About Us

Oregon Department of Emergency Management coordinates and maintains a statewide emergency services system for emergency and disaster communications. Our responsibilities are defined and authorized in ORS 401.

Response to emergencies or disasters that affect all or part of the state takes place at the local level, in the city or county in which the emergency or disaster occurs. In a large incident or one that affects multiple jurisdictions, OEM may support a coordinated response. The State Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) may be activated in a multi-jurisdictional emergency or disaster, and serve as a communications hub to ensure all participating response agencies are coordinated.

ODEM supports 18 Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) and more than 50 county, city and tribal local emergency management offices around the state.

Mission

It is the mission of the Oregon Department of Emergency Management to lead collaborative state-wide efforts, inclusive of all partners and the communities we serve, to ensure capability to get help in an emergency and to protect, mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies or disasters regardless of cause. 

Vision

Our vision is an established, equitable culture of preparedness that empowers Oregon’s whole community to thrive in times of crisis.  

Values

We embrace five core values:

Advocacy - We value the perspectives of our team, our partners and those we serve, and support their efforts to advance our shared interests.
Collaboration - We value sincere, communicative and supportive partnerships that encourage trust and make us better than we are on our own. 
Innovation - We value ideas that challenge current practices while we seek out and leverage new opportunities to improve our ability to serve.
Leadership - We value opportunities to lead our emergency management and 9-1-1 communities with integrity, respect, courage and accountability, and to foster the development of leaders within our organization.
Service – We value our partners and others we serve and strive to deliver excellence in all that we do.