Emergency Management & Homeland Security

Foster resilience in Ramsey County through development of a community-wide culture of preparedness and the coordination of public safety efforts to prevent, plan for, respond to, mitigate and recover from all hazards, disasters and emergencies – whether natural or human-caused, accidental or intentional.

Visit our get involved page for more information on our volunteering in disaster service. 

Ramsey County Emergency Management and Homeland Security is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the county’s Emergency Operations Plan and Mitigation Plan. 

Emergency Operations Plan

The Ramsey County Emergency Operations Plan determines who is in charge under what situations and how the actions of all agencies participating in the response will be coordinated to ensure that people and property will be protected in the safest and most effective way possible. Ramsey County has a comprehensive, all-hazards countywide Emergency Operations Plan. The county and its cities all use and are signatories on the same plan, which is approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The City of Saint Paul maintains its own Emergency Operations Plan that coordinates with the county plan.

Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan

The Ramsey County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (PDF) identifies hazards in the county and how mitigation of those hazards is prioritized and coordinated. The Ramsey County All-Hazard Mitigation Plan was last updated in 2019 and is approved by FEMA.

Emergency management reduces our community’s vulnerability to disasters and increases our ability to cope with them. Emergency management is often thought of as a cycle:

• Preparedness: planning, training, conducting drills and exercises, testing equipment and public education.
• Response: all of the actions immediately after a disaster taken to save lives, as well as activities to protect property and the environment from the effects of the disaster.
• Recovery: Returning a disaster-affected community to “normal” after a disaster, including financial recovery and rebuilding.
• Mitigation: reducing or removing disaster risks in the community.

Homeland security involves working with all aspects of public safety - from the federal level to individual community members - to ensure the most comprehensive and coordinated approach to the protection of public safety from acts of terrorism. It includes identification of possible threats, prevention, efforts to lessen potential impacts and preparation for events related to terrorism. 

Healthcare facilities looking for resources to meet the new requirements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), please visit our CMS toolkit page.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) Toolkit