Emergency Management

Like many communities in western Washington, Monroe is vulnerable to natural, manmade and other disasters that could affect daily living for a short time or an extended period. Monroe’s Emergency Management Office is responsible for the planning efforts to mitigate potential hazards and prepare for them. The Office is also responsible for coordinating its local response to emergencies and disasters and to help the community recover from them. Monroe residents and businesses also have responsibility to be prepared for a disaster like an earthquake or an emergency like a fire.

Monroe’s Emergency Management Office

The City of Monroe, like other jurisdictions, establishes an all-hazards and whole community approach to enhance the City’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies and disasters. Our emergency management efforts are intended to save lives, protect public health and safety and preserve property and the environment, restore the local economy, and ultimately foster a return to a normal way of life.

Fortunately, there is a national structure for government agencies to carry out their emergency management responsibilities. This structure, known as the National Incident Management System, provides for standardizing plans and procedures so that Monroe and government agencies within the United States can effectively facilitate preparedness, response, and recovery between local, state, and federal governments and community organizations. An important policy document that guides Monroe’s core emergency management efforts is our Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP). 

In the event an emergency or disaster can no longer be managed by resources only from the City, Monroe’s Emergency Coordination Center will open and representatives from other government and non-profit agencies will join city staff to coordinate response and recovery efforts and share resources. A larger-scale event may prompt the Governor to declare a disaster or the U.S. President to declare federal disaster.

Monroe supports the “Whole Community” approach to disaster preparedness in that community members, civic leaders, and the local government purposely consider the unique needs of the community and work together to mitigate and plan for, respond to, and recover from incidents.