John Hooker

Background

About John Hooker

Started out by volunteering for emergency management in 1996 and was involved in the response phase of a major ice storm. It opened my eyes in the field of emergency management. After volunteering I become a paid member of the agency and after six months Then I moved up to the director’s position. With the Y2K event coming up, I started partnering with public and private agencies in the county. By working on plans and bringing in training into the county it helped get those agencies involved in emergency management. The Y2K came and went without any problems because of all the good networking that I started. It paid off again in 2002 when the county experienced an F-3 tornado. With all the networking we had a successful response and recovery phase. Lead decision making process for purchasing emergency response equipment through the Homeland Security Grants. I administered over $2.4 million dollars from 2002-2008. Maintained documentation and created spreadsheets on who got the equipment so we would have an idea where it was located. One of my successes was rebuilding the outdoor warning siren system by doing away with ten outdated sirens and placing over 28 new sirens in the county. With the help of several people I was available to put together a Five Year Outdoor Warning Siren Plan. By bringing in State and Homeland Security training it helped with my emergency management program. These classes were full and responders appreciated the free training which would help them in their daily jobs. Also got the county NIMS compliant. As chairman of the local emergency planning committee I was able to put together yearly exercises so my emergency responders could test out the emergency response plans in the county. Lead committees in planning and training for area responders and was responsible for the Hazard Materials Emergency Preparedness Grant Program for Monroe County.