History

The Franklin County Emergency Management & Homeland Security Office officially began operation in 1952 as the Columbus and Franklin County Civil Defense Organization (CFCCDO). The agency's responsibilities and duties were the result of an informal group organized in 1950 by Columbus Mayor James A Rhodes. Mayor Rhodes established a group of volunteers to assist in warning citizens of expected air raids by enemy aircraft. The volunteers would also assist fire and police departments in rescue operations. The first president of the CFCCDO was local attorney Fred Stanton.

In 1953, a nationwide organization was formed to promote Civil Defense, a concept and plan that had become popular due to increasing tensions with foreign countries.

It was during the early years that Civil Defense organizations had large outdoor sirens were installed to be used as the primary method of warning citizens of enemy air raids. Franklin County was among the first in the country to have an effective operating siren system. It was also during this time that the Emergency Broadcast System was expanded to be used as an additional means to warn citizens. Then, as now, CFCCDO was responsible for both methods of warning.

During the 1960's, all local and national Civil Defense organizations placed a high priority on public and personal fallout shelters. In Franklin County, the CFCCDO took an active role in identifying public fallout shelter sites and stocking those shelters with supplies.

By the late 1960's, the "perception" about Civil Defense was beginning to change. Less emphasis was placed on enemy air raids and more attention was being placed on how the civil defense network could respond to natural disasters such as tornados, winter storms and floods.

In early 1972, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Pact (SALT) and the Antiballistic Missile (ABM) treaty. This caused a further "de-emphasis" of the original Civil Defense idea.

Responding to changes in 1974, officials of Columbus and Franklin County developed and signed an agreement that changed the direction and responsibilities of the old CFCCDO and also changed the name of the organization to the Columbus and Franklin County Disaster Services Agency (CFCDSA).

The agency's responsibilities were shifted to support a network of volunteers, amateur radio operators and professional planners to establish and maintain programs that would allow local communities to be prepared for disasters and allow local fire and police departments to better respond to those emergencies.

The agency also reorganized the old siren warning system. The system was changed to warn citizens of tornado sightings instead of enemy air raids.

In 1987, the agency continued to change and grow. New attention was placed on hazardous chemical incidents and the preparation and training involved in responding to those incidents. The agency began developing countywide emergency plans for disasters. These plans would help response agencies plan and better understand their roles should a major incident or disaster occurs. As a direct result the agency's name was again changed in early 1988 to the Emergency Management Agency for Franklin County. The new name was more representative of the agency's overall mission and responsibility at that time.

The agency continues to grow and take on more responsibilities in the area of Homeland Security, thus changing it's name again in 2005 to Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security office.

While there is still importance placed on the preparation for nuclear attack, the priorities have shifted to more plausible disaster situations and ones that will have an immediate effect on the population, terrorism.

The agency has continued to expand on this training. We have established programs with all the local hospitals and are constantly updating the training for local first responders.

Today the agency is a 24 hour 7 days a week response agency. There are employees that rotate primary response on a weekly basis. The agency responds to weather watches and warnings, hazardous materials spills, aircraft accidents, and any other incident in the county that may require our assistance.