Emergency Management

Responsibilities

The Saginaw Fire Department is responsible for emergency management of the city. Emergency management is responsible for coordinating the activities that occur before, during, and after a disaster, either natural or man-made.

The City of Saginaw, like other communities, is exposed to many hazards that have the potential for disrupting the community, causing damage, and inflicting harm upon citizens. These hazards include fires, flooding, tornadoes, and other severe weather incidents. Additionally, the city faces many hazards related to aircraft, industrial, and hazardous material incidents. Multiple railroad and roadway transportation routes coupled with the use and storage of hazardous materials within our city pose greater than average potential for a hazardous material incident to occur.

Principle Phases

To address these potential hazards, emergency management of the City of Saginaw operates under 4 principle phases:

  • Mitigation includes any activities that prevent an emergency, reduce the chance of an emergency happening, or reduce the damaging effects of unavoidable emergencies.
  • Preparedness includes plans or preparations made to minimize the loss of lives and property and to help response and rescue operations.
  • Response includes actions taken to minimize the loss of lives and prevent further property damage in a disaster or emergency situation.
  • Recovery includes short- and long-term actions taken to return to a normal or even safer situation following an emergency.
In the event the City of Saginaw is faced with a large-scale emergency or disaster and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated, emergency management is responsible for coordinating and working with other appropriate city departments as well as volunteer, private, county, state, and federal agencies to respond quickly, professionally, and effectively to safeguard and provide continuity of services to the citizens of our city.