Be prepared for emergency situations - sign up for Alert Baldwin today

By Jessica Vaughn
Posted 6/14/21

FOLEY - Zach Hood, Director of Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) recently spoke at a South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce Leadership Series. After the events of 2020, including the …

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Be prepared for emergency situations - sign up for Alert Baldwin today

Posted

FOLEY - Zach Hood, Director of Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) recently spoke at a South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce Leadership Series. After the events of 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Sally, Hood was invited to speak about being prepared for emergency situations.

“We have to prepare ourselves in a way that we know that there’s going to be things that impact all of us and not just hope that there’s not,” he said. “We have to know that we are going to be impacted by disaster … Everyone has heard ‘build a kit, make a plan.’ What in the world does that mean, and how is it going to help you sustain what you have now after weather impacts our area, after a chemical incident, after an aircraft incident?”

Hood said Baldwin EMA deals with all threats to our area, not just weather situations. The team works out of the Emergency Operation Center located at 23100 Mcauliffe Drive, Robertsdale. When a local emergency expands beyond the control of what local jurisdictions can handle, Baldwin EMA steps in to help manage the situation.

“Preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, that’s the four things that we focus on,” said Hood. “If there’s something that we’re doing, it’s because one of these areas needs attention, one of these areas needs some planning … There’s always something going, we’re either preparing, we’re responding, we’re recovering or we’re mitigating. It’s a constant cycle.”

Hood said getting resources after a disaster isn’t easy, as was seen last September after Hurricane Sally came through. He said conditions must be met before federal assistance can be requested, and even once approved there’s no guarantee how quickly the assistance will arrive. That’s why being prepared before disaster strikes is important.

Hood says having the ability to receive real-time alerts can make a difference. By texting “alertbaldwin” (one word) to 888-777, you will be opted in to receive alerts for a multitude of things, including severe weather, fog advisories and jailbreaks. Afterwards, you can download the Everbridge app to your cell phone.

“That’s going to give you a polygon of where our problem areas are, and we’re going to grow into that whole app,” Hood said. “No longer will tornado sirens cut what we need in this county, we need to be able to have a mass notification program that not only does tornados, it’s going to do any and all hazards where we need to get in touch with you. The only challenge we have is getting people convinced that they need that app and they need to text Alert Baldwin.”

For more information on Baldwin EMA and Alert Baldwin, visit https://baldwincountyal.gov/departments/emergency-management-agency.

For upcoming South Baldwin Chamber events, visit www.southbaldwinchamber.com.