The role of Emergency Management in Grant County is to maintain a volume of organized and trained volunteers, capable of responding to emergencies and disasters when called upon to serve their community. In general, Grant County EMA is an assistance-oriented and resource organization.
Major Role
At the present time the major role of the volunteers is tornado spotting and reporting weather conditions, to warn citizens in the event of tornadoes or other emergencies. They play a large role in communications during other disasters such as flooding, chemical spills, blizzards, etc.
Volunteers who provide field support to our emergency operations functions include:
- Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES)
- Radio Civil Emergency Services (RACES)
- Severe weather spotting
- Auxiliary communications and support
- Traffic/direction control
- Mobile lighting and power
- Support to local agencies
Grant County Emergency Management would also assist the Red Cross in opening and manning shelters in the event of disasters and evacuation, and assist police, fire, and emergency service agencies if called upon.
Assistance Provided
Grant County Emergency Management is determined to maintain a high standard of public relations by responding to the needs of civic organizations in the county. Grant County Emergency Management FST will participate in assisting law enforcement with communications, traffic control, and other duties as needed.
A few examples of events we assist in:
- Cancer Services - Walk of Hope
- Parades: Walkway of Lights Christmas Parade, Upland Labor Day Parade, Van Buren Popcorn Parade, etc.
- 5K Run/Walks: Van Buren Popcorn Kernel Klassic, Cancer Services Color Me Pink, etc.
Emergency Management Protection Phases
In general, the role of Grant County Emergency Management is to participate in the following 4 phases of emergency management protection:
- Mitigation, which includes any activities that prevent a disaster, reduces the chance of a disaster happening or reduces the damaging effects of unavoidable disasters
- Preparedness, which includes plans of preparations made to save lives and to help response and rescue operations
- Response, which includes action taken to save lives and prevent further damage in a disaster or emergency situation. The response is putting your preparedness plan into action
- Recovery, which includes action taken to return life and property back to normal following a disaster
Become a trained EMA Volunteer and help meet our goal.
How Can I Help?
Our Agency would not be able to fulfill its mission without the hard work and dedicated service of volunteers. Our unpaid professionals contribute countless hours in order to serve their fellow citizens and make Grant County a safer place to live. We are always interested in speaking to local citizens who share our dedication to community service. If you feel that your time and skills might be useful to our Agency, and would like to explore the volunteer opportunities available with our Agency, please click on the link below to print off the application or call (765) 651-2410 us to arrange to pick up / or drop off an application. Completed applications can also be emailed to Tom Culley at tculley@grantcounty.net or mailed to our office.
Grant County EMA
401 S. Adams Street
Marion, IN 46953
Requirements for Being a Volunteer
Our Agency would not be able to fulfill its mission without the hard work and dedicated service of volunteers. Our unpaid professionals contribute countless hours in order to serve their fellow citizens and make Grant County a safer place to live. We are always interested in speaking to local citizens who share our dedication to community service.
To be eligible, applicants must meet the following minimum requirements:
- Be a minimum of 18 years of age.
- Reside within Grant County.
- Be a U.S. Citizen (Executive Order 11935).
- Have a valid Indiana driver's license.
- Pass a criminal & traffic background check.
- Reliable transportation (non-offending).
- Have no felony arrests.
- Ability to follow directions & be a team player.
- Have good communication skills.
- Be available to respond to emergency calls.
- Donate between 16 and 20 hours per month to the department for training, work activities, and emergency response activities.
- Ability to be unaffected by loud noises and flashing lights.
- Additionally, applicants must understand that as a member, they may be frequently placed in situations that require extended periods of heavy physical activity under a variety of environmental conditions.
Other training included in the New Member Basic Training includes:
- Blood Borne Pathogens/PPE
- CPR/AED
- Emergency Vehicle Operations I – Classroom
- Emergency Vehicle Operations II – Driving
- Hazardous Materials Awareness
- Passport/Accountability
- Radio Communications
- Standard First Aid
After submitting the application form, the following four online training courses must be taken (click the link to take the course):
- IS-100.b Introduction to Incident Command System, ICS-100
- IS-200.b ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
- IS-700.a National Incident Management System (NIMS) - An Introduction
- IS-800.b National Response Framework - An Introduction