Garrett County Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management
Public Safety
Hazardous Materials Training Emergency Dam Response
Public Safety/Emergency Management Director: Brad Frantz
Brad has served in public safety with Garrett County government for 32 years, beginning in 1975 as a Police Dispatcher with the Garrett County Sheriffs Department. In 1977, he transfered to the newly created 9-1-1 Center as a call-taker. He became Director of Civil Defense in 1980 and when Civil Defense merged with 9-1-1 in 1984 he became Director of Emergency Management. He is currently the longest tenured Emergency Management Director in the State of Maryland.
He is involved with numerous public safety committees including:
Local Emergency Planning Committee-Chairman
Emergency Services Board, Vice-Chair
Emergency Medical Services Council
Garrett Co. Fire and Rescue Association
Health Department Emergency Planning Committee
Traffic Advisory Committee
Maryland Central Alarm Advisory Committee
Maryland Emergency Number Association
National Emergency Number Association
Maryland Emergency Management Association
Animal Issues Committee-Chairman
Planning
Garrett County Public Safety is responsible for developing and maintaining several emergency response plans for Garrett County this includes but not limited to Garrett County Emergency Operations Planning, Hazard Mitigation Planning, and Hazardous Materials Response Planning. In addition to being primarily responsible for the plans noted above, Garrett County Public Safety assists with the development of numerous other plans, including flood control dam plans developed by the Maryland Water Resources Department; pipe-line emergency plans developed by Columbia Gas and Texas Eastern, Savage River Dam plans, etc.
Federal and State Grant Funding Sources:
Garrett County Emergency Management is responsible for grant administration from a number of Federal and State grant programs including:
Homeland Security Grants- Following 9/11the federal government established the Department of Homeland Security. One of the major initiatives under this agency was the Homeland Security Grant Funding, which made Federal dollars available for improvements to the nations' response capability. Funding from this program has granted Garrett County with over one million dollars.
Emergency Management Assistance grants- These funds help underwrite a portion of staff salaries and administrative costs of the Emergency Management Office. These funds are made available through FEMA Emergency Number Systems Board- Funds from the State and local 9-1-1 fees are funneled back in to each local jurisdiction to pay for 9-1-1 related costs, including salaries and benefits, and equipment purchases, highlighted separately.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant- Garrett County has applied for EPA grant funding through the Local Emergency Planning Committee. These funds are available for initiatives relating to mitigating the effects of hazardous materials accidents.
Public Awareness
Garrett County Emergency Management maintains several avenues of providing information to the public to better inform them of vital information needed for all emergency events, ranging from the more typical day-to-day type calls up to county wide disaster events. These include but not limited to Emergency Management newsletter, Hand-Out Materials, Web-Site, and Radio Spots