| From Civil Defense to Emergency Management |
Civil Defense--
In addition to this large federal agency we also have the State of Colorado Office of Emergency Management, various county level OEMs, and of course the local OEMs like ours in Fort Collins. But how did this vast network of emergency planning and response agencies develop? To answer that question we have to look back briefly to the early days of World War II, before the United States became directly involved. These were perilous times to be sure. President Franklin D. Roosevelt described the extant state of America as being in "...a state of unlimited emergency" and as a result he advised each city to organize its own "Civil Defense" system to plan and prepare for the dangers looming on the horizon. Of course the dangers of the era that concerned Americans came not in the form of floods and tornadoes, but in the form of sneak attacks from the Axis powers. On May 20, 1941 President Roosevelt created the Office of Civilian Defense to oversee and assist America's communities with this daunting task. Any trepidation caused by these developments came to fruition on Sunday, December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked the American naval fleet as it sat quietly docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. America went to war, and the concept of Civil Defense now took on an ominous reality. Americans everywhere immersed themselves in the war effort. People were standing in line to enlist in the military to satisfy their outrage. Many others got involved with the Civil Defense movement. Communities throughout the nation organized themselves into literally thousands of local Civil Defense chapters. This was a time of unlimited volunteerism, and for good reason. This was a war that the 'good guys' simply had to win. Now that we've taken you back in time, we thought it might be interesting to have a look at some of the insignia that Civil Defense workers wore in those days. These insignia appeared on armbands and helmets of those involved in Civil Defense work. The emblem at the top of this page is the primary Civil Defense logo and was often seen on training and propaganda posters during the war. Here are the other emblems used:
You might assume that once World War II ended the interest in Civil Defense would wane. That was not the case. True, the war was over, but international tension remained high and before long we were in the midst of a Cold War. It was during this time that many of us experienced "duck and cover" exercises in school. We were reminded daily that in the event of an emergency we should tune our radio dials to the Emergency Broadcast System at 640 kHz or 1240 kHz for instructions from our local "CONELRAD" (an acronym for CONtrol of ELectromagnetic RADiation) station. Do you remember the bomb shelter craze? Lots of people dug up their backyards to build underground fallout shelters. Civil Defense underwent many changes during the intervening post-war years. Here is a list of its major incarnations. There were a number of other lesser agencies or offices not listed here, some of which existed concurrently but had separate albeit related functions:
The creation of FEMA in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter brought the incessant turmoil and fragmentation of services to an end, at least at the federal level. And that brings us to where we are today. FEMA is now an independent agency working at the direction of the President, and the Director enjoys Cabinet level status. We've truly come a long way since the days of air raids and blackouts. Emergency Management has continued to evolve and expand its scope through the Cold War period and beyond. The emphasis today has shifted to preparedness and mitigation of natural disasters rather than the war-related efforts of the past. These violent natural disasters often cause the same kinds of damage encountered in warfare, but on a more localized scale. Since these events occur frequently across the country, we get plenty of opportunities to ply our trade and develop our skills and techniques. The Civil Defense concept worked at the time and under the circumstances for which it was created. It was a good fit for American society in the early part of the 20th century. As society changes and technology develops and we move into the new millennium, modern Emergency Managers must remain flexible to be able to deal successfully with the new challenges ahead. |
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The modern concept of Emergency Management in the United States has developed circuitously from its infancy during the World War II era to what we have today. At the national level we are all familiar with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). If you've looked around this website at all you know that Fort Collins is a FEMA Project Impact city and that the OEM receives supplemental funding from FEMA to help us operate.
