Office of Emergency Management Civil Defense

Volunteers Needed - Call (914) 377-7325

Office of Emergency Management Civil Defense
36 Radford Street, Yonkers, NY 10705
914-377-7325 Fax:914-965-8430

John J. Donaghy, Director

   Civil Defense is accomplished through Emergency Management and is the responsibility of local, state and federal governments. With the creation of FEMA in 1979, this approach for handling all disasters and their consequences became known as Comprehensive Emergency Management.

Emergency Management is organized analysis, planning, decision making and assignment of available resources to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from the effects of all hazards. The goal of Emergency Management is to save lives, prevent injuries and protect property and the environment if an emergency occurs. Coordination of local, state and federal response to natural and man made disasters is the primary responsibility of the Yonkers Office of Emergency Management -Civil defense (YOEM-CD).

The year 2000 was distinguished for being a year of awareness and training. Starting with the Department of Defense Domestic Preparedness initiative in January through the training week in May, the City of Yonkers responded to the threat of Chemical and Biological Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) warfare. March through June, the YOEM-CD developed and printed the Chemical and Biological Terrorism Emergency Response Plan that has become an annex to the City's Comprehensive Emergency Management Disaster Plan. This plan is designed specifically to address the ability of the City of Yonkers to respond to a terrorism incident involving Weapons of Mass Destruction. The Police Department, Fire Department, Emergency Medical Service (EMS) provider, Public Works, Yonkers Public Schools, Health and Hospitals and other City agencies and the private sector and volunteer groups have been included in this plan. A Chemical Weapons Tabletop Exercise was held at the conclusion of training week and as a result, WMD training has been expanded to include all emergency response and support personnel.

The YOEM-CD has also set up a redundant radio system with the cooperation of the Yonkers Public Schools and Metro 70 Network. This General Mobile Radio System will be used for emergency support communication and will interface with the Westchester Emergency Communication Association system.

This office has also worked with the American Red Cross and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation to select sites throughout the City to be used as "Alternate Care Facilities" in the event of a WMD incident. Storage space has been selected in a central Yonkers location where cots and blankets and other Red Cross supplies can be stockpiled and made available without delay if there is a local disaster.

In 2001 a HAZNY hazard analysis was conducted, with the aid of the State Emergency Management Office, to identify and rank those hazards which exist in the City; a Chemical Weapons Full Scale Exercise was conducted to test our WMD plan; a local Human Needs Committee was formed to identify residents who would require special assistance in the event of a disaster, and also identify those who could assist in emergencies; an Emergency Operations Center familiarization drill was conducted to review call out procedure that would be implemented in a serious emergency situation.

In 2002 it is our objective to continue to plan, train and exercise emergency response personnel with a special emphasis on nuclear, chemical and biological WMD training. A Biological Weapons Tabletop Exercise was conducted in January with the goal of coordinating planning and training efforts with the Medical and Health Care agencies in the community. We are presently working with the Yonkers Fire Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop a Metro Medical Response System operations plan.

In 2003 we plan to increase recruitment and training for volunteers to the ranks of Civil Defense disaster response forces in line with the National Homeland Defense policy. It is recognized that these volunteers will be necessary to address the surge capacity needs that would develop in all areas of a response to terrorism. The Yonkers Auxiliary Police, an all volunteer organization, has celebrated it's sixtieth anniversary in 2001. They have participated in virtually every parade, marathon, and public event during that time. The Auxiliary Police participated in over thirty such events in the past year. Their mission is to assist the Yonkers Police Department by performing non-essential police functions such as crowd and traffic control thus enabling the police department to make better use of manpower in performing their primary mission of public safety. However during a period of attack by enemy forces, or as a result of a declared emergency during a disaster, they may be activated to perform more essential functions as described by the powers of "Peace Officers". The Civil Defense Emergency Support Service-Searchlight are a group of dedicated volunteers that respond to multiple alarm fires providing illumination for fire fighting and evacuation. They also aid the Police during night training exercises and evidentiary searches. Both these volunteer groups are recognized as integral parts of the City's emergency response team. In the event of a disaster they will be ready to respond where needed. This was demonstrated on September 11, 2001, they were activated and all responded to the call to duty.
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