2013 Clay County Hazard Mitigation Plan
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Clay County Emergency Management Agency & Homeland Security: A little
History Lesson
The history of Clay County Emergency Management actually began in the 1940’s and
was known then as Civil Defense. It was created in the early days of World War
II, on May 20th 1940 President Roosevelt created the “Office of Civilian
Defense” Roosevelt considered the United States to be in “.. a state of
unlimited emergency” and recommended that communities create plans to deal with
the potential dangers that existed. That threat became reality on December 7,
1941 when Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The end of World War II would not bring an end to the Civil Defense department as
the U.S. was then involved in a Cold War. This period of Civil Defense brought
“backyard” shelters and “duck and cover” drills in our schools.
In 1979 President Carter created the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known
simply as FEMA. This would shift the arena of work to preparation and
mitigation for natural disasters such as tornados and flooding. However, the
terror attacks on September 11, 2001, would bring Emergency Management full turn
again to and begin preparing for a new danger, terrorist actions such as—“dirty
bombs”, biological agents and even our own airplanes.
Emergency Management Agency in Clay County
As prescribed by Iowa Code, the Clay County Emergency Management Agency is
overseen by a commission comprised of the mayor of each community, a
representative of the Board of Supervisors and the County Sheriff.
Our Mission in Clay County is:
To Prepare
To Respond
To Recover
To Mitigate
This is to provide a service to local communities and the county, helping them
with all that may affect them. We are involved with all responders in the County
also to help train, make plans for, and respond to incidents.
Clay County Emergency Management is also taking a active part in building
a regional response. We are also very active in Amateur Radio in and around our
county, we have built a well trained SKYWARN group of storm spotters with nearly
70 members from around the area to respond when the weather turns bad; amateurs
are also involved with providing communications in times of need. i.e.: power
outages, storm damage, and other natural or man-made incidents.
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Address of
Emergency Management office:
Clay County Administration Building - lower level
300 W 4th St. Ste. 6A
Spencer, Iowa 51301
Hours Office is open:
Monday - Friday
8:00 A.M - 4:30 P.M.
(or as needed)
Phone Number:
(712) 264-3987
FAX Number:
(712) 262-5793
Office holder name:
Eric Tigges
Emergency Management Forms:
Downloadable
forms used in the Emergency Management office
Emergency Management Links:
National Emergency Number Association (NENA)
Other Related Links:
The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) |