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Town of Scarborough
Emergency Management Agency
B. Michael Thurlow, Director
About Us
Scarborough Emergency Management is a department within the municipal
government of Scarborough. The agency is the local arm of FEMA, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency. During a major man-made, or natural
disaster, FEMA provides assistance to states, local municipalities, and
individuals through a number of different programs. The Town of
Scarborough has developed a local emergency management agency to provide
the critical link between the federal government, and the citizens of
Scarborough.
The following links will take you to answers to some of our most
frequently asked questions. Please explore our site and provide us with
feed back on items you would like to see included. Thank you,
B. Michael Thurlow, director
How to Contact Us
What does SEMA do
What is the Scarborough Emergency Plan
How does SEMA relate to the old Civil Defense Agency
Where can I find additional information
How to
Contact Us
The Scarborough Emergency Management office is located in the Public
Safety building, 246 U. S. Route One. Our office is between the fire
department and the police department, next to the classroom. During an
emergency, this classroom doubles as our Emergency Operations Center.
The directors position is part time, so there are no regular hours of
operation. We are happy to schedule appointments to meet with any
citizen. If you call the EMA telephone line 883-6616 the fire department
secretary will put you into our voice mail system. The phone system
pages the director immediately, so your call will be answered promptly.
If you would like, our fax number is 883-4797. You may also contact us
by e-mail at the link on the bottom of this page.
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What does
SEMA do
The duties of the Scarborough Emergency Agency include:
- Maintaining the Emergency Response Plans for the various public
safety departments within the Town.
- Coordinating agency between private, local, state, and federal
agencies during large scale incidents.
- Assist the fire department in hazardous materials planning and
training of the local emergency response team.
- Maintaining our various hazardous materials computer programs
including training of our public safety dispatchers.
- Local arm of FEMA. We applying for, and receiving federal and
state reimbursements for major disasters.
- Prepare grant applications, and work with the state and local
emergency planning committees to improve the local response to
hazardous material incidents.
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What is the
Scarborough Emergency Plan
The Scarborough Emergency Plan is an invaluable resource tool for the
various public safety departments to use during an emergency. The fire
and police departments have standard operating procedures that they
employ every day. This plan is intended to augment those, by providing a
guideline, and resource list for large scale, or unusual incidents. Some
of the items included in the plan are:
- Telephone numbers for local, state, and federal agencies that may
be needed during an emergency.
- Resource lists for food, fuel, water, and heavy equipment. When
the power goes out, we need plans to provide the necessary resources
for our emergency responders.
- A large section on Hazardous Materials response
- Shelter identification and procedures
- Evacuation routes and procedures
- Continuity of government concerns
- Communications, including public information notices
- Standard operating procedures for various situations and
emergencies.
- Report and record keeping concerns
- Logistical concerns..
When a serious situation or natural disaster occurs, there is often
no time to research how to handle it. The Scarborough Emergency Plan is
designed to provide a one stop document to deal with those situations
that are uncommon, or above the scope of a normal emergency response.
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How does SEMA
relate to the old Civil Defense Agency
During the second world war there was a real threat of nuclear attack
on the United States. The federal government developed a Civil Defense
agency which was responsible for planning, disseminating warnings,
building shelters, and training the citizens on what to in the event of
a nuclear attack. As the cold war ended, and the threat of nuclear
attack diminished, the emphasis became more of protection from natural
disasters, and hazardous materials incidents. Today FEMA, and the local
EMA agencies still provide many of the same services. We still maintain
shelters, evacuation plans, public information and warning plans, and
many others. The biggest change is that FEMA has now become the lead
agency to provide financial assistance to victims of disaster.
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Where can I
get more information
Our web site is divided into the four phases of emergency management.
Browse the headings in the panel on the left for links to more
information related to each section.
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