As the 911 of state government,

EMAP, which stands for the Emergency Management Accreditation Program, is a four-letter word to many departments or agencies in state government, but it has become more than that at TEMA. The State of Tennessee Emergency Management program has been officially accredited nationally for the first time.

An independent non-profit organization that sets standards by which to measure emergency management programs nation-wide at state, county, and municipal levels, EMAP evaluators come from all walks of life in the emergency management field and use National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1600 standards on Disaster/Emergency and Business Continuity Programs, 2004, as their guidance in the evaluations. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has agreed to work with the EMAP commission in recognizing the standards. Tennessee’s emergency management program had to meet 58 different standards in order to become accredited. The EMAP program is also used to determine the baseline preparedness of states and territories as well as to validate goals and objectives in Emergency Management Performance Grants.

TEMA was fully accredited in November 2007. You can learn more about EMAP by clicking on www.EMAPONLINE.org. We are excited that this recognition of preparedness will result in better protection for the citizens of our state and communities as responders answer the call to emergencies. 

Jim Bassham

Director of TEMA