AUSTIN — The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) is excited to announce plans to expand field staff operations in the Lone Star State to support continued growth.
The move will provide more comprehensive state support for additional Texas communities and will improve emergency management capabilities statewide.
Since 2010, Texas has been granted 19 federally declared major disasters, 6 federally declared emergencies and more than 70 federal fire management assistance declarations. The historic impacts from Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19 are just a few of the events Texans have managed. Currently, all 254 Texas counties are operating under a disaster declaration, yet TDEM only has a physical presence in 30 of 254 counties.
“Over the past decade, Texas has experienced some of the worst disasters the state has ever faced,” Texas Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd stated. “This change allows TDEM to directly support local partners in a more robust manner by leveraging resources for Texas communities.”
TDEM plans to restructure funding received from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Performance Grants (EMPG) disbursed to states to provide necessary resources for emergency management.
By updating the way Texas uses this funding source, TDEM will hire 100 new field response employees, called County Liaison Officers (CLOs), across the state. This new program will place state emergency management personnel in 137 of the 254 counties, increasing coverage from 12 percent of the Texas Counties to over 53 percent. These new emergency management personnel will be trained and equipped to work as part of an incident management team to support local, regional, and statewide efforts.
“As a result of this change in strategy, TDEM will more than triple the size of our field support network by dedicating full-time employees to support local emergency management efforts,” Chief Kidd stated.
The CLOs will be recruited and hired in groups of 20. The first 20 positions are advertised on the TDEM website now, and the next round of positions is expected soon.
Interested applicants can visit the TDEM website at tdem.texas.gov/about/careers to apply.
Supplemental Materials:
.png)
.png)
