TEMA - THE AGENCY, ITS MISSION AND GOALS

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency’s role is unique among state government agencies – we are literally the 9-1-1 of state government. When a situation escalates beyond a local government’s capability to manage, TEMA is the first point of contact for obtaining state or federal assistance.

The agency’s normal day-to-day duties include monitoring developing situations across the state (i.e., weather, smaller emergencies, etc.), providing timely notification to other state and federal agencies about local emergency situations, plan development, exercise development, and response capability development. Administratively, TEMA lies within the Tennessee Military Department – one of 22 Executive Branch agencies. During emergencies, however, the TEMA Director reports directly to the Governor

TEMA has a staff of approximately 107 personnel, most of which are at TEMA’s headquarters at the State Emergency Operations Center in Nashville. TEMA maintains three regional offices, located in Jackson, Nashville, and Knoxville.

The TEMA Mission Statement:

TEMA is responsible for ensuring the establishment and development of policies and programs for emergency management at the state and local levels. This responsibility includes the development of a statewide capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the full range of emergencies, both natural and technological.

The Goal

To make Tennesseans safe from disaster; to reduce the physical harm and financial losses suffered from those events.

Other Roles of the Agency

In addition to the agency’s emergency role, TEMA also coordinates the state’s involvement in large/major events. Among the agency’s most recent activities are the following:

	Coordination of state and local contingency planning for the Ocoee 1996 Summer Olympic venue (kayaking).
	Coordination of planning and carrying out the state’s Bicentennial Celebration in 1996.
	Coordination of state agency activities in events surrounding the Governor’s Inaugural (every four years).
	Coordination of state involvement in the local police and fire strikes in Memphis and Nashville (late 1970s).
	Coordination of the state's contingency preparedness efforts for Y2K.
	Coordination of mutual aid assistance to/from other states through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC).

TEMA has consistently been recognized as one of the best state-level emergency management organizations in the country. The agency is very proactive in addressing potential emergencies, and is constantly evaluating the state’s approach to managing emergencies and disasters that affect its citizens and local governments.

Backbone of TEMA’s responses: The Emergency Services Coordinator

The agency is assisted in its mission by Emergency Services Coordinators (ESCs). These individuals are representatives of various state, federal, quasi-governmental, and private sector agencies that coordinate the actions of their respective organizations with TEMA. A state ESC has the authority to commit his/her organization’s personnel, assets and resources to an emergency without seeking higher approval. Typically, the ESC is a director-level or higher manager within the department (or division). Many departments have individual ESCs for divisions within the department.

When TEMA needs to have another organization carry out a mission to assist a local community, the agency tasks the ESC to coordinate his/her organization's assets toward the fulfillment of that assignment. The importance of this can be seen with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). TDOT has several regional and district offices, and several divisions responsible for roads, railroads, airports, etc. Rather than TEMA trying to find someone within TDOT to carry out a mission, the agency designates that assignment to the TDOT ESC, who is then responsible for getting his organization to carry out the assignment.

State government agencies are required by Executive Order 15 to designate a primary and alternate ESC, and many federal and private sector agencies do likewise. Other ESCs that work with TEMA include: the U. S. Coast Guard, TVA, DOE, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, at&t, and the Civil Air Patrol, as well as a great number of relief organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Tennessee Volunteers Organizations Active in Disaster (TN VOAD), and others.