Florida Division of Emergency Management Responsibilities
Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) is the primary responder to an emergency spill, and delegates initial, on-scene response action to the State Environmental Response Team (SERT). The SERT serves as the primary operational mechanism through which state assistance to local governments is managed. The SERT conducts incident action planning, with meetings to determine tactical operations and the availability of resources. The SERT also establishes objectives, assigns missions to be completed by ESFs, and establishes unified operations, planning, logistics, and finance and administration sections. ESFs implement their specific emergency operations plans to activate resources and organize their response actions.
The FDEM coordinates local, state, and federal emergency management activities and takes all other steps, including the mobilization of emergency management assets and organizations in advance of an emergency to ensure the availability of adequately trained and equipped emergency management personnel before, during, and after emergencies and disasters under the authority of the State Coordinating Officer, appointed by the Governor.
The Incident Resource Management System (IRMS) is a fully NIMS compliant software system. This system lists all state joint force resources under one of several nationally accepted resource types: personnel, crews, equipment, heavy equipment, commodities, vehicles, aircraft and facilities to include State Logistics Staging Areas (I – III), Base Camps (I – V), County Points of Distribution (PODs), and County Staging Areas (CSAs). All state and agency term contracts are in place for every possible resource type and are all included in the IRMS typed either under NIMS, the National Emergency Resource Registry (NERR), or Florida typed asset, system or package.
Emergency Support Function Agencies
The SERT is grouped into 18 ESFs that carry out coordination and completion of response and recovery activities in the SEOC during an emergency or disaster. ESFs are activated by the SERT under the authority of the SCO.
| ESF # | Primary State Agency | Emergency Support Function |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Transportation | Transportation |
| 2 | Department of Management Services, Division of Telecommunications | Communications |
| 3 | Department of Transportation | Public Works & Engineering |
| 4 | Department of Financial Services, Division of State Fire Marshal | Firefighting |
| 5 | Division of Emergency Management | Information & Planning |
| 6 | Department of Business and Professional Regulations and Department of Children and Families | Mass Care |
| 7 | Department of Management Services, Division of Purchasing | Resource Management |
| 8 | Department of Health | Health and Medical |
| 9 | Department of Financial Services, Division of State Fire Marshal | Search & Rescue |
| 10 | Department of Environmental Protection | Environmental Protection |
| 11 | Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services | Food & Water |
| 12 | Public Service Commission and Division of Emergency Management | Energy |
| 13 | Department of Military Affairs, Florida National Guard | Military Support |
| 14 | Executive Office of the Governor, Office of Communications | External Affairs – Public Information |
| 15 | Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service (Volunteer Florida) | Volunteers & Donations |
| 16 | Department of Law Enforcement | Law Enforcement & Security |
| 17 | Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services | Animal and Agricultural Issues |
| 18 | Department of Economic Opportunity | Business, Industry, and Economic Stabilization |