Thurston County, Washington

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Thurston County Washington

Emergency Management

Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan 2025 Update

Thurston County Emergency Management is updating the county’s Comprehensive Emergency Managed Plan (CEMP). The plan establishes policy and guidelines for how the county responds before, during and after a disaster under the following authorities:

Plan Structure

A hierarchical relationship between the elements of the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP). The Base Plan serves as the overarching document of the plan and is supported by Emergency Support Function and Incident Specific Annexes, these annexes in turn guide the development of more specific response plans, response procedures, and contingency plans.

The CEMP consists of a Base Plan and fifteen Emergency Support Function Annexes, with supporting Incident Specific Annexes developed as needed. The base plan and its annexes serve as a guiding principle for the development of agency specific plans and procedures related to disaster response.

The Base Plan of the CEMP covers countywide emergency management policies and procedures under seven chapters: 

  1. Introduction
  2. Organization and Responsibilities
  3. Concept of Operations
  4. Direction, Control, and Coordination
  1. Communications
  2. Administration, Finance and Logistics
  3. Plan Development and Maintenance

Emergency Support Function (ESF) annexes help establish baseline expectations for coordinating emergency support during disasters and the agencies and organizations responsible for that support.

ESF #1: Transportation

ESF #2: Communications

ESF #3: Public Works and Engineering

ESF #4: Firefighting

ESF #5: Information and Planning

ESF #6: Mass Care, Emergency Assistance, Temporary Housing, and Human Services

ESF #7: Logistics

ESF #8: Public Health and Medical Services

ESF #9: Search and Rescue

ESF #10: Oil and Hazardous Materials Response

ESF #11: Agriculture and Natural Resources 

ESF #12: Energy

ESF #13: Public Safety and Security

ESF #14: Cross-Sector Business and Infrastructure

ESF #15: External Affairs

Ways to Participate in the Planning Process

Elected office officials, department heads, and other community leaders are invited to participate in an initial, middle, and final planning meeting to stay informed throughout the CEMP update and provide important input and feedback on the development of the Base Plan. Elected and appointed officials are encouraged to reach out to our project manager, Brandon Cheney, at brandon.cheney@co.thurston.wa.us to receive important updates, meeting invites, and announcements. 

ESF planning coordinators will be forming collaborative planning teams for each ESF annex, comprising of representatives from county departments, agencies, and partner organizations with primary and supporting roles in one or more of the ESF groups. If you believe your organization has a role supporting the county's disaster response, please contact our project manager, Brandon Cheney, at brandon.cheney@co.thurston.wa.us to get connected with one of our planning coordinators. 

In order to refine and validate the plans concepts and procedures necessary for effective emergency response, Emergency Management will be hosting the following workshops and a tabletop exercise (TTX) for emergency planners and key agency stakeholders:

  • Threat Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Workshop (THIRA)
  • Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) Procedures Workshop
  • NIMS Resource Typing and Inventory Workshop
  • Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) Table-Top Exercise

Members of the community are welcome to provide input and feedback for our planning team as we update the various chapters and annexes of the plan. Drafts of each chapter and annexes will be posted on this webpage for public review where community members are encouraged to review the plan and provide feedback using the Whole Community Input From. 

Draft Chapters and Annexes

As chapters and annexes of the CEMP are drafted, they will be published here for review. All members of the community are welcome to review each draft and provide feedback using our Whole Community Input Form.

Project Information

Brandon Cheney, Emergency Management Coordinator

Cell: 360-490-7328 | Office: 360-867-2826

brandon.cheney@co.thurston.wa.us

This section is updated regularly as project meetings and workshops become scheduled. See the project timeline for tentative dates of unscheduled events.

Date / Time Location Subject Agenda
April 18th / 01:00pm Microsoft Teams Project Kick-Off Q&A

Agenda CEMP 2025 Update Project Kick-Off.pdf

June 12th / 01:00pm Thurston County ECC & Microsoft Teams Initial Stakeholder Planning Meeting To be published
Visual of CEMP update project roadmap. For those with access and/or functional needs, please contact Emergency Management at tcem@co.thurston.wa.us or 360-867-2800 for more information on this project.