B. Michael Thurlow, Director

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 right for links to more information related to each section.

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