage/locations of chemicals, types of chemicals and hazards associated with those chemicals. Most people will agree that efforts to protect the public are best handled locally by the people and for the people whom the law was meant to protect. 

Previous Agendas

Previous Minutes

 

How Does OEM Connect First Responders?

The OEM - Radio Services Division administers and maintains an 800 MHz analog trunked radio system used by Milwaukee County departments and the public safety agencies of 17 Milwaukee County municipalities. The Radio Services Division is also the lead agency for a multi-year capital project to build and implement a new 800 MHz P25 digital radio system.

  • The new digital radio system is called OASIS: Organization of Affiliated Secure Interoperable RF Subsystems. OASIS is a regional radio system providing mission critical and interoperable communications for public safety agencies and first responders in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.
  • The Milwaukee County subsystem of OASIS is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of three Milwaukee County Department Heads and four municipal representatives appointed by the Milwaukee County Executive. The Governance Board is supported by two standing committees, a Technical Committee and an Operations Committee.

OASIS Meeting Agenda Archive

OASIS Meeting Minutes Archive

How Does OEM Fight the Opioid Epidemic?
 

Opioid Abuse in Milwaukee County

One of the most significant public health crises the County has faced, drug overdoses have been the leading cause of non-natural death in Milwaukee County, killing over 1,700 individuals in the past five years. This epidemic crosses racial, economic, and cultural boundaries, affecting every facet of our lives. It is inseparable from problems of poverty, violence, incarceration, homelessness, and mental health. 

OEM Participates in Comprehensive Initiatives

As a result of the wide-ranging contributing factors to this substance abuse epidemic, any solution will require a multi-disciplined approach, and OEM is a leading partner on a number of fronts: 

OEM Sets the Standard of Care for Opioid Overdoses

Since 2014, OEM's EMS Standards of Care protocol for rapid recognition and intervention of a clinically significant opioid poisoning or overdose has been implemented by municipal EMS providers across the County.

  

OEM Trains Law Enforcement Officers on Naloxone

Law enforcement officers may encounter an overdose patient before medical help arrives and in such case, a properly trained officer can take simple measures in safely administering naloxone, potentially saving a life. OEM and municipal EMS agencies have delivered training to 29 law enforcement agencies in identifying opioid exposure, poisoning or overdose; administering naloxone; and tracking its use.

OEM Tracks Opioid Overdoses in Milwaukee County

As data shows a continuing increase in overdose deaths, a consistent methodology to track overdoses, both fatal and non-fatal, in real time across jurisdictions, is necessary to mobilize a public health response capable of addressing these issues within our communities. By tracking the administration of naloxone by Milwaukee County's EMS providers and law enforcement agencies, OEM helps inform and support comprehensive strategies in one key format:

  • HIDTA's Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP): A mobile tool that links first responders on scene to mapping that tracks overdoses to stimulate real-time response and strategic analysis across jurisdictions

To learn more about OEM's data set, submit an OEM data request form.

Note: To ensure HIPAA compliance, the incident locations shown on these maps have been geographically masked and do not refer to exact incident locations; these incidents may or may not represent all opioid overdoses encountered in the system.