The Union County Emergency Operations Center is currently located at 510 South Mart Street in Morganfield. The facility is to be utilized in disaster management to provide the Emergency Management Agency and responding agencies the resources needed to make decisions.

An emergency operations center (EOC) is a physical (e.g., a conference room) or virtual (e.g., telephone conference call) location designed to support emergency response, business continuity and crisis communications activities. Staff meets at the EOC to manage preparations for an impending event or manage the response to an ongoing incident. By gathering the decision makers together and supplying them with the most current information, better decisions can be made. A primary EOC should be established at the main business facility and a secondary EOC should be available at another company facility, a temporary facility (such as a hotel) or through a teleconference bridge established to bring staff together virtually.

The EOC supports the following incident management functions:

• Activation - Bring knowledge and expertise together to deal with events that threaten the business
• Situation Analysis - Gather information to determine what is happening and to identify potential impacts
• Incident Briefing - Efficiently share information among team members
• Incident Action Plan - Provide a single point for decision-making and decide on a course of action for the current situation
• Resource Management - Provide a single point of contact to identify, procure and allocate resources
• Incident Management - Monitor actions, capture event data and adjust strategies as needed

An EOC is not an on-scene incident command post (ICP) - where the focus is on tactics to deal with the immediate situation. An EOC is used to support on-scene activities through the prioritization of activities and the allocation of available resources. A major function within the EOC is communications between the emergency response team, business continuity team, crisis communications team, and company management.

The Emergency Operations Plan for Union County, Kentucky serves as a framework to enable Union County to prepare to manage hazards that threaten the lives and property of the citizens, businesses and visitors in our community.  It is an all-hazards plan and designed to ensure coordinated and effective emergency action by all elements of our community by outlining their responsibilities in advance of situations, such as natural and man-made disasters, acts of terrorism and enemy attack, civil disobedience, and other disruptive emergencies.  

This community must be prepared for the possibility that a disaster of a magnitude beyond the normal day-to-day capability of regular government abilities can strike Union County at any time.  The Emergency Operations Plan provides the outline by which Union County’s organized resources, volunteer agencies, and the general public will operate to reduce the destruction that such disasters can create.

The governments of Union County, City of Morganfield, City of Sturgis, City of Waverly, and City of Uniontown have the responsibility and obligation to work together on behalf of our citizenry and those individuals that work in and visit our county to mitigate or lessen the possible impact of these conditions by emergency planning, advance preparation, coordinated response and recovery.  Every official within each of the three governments has both a responsibility to be familiar with the contents of this plan and to ensure that personnel under their jurisdiction are prepared in advance to meet the responsibilities contained within.  Equally important is the responsibility of industries, commerce, and non-governmental organizations to their members and their community to conduct emergency planning which provides for warning and emergency procedures within their place of business, and to assist the community with available resources. 

Each citizen has the responsibility and obligation to seek instructions and assistance in emergency situations, to plan, prepare and design personal courses of action in advance of emergency situations, and to provide aid to those people around them.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #1 - TRANSPORTATION - To coordinate and organize transportation resources for local and county agencies in preparing for, responding to and recovering from incidents which impact the citizens of the county.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #2 - EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS - To maintain a reliable communications capability for alert and notification instructions by key officials of the county and to communicate with local and state agencies in an incident.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #3 - INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT - To coordinate the overall response of the County to a major failure of infrastructure due to natural or manmade incidents.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #4 - FIREFIGHTING - To provide for the protection of life and property and to minimize actual or potential fire damage resulting from an incident, and to assist in rescue operations.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #5 - EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT - To provide staff, facilities and procedures for the coordination of local, state, federal and private response agencies during an impending or existing incident; and to assist in formulating policy, establishing priorities, gathering and analyzing information, monitoring the execution of plans, and directing response and recovery operations as necessary.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #6 - MASS CARE, HOUSING AND HUMAN SERVICES - To provide staff, facilities and procedures for the coordination of state, local, federal and private care and sheltering agencies during an impending or existing emergency or disaster; and to assist the Governor in formulating policy, establishing priorities, gathering and analyzing information, monitoring the execution of plans, and directing response and recovery operations as they relate to the care and sheltering of evacuees.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #7 - RESOURCE SUPPORT - To provide resource support consisting of emergency relief supplies, telecommunications, transportation services, security services and personnel to support immediate response activities.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #8 - PUBLIC HEALTH AND MEDICAL SERVICES - To coordinate and direct health care related activities within the county, provide emergency care and treatment of casualties resulting from an incident, including CBRNE incidents that could occur during a war or terrorist attack. To help continue provision of routine emergency and medical care for the general population. To provide emergency public health services that will prevent and/or mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. To provide mental health services for both victims and emergency responders.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #9 - SEARCH AND RESCUE - To provide an organizational structure and guidance for search and rescue, by means of ground, marine or air activity, of any person who becomes lost, injured, stranded, trapped or has died. The procedures include searches for lost persons, downed or missing aircraft, structural explosions or transportation accidents, and natural or man-made incidents, where search and rescue is an integral part of the overall operations.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #10 - OIL AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS - To protect human health and the environment from releases of hazardous materials.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #11 - AGRICULTURE - To ensure the safety and security of the county's agricultural market (crop, livestock production, transportation and processing) and ensure that animal and veterinary issues in natural disasters are supported. To provide guidance for dealing with animals impacted by disaster or disease.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #12 - ENERGY - Coordinates with the private sector for the emergency repair and restoration of critical public energy utilities, (i.e., gas, electricity, etc.). Coordinates the rationing and distribution of emergency power and fuel, as necessary.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #13 - LAW ENFORCEMENT AND SECURITY - To maintain law and order, protect life and property, undertake traffic control, provide law enforcement support to other law enforcement agencies, guard essential facilities and supplies, and coordinate law enforcement mutual aid.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #14 - LONG-TERM RECOVERY AND MITIGATION - To provide coordination and guidance for recovery operations to include restoration of damaged or destroyed public property, services and assistance to private citizens affected by a major incident. Coordinate damage assessment activities, county/state declaration requirements and facilitate Damage Assessment Reports and Project Applications and to coordinate and administer the county's Public Assistance, Individual Assistance and Hazard Mitigation Programs.

EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION #15 - PUBLIC INFORMATION -To keep the citizens of the county informed of the developing situation, to give instructions for protective actions in a threatened or actual incident, to control rumors and speculation, and to provide recovery operations instructions.

The Union County Map Book was developed by the Union County Planning Commission in cooperation with the Emergency Management Office.  This document provides the emergency service agencies of the county a reference to roads, boundaries of fire districts, navigational charts, and other maps that will be beneficial in protecting and responding to incidents within the county.