Emergency Management Assistance (EMA) Director

Background

The Town EMA Director is the municipal face of Maine Emergency Management’s mandate:

...to lessen the effects of disaster on the lives and property of the people of the State through leadership, coordination and support in the four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. (Title 37-B MRSA §701)

The State oversees a network of County Emergency Management agencies that coordinate and support their local municipalities in planning, training, responding to and recovering from hazardous materials spills, hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms, forest fires, floods, tornadoes or other types of disaster events or critical incidents.

The EMA Director is also responsible for helping to mitigate – or moderate – the impact of future disastrous events on the Town; so that if possible, improvements can be made to eliminate or minimize risk of damage in future events.

What the EMA Director Does

  • Acts as the liaison between the town and Lincoln County Emergency Management;
  • Attends bi-monthly meetings of Lincoln County EMA Directors;
  • Provides input on Westport Island’s needs and resources for development of the Lincoln County Emergency Preparedness and Hazard Mitigation Plans;
  • Helps coordinate local response and recovery when more than one department is responding to a community emergency;
  • Coordinates with the Road Commissioner and the Fire Department to assess and document loss from each emergency event – this includes damage to utilities, roads and town infrastructure;
  • Participates in mock disaster drills; and
  • Completes federally mandated training requirements to ensure the Town is eligible for federal disaster recovery grant funds.

Lincoln County CodeRED Emergency Notification System

We recommend island residents sign up for the Lincoln County CodeRED Emergency Notification System. CodeRED is a web-based system to send alerts and updates during emergency events.  The alerts are sent by local public safety personnel to subscribed residents and businesses by telephone, text message and/or email – depending on how residents request their alerts.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Lincoln County CodeRED

To sign up:

Go to the Lincoln County Emergency Management website from your computer, click on the CodeRed Logo and follow the instructions;

Text 99411 from your cellphone and type “LincolnCounty” (with no spaces) in the message box that comes up; or

If you have questions or would like assistance in signing up, you may contact Jason Kates, Julie Casson, or Joe Dikitanan, Sr., Emergency Management officials for Westport Island, at the numbers listed. When you register to receive CodeRED alerts, you will have the ability to select whether you prefer a telephone call, a text message or an email.

Emergency Preparedness Resources

Lincoln County Emergency Management

Lincoln County 2021 Hazard Mitigation Plan

Westport Flood Hazard Map (enter Westport Island, ME in top left search box)

Information for Flood Insurance Policyholders