Emergency Planning and Management

FEMA ADA consulting Emergency planning and management in Montgomery County, including transportation and sheltering under disaster or other emergency conditions, is coordinated by the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Accessibility for people with disabilities is incorporated into all aspects of the County’s Emergency Operations Plan and supporting documents. Planners follow best practices as identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Justice’s Best Practices Toolkit for Local Governments to ensure accessibility of emergency management programs.

  • Residents are encouraged to register with Alert Montgomery. This system sends notifications of emergency situations or potential emergency situations by e-mail, cell phone, text pager, Blackberry, XM Radio Channel 214, and other media. See the main web page at Alert Montgomery; if you are not already a subscriber click the "New User" link in the left navigation bar.
  • The Montgomery County Reverse 9-1-1 system provides the capability to rapidly send recorded telephone messages to phone numbers within a specified geographic area. This system includes TTY capability for providing information to residents with hearing disabilities. The Reverse 9-1-1 system is operated by the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD). Department directors and the Disaster Manager may direct the use of reverse 9-1-1 to provide emergency information to residents.
  • Incident-related information will be made available in accessible formats in order to ensure effective communication with people with disabilities. This includes captioning on incident-related cable programming and posting incident-related information in an accessible format on the county website or social media sites.
  • Emergency shelters will be open to the general public, including individuals with disabilities. Service animals are welcome.
  • The County has surveyed the accessibility of buildings for use as emergency shelters and trained potential key shelter staff on providing accessible services. The County will select the most appropriate locations for a shelter based on the type of emergency, area of the County impacted and numbers of residents that need to be sheltered. The public will be notified of the locations once they are opened.
  • Selected animal shelters for pets will be accessible for people with disabilities and established in proximity to Montgomery County citizen shelters, requiring close coordination, communications, and control with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
  • The Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security recommends developing an individual or family emergency plan.
First Responders Using an Evacuation Chair
First Responders Using an Evacuation Chair

Publications (brochures) on emergency preparedness for persons with disabilities are available from a wide range of organizations.