Emergency management and homeland security have developed rapidly over the past decade. While emergency management as a discipline can trace its roots to national security challenges during World War II, it has evolved since the 1970s from Cold War civil defense programs to modern, all-hazards programs that address natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, and tornados, as well as man-made technological hazards, such as chemical and nuclear accidents and intentional events like terrorism. The broader mission of homeland security was developed in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11), which led to changes in U.S. domestic security management and the desire to make a specific, concerted effort to deter, detect, and disrupt terrorist activity, especially that involving potential weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

Emergency management is an approach to all hazards that involves planning, coordinating, training, and exercising for a wide variety of both predictable and unforeseen emergencies. These activities take place in four phases—mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery—which, collectively, make up an integrated approach called comprehensive emergency management.

Homeland security is defined as a “concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur.”

Although they differ in some respects, emergency management and homeland security have many concepts in common. Both fields are continuing to evolve, and the fire service must play a key role in helping to ensure a robust emergency management system and effective homeland security in the United States. National emergency management is built on the foundation of local preparedness; similarly, national homeland security will not be possible without achieving a certain level of hometown security.

From Managing Fire and Emergency Services, ed. Adam K. Thiel and Charles R. Jennings (ICMA 2012). Excerpt from Chapter 2, “Emergency Management and Homeland Security for Fire Services,” by Jeffrey D. Stern. 

To read more about the role of the fire service in the fields of both emergency management and homeland security, as well as about the continuing transformation of traditional fire service agencies to multihazard emergency service organizations, check out ICMA’s Managing Fire and Emergency Services Green Book at icma.org/press.