February 14, 2025 • 23 mins
Raymore Emergency Management Director Tim Baldwin shares information on what his job entails, how residents can prepare themselves and their families for severe weather and other emergency incidents and how to get involved in the Raymore Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
Learn more about the City of Raymore's Communications Department at www.raymore.com/communications
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Threads @CityofRaymoreMO
Learn more about the City of Raymore's Communications Department at www.raymore.com/communications
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Threads @CityofRaymoreMO
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Melissa Harmer (00:15):
Welcome to Say More in Raymore, the City of
Raymore's official podcast.
I'm your host, Melissa Harmer,the Communications Director at
the City of Raymore.
In this series, we're givingyou an insider's look at the
things happening in your citygovernment, whether it's new
developments shaping thecommunity, upcoming events or
the latest news that impactseveryday life in Raymore.
We'll also introduce you to thepeople who work behind the
scenes, our dedicated City staffwho make it all happen.
(00:37):
So stay tuned, because we'rehere to help you get to know the
people, the projects and theprograms that make Raymore a
great place to live, work andvisit, one episode at a time.
Our guest for this episode isTim Baldwin, the Emergency
Management Director for the City.
We'll get to know Tim and learnmore about what being an
Emergency Management Directorentails.
He'll share information on howyou can prepare yourself and
(00:57):
your family for severe weatherand other emergency incidents
and how you can get involved inour Community Emergency Response
Team.
First, a few announcements onMarch events you may want to
check out.
With our new expansion of theRaymore Activity Center at
Recreation Park, lovingly calledthe RAC, we have Zumba, Gentle
Yoga, Open Play Volleyball, aYouth Speed and Agility program
(01:20):
all available now at the RAC.
We also have open gym hoursfrom 6 am to 9 pm Monday through
Friday.
Admission is always free from 6to 8 am and admission is $3
from 8 am to 9 pm.
Raymore Parks and Recreationhas a 10-day pass available for
$20, so you can pick up one ofthose at the RAC or Centerview
and save a few bucks off ofregular admission.
We also have the Spring CraftShow from 10 am to 2 pm on
(01:43):
Saturday, March 8th at the RAC.
It'll be a great opportunity toget out and support local
crafters and artisans and bringhome some unique finds and shop
from a wide variety of handmadeitems.
Learn more about the SpringCraft Show, the RAC and our
recreation opportunities atraymore.
com/parks.
The Citizens Police Academy isalso starting up in March.
(02:03):
This eight-week course meets onWednesday nights starting March
12th.
The Academy gives a veryin-depth look at how the Raymore
Police Department works.
School Y outh and CommunityOutreach Officer Stephanie
Hornbeck heads up that program.
If you've never met OfficerHornbeck, you should.
She's great and I've never metanyone more sure of their
calling in life than OfficerHornbeck.
(02:24):
This program is free, but youdo have to meet some
requirements and turn in anapplication.
So learn more about that atraymore.
com/ CPA.
Let's get to today's guest.
Welcome Tim Baldwin, EmergencyManagement Director for the City
of Raymore.
Tim Baldwin (02:38):
Thank you, glad to be here.
Melissa Harmer (02:40):
Glad to have you here.
So first tell us a little bitabout your background and how
you ended up in Raymore.
Tim Baldwin (02:45):
Yeah.
So I guess I'll start back incollege.
I went to college at IllinoisState University.
I'm from Illinois, originallymajored in criminal justice
there, I got my bachelor's incriminal justice.
During that time I kind ofdeveloped an interest in kind of
Homeland Security type matters,took some classes on Homeland
(03:06):
Security for my bachelor's.
I just kind of read some bookson the topic.
Found that very interesting.
So after I graduated I wantedto keep going and pursue my
master's degree, ideally inHomeland Security, and there
weren't a lot of at the time.
There weren't a lot of master'sprograms in Homeland Security.
It's probably different now,I'm sure.
But I found a school inPhiladelphia, St.
(03:28):
Joseph's University, that hadkind of a combination criminal
justice and Homeland Securitymaster's program.
So I completed my master'sprogram there.
After college I had just a fewkind of random jobs trying to
get my foot in the door.
I worked at a couple ofdifferent universities, just
kind of in the admissions office, met my wife.
(03:50):
We moved out to Arizona.
I worked for the MaricopaCounty Superior Court for a
little while, just kind of doingadmin-type work, scheduling
court cases, things like that.
And then a position opened upwith the state of Arizona
Homeland Security Department andI went for it and somehow I got
(04:12):
it.
And in that role it was reallyprimarily a grant management
role.
Our office managed severaldifferent grant programs that
first responders around thestate could apply for police
departments, fire departments,emergency management departments
, that kind of thing and so wewould help them apply, review
(04:32):
their applications.
We'd kind of decide whichprojects, which applications get
funded, which ones don't.
For the ones that did getfunded, we'd help them kind of
walk through the paperwork andall the reimbursement processes
and everything that kind of goesalong with uh being awarded a
grant.
Uh, so that was kind of themain thing I did in that job.
(04:52):
I also got to take a lot of uhdifferent trips around the state
to, you know, Flagstaff andTucson and all the big cities in
Arizona.
I just kind of meet with someof the departments there and
kind of build some really greatrelationships with the first
responders around the state.
While we were living out therewe had our first boy and we
decided that we kind of wantedto move kind of back to our
(05:13):
closer to our roots, kind of inthe Midwest, maybe not
necessarily all the way back toIllinois, but kind of close
enough to be kind of within aday's drive or so.
So we made the tough decisionto leave Arizona after four or
five years or so and I startedlooking for jobs homeland
security, emergency managementtype jobs in the Midwest.
(05:34):
This job opened up kind ofright at the time I was looking
and I went for it and here I am.
Melissa Harmer (05:40):
And you've been here about two and a half years,
about two and a half yearsalmost three years, okay, great,
um, and so what is?
What is emergency management?
What types of things do you dofor the City and what walk, walk
us through a day in the life ofyour job?
Tim Baldwin (05:56):
Yeah.
So essentially what emergencymanagement is is 30,000 foot
view kind of making sure thatthe city, the city government as
well as our citizens are readyfor a large-scale emergency,
that their lives, that thecitizens' lives, are interrupted
(06:17):
or impacted as little aspossible in the event of a
disaster.
Same thing with the citygovernment making sure our
services and what we do as acity for our residents is
interrupted as little aspossible in the event of a
disaster.
So really, emergency managementinvolves five pillars or kind
(06:38):
of phases of emergencymanagement.
So there's the prevention phase, which is trying to just
overall prevent or stop adisaster from happening, knowing
that you probably can't do thatin every situation.
The next pillar is theprotection phase, which is how
do you protect people, how doyou keep them safe, how do you
(06:59):
protect their property as muchas you can in the event of a
disaster, again knowing thatyou're not going to be able to
stop every disaster.
The third phase is themitigation phase, which is,
again knowing you're not goingto be able to stop every
disaster, how do you just lessenits impact?
So all of those three phasesare kind of pre-event.
Then you have an event and then, right, there is your fourth
(07:23):
pillar, which is the responsephase, which is the actions that
you take immediately during,immediately after a disaster to
save lives, help people, protecttheir property, and then that
kind of leads into the fifthpillar, which is the recovery
phase.
And it's during that phasewhere you kind of work to
restore the community, work torestore the businesses, the
(07:45):
services, the utilities,whatever the situation might be
back to where it was before theemergency or even, ideally, in a
better condition than beforethe disaster, and that kind of
leads back into the preventionstage.
So it's kind of a cycle.
So kind of on a day-to-day basis, what I do I'm in charge of,
(08:06):
for example, managing our LEOP,which is our Local Emergency
Operations Plan.
That's a big document that myoffice maintains really kind of
outlines what our city would doin the event of a variety of
disasters, whether that's asevere weather event, a
terrorist attack, a diseaseoutbreak, a cybersecurity attack
(08:28):
, kind of what our folks woulddo, who's responsible for what
in terms of our staff members,how are decisions made, how is
information shared, what kind ofresources do we need to call
in– that kind of thing.
So it's my job to kind ofmaintain that document, update
it when needed, share it withour city staff when appropriate.
I do manage our grant programas well.
(08:51):
I receive an emergencymanagement grant from the state
every year, so I do thepaperwork and everything that
goes along with being a grantrecipient.
I maintain our big 40-footcommand vehicle, make sure
everything inside that isworking well.
That's something that we'lldeploy in an emergency if needed
.
I work to maintain our outdoorwarning sirens, make sure
(09:14):
they're operating and soundingthe way that they should.
I attend a lot of meetings,trainings, exercises,
conferences around the state andaround the country, sometimes
just do a lot of collaborationwith other emergency management
departments.
And that's really the thingabout emergency management is
most departments, except formaybe the really big cities, are
(09:37):
one, two, maybe three people.
So there's a lot ofcollaboration, a lot of helping
each other, a lot of looking outfor each other.
So definitely a lot ofcollaboration with my
counterparts throughout the area.
Melissa Harmer (09:47):
And you talked about conferences.
You were in Denver just a fewmonths ago for a national
conference.
Tell me about that, because Iknow you made a presentation.
Tim Baldwin (09:55):
Yeah yeah, so every year there is the International
Emergency Management Conference.
We get people attending thatfrom I think last year there was
30 different countries.
Emergency managementprofessionals come to this and
they hold it in a different cityevery year.
In my few years here, I've beento Savannah, Georgia, Long
Beach, California, and this pastNovember was in Colorado
(10:17):
Springs, and so I attended thatand I was actually asked to
present what's kind of like aTED Talk.
Is the way they compare it to.
A TED Talk is the way theycompare it to.
They select six or sevenemergency managers from around
the country every year and askthem to just share a six or
(10:39):
seven minute presentation on atopic, and this past November I
applied to be one of thosepresenters and I was selected,
so I got to share a few minuteson a topic that's important to
me, and everybody gets to picktheir own topic, obviously, and
so I decided to go with.
(10:59):
I shared a few tips for newemergency managers because in a
way, I was kind of a newemergency manager.
I had studied Homeland Security, you know, academically, and I
had worked, you know, forHomeland Security Department at
the state level, but in terms ofbeing an emergency manager,
this was my first kind ofintroduction to that role, so my
presentation was just sharing afew helpful tips on what
(11:21):
emergency managers can do to besuccessful, because every year
at the opening of the conferencethey ask everybody to raise
your hand if this is your firstconference and ask everybody to
raise your hand if this is yourfirst conference.
And in the three conferencesthat I've been to I would say
probably 30% to 40% of peopleraised their hand.
So this is a field wherethere's a lot of turnover, a lot
of new folks entering the fieldfrom out of college or just
(11:44):
other areas.
So I thought it would be a goodidea to maybe share some tips
for new emergency managers onwhat they can do to kind of
settle in, feel comfortable andbe successful in their role.
Melissa Harmer (11:56):
That's great.
Some of the, let's say, naturaldisasters that are more of a
threat here in our area thanothers, how can we prepare for
those and what are those?
Tim Baldwin (12:08):
Yeah, so, depending on where you live in the
country, you're going to facedifferent natural disasters.
Obviously, some emergencymanagers in different parts of
the country or the world mightface hurricanes or volcanoes,
and that's not really a concernfor us here in Raymore, but the
top of our list in terms ofsevere weather is definitely
tornadoes, severe thunderstorms,and we're in the middle of
(12:29):
winter right now, so a heavysnowstorm or ice storm those are
kind of the top of my list interms of the weather events that
I prepare for.
So we are approaching the springsevere weather season, so it's
going to kind of transition heresoon from looking out for
snowstorms to looking out fortornado activity.
So one of the things that I'm abig advocate for for our
(12:51):
residents is to just have a plan, know what to do in the event
that a tornado is potentiallyimminent here in Raymore.
So one of the things that Isuggest people have is an
emergency kit.
That is a supply of things thatyou would want to have handy,
accessible in the event that youhave to get to your shelter
(13:11):
location.
So there's a long list you canfind online of things you want
to include in your kit.
But we're talking, you know,food, water, maybe some extra
clothes, blankets or towels,flashlights.
Extra medication, yeahmedication, definitely, first
aid kits, just things that youwant to have immediately
accessible in the event thatmaybe you're trapped, maybe part
(13:34):
of your house is damaged youcan't get to those things – just
a kit that you want to havewith you as you shelter in place
in the event of a tornado.
You also want to know where togo in the event of a tornado.
Where in your house?
Where in your home is the bestplace to be if a tornado is
coming?
Now, for most people that'sgoing to be a basement.
(13:55):
If you don't have a basement,we would suggest going to the
lowest level interior roomwithout windows, so that might
be a bathroom, maybe a closetsomewhere.
Wherever you can get to thelowest level of your home
without windows, try to put asmany obstacles or barriers as
you can between to the lowestlevel of your home without
windows.
Try to put as many obstacles orbarriers as you can between
(14:16):
yourself and the outside, sothat could even be, you know,
getting under a table If you'reable to put a mattress over
yourself.
Do that.
Anything you can do to kind ofprotect yourself.
Be as interior, be as hidden aspossible from the outside.
And then the last main thingthat I would advocate for is
getting a weather radio.
These are pretty cheap.
They're maybe 20 to 30 bucks.
(14:37):
You can pick them up.
You know Amazon or reallyanywhere.
Some of our local stores havethem.
You can pick them up and youcan program them.
You can customize them to giveyou alerts on different weather
events and you can kind ofcustomize how they share
information.
They can just display text.
They can set off kind of asound, you know, kind of an
(14:58):
audible tone.
They can speak you know, wordsto you and let you know what's
going on.
So you can kind of customize itto share with you.
However you know best fits whatyou're looking for.
So those are the big things.
As we head into tornado season,get a kit, build a kit, know
where to go in your home.
Get a weather radio as well.
Those are the big things.
Melissa Harmer (15:18):
I'm also a big believer in a weather radio,
even though sometimes it's kindof annoying, but I would much
rather have that wake me up inthe middle of the night.
Tim Baldwin (15:26):
No, I agree.
Melissa Harmer (15:26):
Even severe thunderstorm, but it has been
there to give those importanttornado on your phone.
Tim Baldwin (15:38):
Yeah.
Melissa Harmer (15:39):
It depends on where you've been with your
phone.
I don't know but weather radio100%.
Tim Baldwin (15:43):
Yeah, it's a lifesaver.
Melissa Harmer (15:44):
Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree.
And then Severe WeatherPreparedness Week is coming up
in Missouri the first week ofMarch and there will be a
statewide tornado drill.
And it's a little differentthis year it's actually on a
Wednesday when we normally testthe tornado sirens.
Tim Baldwin (16:03):
Yeah, so Severe Weather Preparedness Week is the
first full week of March.
It's Monday, March 3rd throughFriday the 7th, and this is a
really good week to kind ofeducate yourself, inform
yourself on different hazardsthat we might face here in
Raymore.
So every day kind of has adifferent theme to it.
So I'll see if I can rememberit here.
I think Monday is how toreceive alerts, how to receive
(16:27):
information, so that might be agood day to focus on, you know,
if you don't have a weatherradio, maybe go out and buy one
that day or just kind of sign upfor you know, a way to receive
alerts on your phone.
That would be a good day tokind of focus on "How can I
receive information in the eventthat severe weather is coming.
(16:48):
Tuesday, I believe, is lightningsafety, so maybe a good day to
focus on what do you do in theevent of a thunderstorm.
Wednesday is tornado safety, Ibelieve.
And yeah, like you said,there's going to be a big
statewide tornado drill on thatWednesday.
Thursday is hail and windsafety.
So maybe think about what youwould do in the event of a big
windstorm or hailstorm.
And then Friday is floodingsafety.
(17:08):
So think about what you coulddo in the event of a flash flood
to protect yourself, protectyour home.
So there's lots of goodinformation to find online.
I'm going to be posting thingsevery day of that week relating
to that topic, so check out theRaymore Emergency Management
Facebook page, if you're notfollowing it already.
I'm going to post some thingsthroughout that week that might
be beneficial.
(17:28):
And then, yeah, the highlightof that week really is the
Wednesday, the fifth, statewidetornado drill.
Melissa Harmer (17:35):
That's 11 o'clock in the morning, so we
would encourage everybody toparticipate in a tornado drill
that morning and wherever youare if you're at work or if
you're at home, like you shouldknow where to go at work.
You should know where to gowhen you're home.
Or if you're out, let's justsay someone's out shopping at
the grocery store.
Do our local businesses haveplans in place too?
Tim Baldwin (17:58):
Yeah, we would encourage everybody to you know
whether you're a school thatwould be a good time to maybe
schedule a tornado drill.
It's that Wednesday at 11 forour schools.
A church, we know, churchesaren't, you know, usually busy
on a Wednesday morning, butmaybe the staff that is there
could participate in a drill,just so they know kind of where
to go and where to lead theircongregations in the event that
one, you know, happens during aservice.
(18:19):
All of our businesses, they'rewelcome to participate as well.
If you're just at your home at11 o'clock, you know, go to your
shelter and just hang out therefor a few minutes, figure out
where to go and kind of what youwant to do in the event of a
real tornado.
We're going to do a tornadodrill here at City Hall.
We're going to sound the sirens, so it's going to be, you know,
kind of like the real thingthat Wednesday morning.
(18:40):
So it's a good chance topractice wherever you are.
Melissa Harmer (18:42):
That's right, and we have done that drill
before when people have been atthe police station, when people
have been in City Hall and wetake them downstairs with us.
Tim Baldwin (18:50):
So everyone participates who's here.
Got to practice like it's thereal thing.
Melissa Harmer (18:54):
Right, right.
And then you have extra linksto resources on your emergency
management webpage at the city'swebsite.
So that's raymore.
com/ EM.
Make it really easy, E-M foremergency management and that,
so that can give – you haveresources to everything.
Tim Baldwin (19:10):
Yeah, so a few links that I always like to
share with people.
One is weather.
gov.
There's a million differentweather websites out there, but
that's the official kind ofnational weather service website
.
That's kind of the one that Igo to in the event that we're
looking at severe weather.
That's kind of the mostreliable, most accurate, most
timely is weather.
gov.
And then there's ready.
gov R-E-A-D-Y-dot-gov, andthat's kind of an offshoot of
(19:32):
the FEMA website.
So there's lots of goodinformation there tips for
individuals, for households, forkids – we don't want to forget
about, you know, kids, makingsure they understand
preparedness and you know whatcan we do to keep their stress
levels low during an emergency.
So there's lots of goodinformation on ready.
gov for kids games, coloringpages, activity pages, lots of
(19:54):
helpful videos, information onyou know how to build an
emergency kit, lots of goodstuff on ready.
gov.
So check that out.
And then redcross.
org.
There's information there on,you know, signing up to give
blood, different first aidclasses you can take as well.
And then, kind of along the samelines, I'm an advocate for
people to download the Red CrossFirst Aid app.
(20:16):
It's a free app you candownload and basically what it
does is it gives you a whole biglist of potential injuries or
wounds or illnesses thatsomebody might encounter.
You click on it and it kind ofwalks you through what to do to
help the person, to treat theperson, at least until the
actual first responders canarrive.
(20:36):
So that could end up being alifesaver.
So that's the Red Cross FirstAid app if you want to download
that.
Melissa Harmer (20:47):
Excellent.
And one more thing – how canour residents get involved if
they want to be able to assist,to volunteer in the event of the
aftermath of some sort ofnatural disaster or other
emergency incident?
Tim Baldwin (20:54):
Yeah, so one of my favorite things that I do in
this role is to lead our CERTgroup and that is our Community
Emergency Response Team, andthat is a group of volunteers
who have shown interest inhelping out after a disaster.
So we hold meetings every othermonth over at Centerview behind
City Hall.
Each meeting usually has atopic and a guest speaker, but
(21:15):
these are folks who have, youknow, shown interest in, you
know, maybe after a storm,helping out with search and
rescue or first aid, maybedistributing food and water to
folks, or volunteering at ashelter doing damage assessment
of you know, maybe there's somehomes that have been damaged.
Maybe they'll drive around andkind of assess the damage to
these homes, picking up debristhat might have, you know,
(21:36):
fallen throughout the community.
So lots of different ways tohelp and it's completely
voluntary.
Obviously, in the event of atornado or whatever, your first
obligation is yourself and yourfamily.
So there's no obligation tohelp out, but if you're able to,
you want to.
You know the CERT program is agreat way to get involved.
So, like I said, we havemeetings every other month.
(21:57):
The next one is February 11th.
The next one after that will besometime probably mid-April or
so, and I put out information onthat on my Facebook page, on
the City website as well.
So that's a great way to getinvolved.
Really, any way to just beinvested in your community
really helps out, whether it'svolunteering at a charity or a
church or whatever the situationmight be.
(22:18):
The more you're invested inyour community, the better off
everybody is.
So if you can find even justone way to give of yourself,
volunteer somewhere in Raymore,in Cass County, that really
benefits everybody.
Melissa Harmer (22:30):
That's awesome.
So if anyone wants to get intouch with you, your contact
information is at raymore.
com/ EM.
Tim Baldwin, thank you so muchfor sharing a little bit about
what you do for our communitytoday.
Is there anything else you wantto leave us with?
Tim Baldwin (22:47):
No, just everybody be safe.
We're still kind of in thethick of winter here, and then
the spring weather season iscoming up,
Melissa Harmer (22:52):
Right
Tim Baldwin (22:53):
Yeah, know what to do, know where to go and always
reach out to me if you have anyquestions or want some
information on anything.
I can point you in the rightdirection.
Melissa Harmer (23:00):
Thank you so much, Tim.
Tim Baldwin (23:00):
Yeah, thank you.
Welcome to Say More in Raymore, the City of
Raymore's official podcast.
I'm your host, Melissa Harmer,the Communications Director at
the City of Raymore.
In this series, we're givingyou an insider's look at the
things happening in your citygovernment, whether it's new
developments shaping thecommunity, upcoming events or
the latest news that impactseveryday life in Raymore.
We'll also introduce you to thepeople who work behind the
scenes, our dedicated City staffwho make it all happen.
(00:37):
So stay tuned, because we'rehere to help you get to know the
people, the projects and theprograms that make Raymore a
great place to live, work andvisit, one episode at a time.
Our guest for this episode isTim Baldwin, the Emergency
Management Director for the City.
We'll get to know Tim and learnmore about what being an
Emergency Management Directorentails.
He'll share information on howyou can prepare yourself and
(00:57):
your family for severe weatherand other emergency incidents
and how you can get involved inour Community Emergency Response
Team.
First, a few announcements onMarch events you may want to
check out.
With our new expansion of theRaymore Activity Center at
Recreation Park, lovingly calledthe RAC, we have Zumba, Gentle
Yoga, Open Play Volleyball, aYouth Speed and Agility program
(01:20):
all available now at the RAC.
We also have open gym hoursfrom 6 am to 9 pm Monday through
Friday.
Admission is always free from 6to 8 am and admission is $3
from 8 am to 9 pm.
Raymore Parks and Recreationhas a 10-day pass available for
$20, so you can pick up one ofthose at the RAC or Centerview
and save a few bucks off ofregular admission.
We also have the Spring CraftShow from 10 am to 2 pm on
(01:43):
Saturday, March 8th at the RAC.
It'll be a great opportunity toget out and support local
crafters and artisans and bringhome some unique finds and shop
from a wide variety of handmadeitems.
Learn more about the SpringCraft Show, the RAC and our
recreation opportunities atraymore.
com/parks.
The Citizens Police Academy isalso starting up in March.
(02:03):
This eight-week course meets onWednesday nights starting March
12th.
The Academy gives a veryin-depth look at how the Raymore
Police Department works.
School Y outh and CommunityOutreach Officer Stephanie
Hornbeck heads up that program.
If you've never met OfficerHornbeck, you should.
She's great and I've never metanyone more sure of their
calling in life than OfficerHornbeck.
(02:24):
This program is free, but youdo have to meet some
requirements and turn in anapplication.
So learn more about that atraymore.
com/ CPA.
Let's get to today's guest.
Welcome Tim Baldwin, EmergencyManagement Director for the City
of Raymore.
Tim Baldwin (02:38):
Thank you, glad to be here.
Melissa Harmer (02:40):
Glad to have you here.
So first tell us a little bitabout your background and how
you ended up in Raymore.
Tim Baldwin (02:45):
Yeah.
So I guess I'll start back incollege.
I went to college at IllinoisState University.
I'm from Illinois, originallymajored in criminal justice
there, I got my bachelor's incriminal justice.
During that time I kind ofdeveloped an interest in kind of
Homeland Security type matters,took some classes on Homeland
(03:06):
Security for my bachelor's.
I just kind of read some bookson the topic.
Found that very interesting.
So after I graduated I wantedto keep going and pursue my
master's degree, ideally inHomeland Security, and there
weren't a lot of at the time.
There weren't a lot of master'sprograms in Homeland Security.
It's probably different now,I'm sure.
But I found a school inPhiladelphia, St.
(03:28):
Joseph's University, that hadkind of a combination criminal
justice and Homeland Securitymaster's program.
So I completed my master'sprogram there.
After college I had just a fewkind of random jobs trying to
get my foot in the door.
I worked at a couple ofdifferent universities, just
kind of in the admissions office, met my wife.
(03:50):
We moved out to Arizona.
I worked for the MaricopaCounty Superior Court for a
little while, just kind of doingadmin-type work, scheduling
court cases, things like that.
And then a position opened upwith the state of Arizona
Homeland Security Department andI went for it and somehow I got
(04:12):
it.
And in that role it was reallyprimarily a grant management
role.
Our office managed severaldifferent grant programs that
first responders around thestate could apply for police
departments, fire departments,emergency management departments
, that kind of thing and so wewould help them apply, review
(04:32):
their applications.
We'd kind of decide whichprojects, which applications get
funded, which ones don't.
For the ones that did getfunded, we'd help them kind of
walk through the paperwork andall the reimbursement processes
and everything that kind of goesalong with uh being awarded a
grant.
Uh, so that was kind of themain thing I did in that job.
(04:52):
I also got to take a lot of uhdifferent trips around the state
to, you know, Flagstaff andTucson and all the big cities in
Arizona.
I just kind of meet with someof the departments there and
kind of build some really greatrelationships with the first
responders around the state.
While we were living out therewe had our first boy and we
decided that we kind of wantedto move kind of back to our
(05:13):
closer to our roots, kind of inthe Midwest, maybe not
necessarily all the way back toIllinois, but kind of close
enough to be kind of within aday's drive or so.
So we made the tough decisionto leave Arizona after four or
five years or so and I startedlooking for jobs homeland
security, emergency managementtype jobs in the Midwest.
(05:34):
This job opened up kind ofright at the time I was looking
and I went for it and here I am.
Melissa Harmer (05:40):
And you've been here about two and a half years,
about two and a half yearsalmost three years, okay, great,
um, and so what is?
What is emergency management?
What types of things do you dofor the City and what walk, walk
us through a day in the life ofyour job?
Tim Baldwin (05:56):
Yeah.
So essentially what emergencymanagement is is 30,000 foot
view kind of making sure thatthe city, the city government as
well as our citizens are readyfor a large-scale emergency,
that their lives, that thecitizens' lives, are interrupted
(06:17):
or impacted as little aspossible in the event of a
disaster.
Same thing with the citygovernment making sure our
services and what we do as acity for our residents is
interrupted as little aspossible in the event of a
disaster.
So really, emergency managementinvolves five pillars or kind
(06:38):
of phases of emergencymanagement.
So there's the prevention phase, which is trying to just
overall prevent or stop adisaster from happening, knowing
that you probably can't do thatin every situation.
The next pillar is theprotection phase, which is how
do you protect people, how doyou keep them safe, how do you
(06:59):
protect their property as muchas you can in the event of a
disaster, again knowing thatyou're not going to be able to
stop every disaster.
The third phase is themitigation phase, which is,
again knowing you're not goingto be able to stop every
disaster, how do you just lessenits impact?
So all of those three phasesare kind of pre-event.
Then you have an event and then, right, there is your fourth
(07:23):
pillar, which is the responsephase, which is the actions that
you take immediately during,immediately after a disaster to
save lives, help people, protecttheir property, and then that
kind of leads into the fifthpillar, which is the recovery
phase.
And it's during that phasewhere you kind of work to
restore the community, work torestore the businesses, the
(07:45):
services, the utilities,whatever the situation might be
back to where it was before theemergency or even, ideally, in a
better condition than beforethe disaster, and that kind of
leads back into the preventionstage.
So it's kind of a cycle.
So kind of on a day-to-day basis, what I do I'm in charge of,
(08:06):
for example, managing our LEOP,which is our Local Emergency
Operations Plan.
That's a big document that myoffice maintains really kind of
outlines what our city would doin the event of a variety of
disasters, whether that's asevere weather event, a
terrorist attack, a diseaseoutbreak, a cybersecurity attack
(08:28):
, kind of what our folks woulddo, who's responsible for what
in terms of our staff members,how are decisions made, how is
information shared, what kind ofresources do we need to call
in– that kind of thing.
So it's my job to kind ofmaintain that document, update
it when needed, share it withour city staff when appropriate.
I do manage our grant programas well.
(08:51):
I receive an emergencymanagement grant from the state
every year, so I do thepaperwork and everything that
goes along with being a grantrecipient.
I maintain our big 40-footcommand vehicle, make sure
everything inside that isworking well.
That's something that we'lldeploy in an emergency if needed
.
I work to maintain our outdoorwarning sirens, make sure
(09:14):
they're operating and soundingthe way that they should.
I attend a lot of meetings,trainings, exercises,
conferences around the state andaround the country, sometimes
just do a lot of collaborationwith other emergency management
departments.
And that's really the thingabout emergency management is
most departments, except formaybe the really big cities, are
(09:37):
one, two, maybe three people.
So there's a lot ofcollaboration, a lot of helping
each other, a lot of looking outfor each other.
So definitely a lot ofcollaboration with my
counterparts throughout the area.
Melissa Harmer (09:47):
And you talked about conferences.
You were in Denver just a fewmonths ago for a national
conference.
Tell me about that, because Iknow you made a presentation.
Tim Baldwin (09:55):
Yeah yeah, so every year there is the International
Emergency Management Conference.
We get people attending thatfrom I think last year there was
30 different countries.
Emergency managementprofessionals come to this and
they hold it in a different cityevery year.
In my few years here, I've beento Savannah, Georgia, Long
Beach, California, and this pastNovember was in Colorado
(10:17):
Springs, and so I attended thatand I was actually asked to
present what's kind of like aTED Talk.
Is the way they compare it to.
A TED Talk is the way theycompare it to.
They select six or sevenemergency managers from around
the country every year and askthem to just share a six or
(10:39):
seven minute presentation on atopic, and this past November I
applied to be one of thosepresenters and I was selected,
so I got to share a few minuteson a topic that's important to
me, and everybody gets to picktheir own topic, obviously, and
so I decided to go with.
(10:59):
I shared a few tips for newemergency managers because in a
way, I was kind of a newemergency manager.
I had studied Homeland Security, you know, academically, and I
had worked, you know, forHomeland Security Department at
the state level, but in terms ofbeing an emergency manager,
this was my first kind ofintroduction to that role, so my
presentation was just sharing afew helpful tips on what
(11:21):
emergency managers can do to besuccessful, because every year
at the opening of the conferencethey ask everybody to raise
your hand if this is your firstconference and ask everybody to
raise your hand if this is yourfirst conference.
And in the three conferencesthat I've been to I would say
probably 30% to 40% of peopleraised their hand.
So this is a field wherethere's a lot of turnover, a lot
of new folks entering the fieldfrom out of college or just
(11:44):
other areas.
So I thought it would be a goodidea to maybe share some tips
for new emergency managers onwhat they can do to kind of
settle in, feel comfortable andbe successful in their role.
Melissa Harmer (11:56):
That's great.
Some of the, let's say, naturaldisasters that are more of a
threat here in our area thanothers, how can we prepare for
those and what are those?
Tim Baldwin (12:08):
Yeah, so, depending on where you live in the
country, you're going to facedifferent natural disasters.
Obviously, some emergencymanagers in different parts of
the country or the world mightface hurricanes or volcanoes,
and that's not really a concernfor us here in Raymore, but the
top of our list in terms ofsevere weather is definitely
tornadoes, severe thunderstorms,and we're in the middle of
(12:29):
winter right now, so a heavysnowstorm or ice storm those are
kind of the top of my list interms of the weather events that
I prepare for.
So we are approaching the springsevere weather season, so it's
going to kind of transition heresoon from looking out for
snowstorms to looking out fortornado activity.
So one of the things that I'm abig advocate for for our
(12:51):
residents is to just have a plan, know what to do in the event
that a tornado is potentiallyimminent here in Raymore.
So one of the things that Isuggest people have is an
emergency kit.
That is a supply of things thatyou would want to have handy,
accessible in the event that youhave to get to your shelter
(13:11):
location.
So there's a long list you canfind online of things you want
to include in your kit.
But we're talking, you know,food, water, maybe some extra
clothes, blankets or towels,flashlights.
Extra medication, yeahmedication, definitely, first
aid kits, just things that youwant to have immediately
accessible in the event thatmaybe you're trapped, maybe part
(13:34):
of your house is damaged youcan't get to those things – just
a kit that you want to havewith you as you shelter in place
in the event of a tornado.
You also want to know where togo in the event of a tornado.
Where in your house?
Where in your home is the bestplace to be if a tornado is
coming?
Now, for most people that'sgoing to be a basement.
(13:55):
If you don't have a basement,we would suggest going to the
lowest level interior roomwithout windows, so that might
be a bathroom, maybe a closetsomewhere.
Wherever you can get to thelowest level of your home
without windows, try to put asmany obstacles or barriers as
you can between to the lowestlevel of your home without
windows.
Try to put as many obstacles orbarriers as you can between
(14:16):
yourself and the outside, sothat could even be, you know,
getting under a table If you'reable to put a mattress over
yourself.
Do that.
Anything you can do to kind ofprotect yourself.
Be as interior, be as hidden aspossible from the outside.
And then the last main thingthat I would advocate for is
getting a weather radio.
These are pretty cheap.
They're maybe 20 to 30 bucks.
(14:37):
You can pick them up.
You know Amazon or reallyanywhere.
Some of our local stores havethem.
You can pick them up and youcan program them.
You can customize them to giveyou alerts on different weather
events and you can kind ofcustomize how they share
information.
They can just display text.
They can set off kind of asound, you know, kind of an
(14:58):
audible tone.
They can speak you know, wordsto you and let you know what's
going on.
So you can kind of customize itto share with you.
However you know best fits whatyou're looking for.
So those are the big things.
As we head into tornado season,get a kit, build a kit, know
where to go in your home.
Get a weather radio as well.
Those are the big things.
Melissa Harmer (15:18):
I'm also a big believer in a weather radio,
even though sometimes it's kindof annoying, but I would much
rather have that wake me up inthe middle of the night.
Tim Baldwin (15:26):
No, I agree.
Melissa Harmer (15:26):
Even severe thunderstorm, but it has been
there to give those importanttornado on your phone.
Tim Baldwin (15:38):
Yeah.
Melissa Harmer (15:39):
It depends on where you've been with your
phone.
I don't know but weather radio100%.
Tim Baldwin (15:43):
Yeah, it's a lifesaver.
Melissa Harmer (15:44):
Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree.
And then Severe WeatherPreparedness Week is coming up
in Missouri the first week ofMarch and there will be a
statewide tornado drill.
And it's a little differentthis year it's actually on a
Wednesday when we normally testthe tornado sirens.
Tim Baldwin (16:03):
Yeah, so Severe Weather Preparedness Week is the
first full week of March.
It's Monday, March 3rd throughFriday the 7th, and this is a
really good week to kind ofeducate yourself, inform
yourself on different hazardsthat we might face here in
Raymore.
So every day kind of has adifferent theme to it.
So I'll see if I can rememberit here.
I think Monday is how toreceive alerts, how to receive
(16:27):
information, so that might be agood day to focus on, you know,
if you don't have a weatherradio, maybe go out and buy one
that day or just kind of sign upfor you know, a way to receive
alerts on your phone.
That would be a good day tokind of focus on "How can I
receive information in the eventthat severe weather is coming.
(16:48):
Tuesday, I believe, is lightningsafety, so maybe a good day to
focus on what do you do in theevent of a thunderstorm.
Wednesday is tornado safety, Ibelieve.
And yeah, like you said,there's going to be a big
statewide tornado drill on thatWednesday.
Thursday is hail and windsafety.
So maybe think about what youwould do in the event of a big
windstorm or hailstorm.
And then Friday is floodingsafety.
(17:08):
So think about what you coulddo in the event of a flash flood
to protect yourself, protectyour home.
So there's lots of goodinformation to find online.
I'm going to be posting thingsevery day of that week relating
to that topic, so check out theRaymore Emergency Management
Facebook page, if you're notfollowing it already.
I'm going to post some thingsthroughout that week that might
be beneficial.
(17:28):
And then, yeah, the highlightof that week really is the
Wednesday, the fifth, statewidetornado drill.
Melissa Harmer (17:35):
That's 11 o'clock in the morning, so we
would encourage everybody toparticipate in a tornado drill
that morning and wherever youare if you're at work or if
you're at home, like you shouldknow where to go at work.
You should know where to gowhen you're home.
Or if you're out, let's justsay someone's out shopping at
the grocery store.
Do our local businesses haveplans in place too?
Tim Baldwin (17:58):
Yeah, we would encourage everybody to you know
whether you're a school thatwould be a good time to maybe
schedule a tornado drill.
It's that Wednesday at 11 forour schools.
A church, we know, churchesaren't, you know, usually busy
on a Wednesday morning, butmaybe the staff that is there
could participate in a drill,just so they know kind of where
to go and where to lead theircongregations in the event that
one, you know, happens during aservice.
(18:19):
All of our businesses, they'rewelcome to participate as well.
If you're just at your home at11 o'clock, you know, go to your
shelter and just hang out therefor a few minutes, figure out
where to go and kind of what youwant to do in the event of a
real tornado.
We're going to do a tornadodrill here at City Hall.
We're going to sound the sirens, so it's going to be, you know,
kind of like the real thingthat Wednesday morning.
(18:40):
So it's a good chance topractice wherever you are.
Melissa Harmer (18:42):
That's right, and we have done that drill
before when people have been atthe police station, when people
have been in City Hall and wetake them downstairs with us.
Tim Baldwin (18:50):
So everyone participates who's here.
Got to practice like it's thereal thing.
Melissa Harmer (18:54):
Right, right.
And then you have extra linksto resources on your emergency
management webpage at the city'swebsite.
So that's raymore.
com/ EM.
Make it really easy, E-M foremergency management and that,
so that can give – you haveresources to everything.
Tim Baldwin (19:10):
Yeah, so a few links that I always like to
share with people.
One is weather.
gov.
There's a million differentweather websites out there, but
that's the official kind ofnational weather service website
.
That's kind of the one that Igo to in the event that we're
looking at severe weather.
That's kind of the mostreliable, most accurate, most
timely is weather.
gov.
And then there's ready.
gov R-E-A-D-Y-dot-gov, andthat's kind of an offshoot of
(19:32):
the FEMA website.
So there's lots of goodinformation there tips for
individuals, for households, forkids – we don't want to forget
about, you know, kids, makingsure they understand
preparedness and you know whatcan we do to keep their stress
levels low during an emergency.
So there's lots of goodinformation on ready.
gov for kids games, coloringpages, activity pages, lots of
(19:54):
helpful videos, information onyou know how to build an
emergency kit, lots of goodstuff on ready.
gov.
So check that out.
And then redcross.
org.
There's information there on,you know, signing up to give
blood, different first aidclasses you can take as well.
And then, kind of along the samelines, I'm an advocate for
people to download the Red CrossFirst Aid app.
(20:16):
It's a free app you candownload and basically what it
does is it gives you a whole biglist of potential injuries or
wounds or illnesses thatsomebody might encounter.
You click on it and it kind ofwalks you through what to do to
help the person, to treat theperson, at least until the
actual first responders canarrive.
(20:36):
So that could end up being alifesaver.
So that's the Red Cross FirstAid app if you want to download
that.
Melissa Harmer (20:47):
Excellent.
And one more thing – how canour residents get involved if
they want to be able to assist,to volunteer in the event of the
aftermath of some sort ofnatural disaster or other
emergency incident?
Tim Baldwin (20:54):
Yeah, so one of my favorite things that I do in
this role is to lead our CERTgroup and that is our Community
Emergency Response Team, andthat is a group of volunteers
who have shown interest inhelping out after a disaster.
So we hold meetings every othermonth over at Centerview behind
City Hall.
Each meeting usually has atopic and a guest speaker, but
(21:15):
these are folks who have, youknow, shown interest in, you
know, maybe after a storm,helping out with search and
rescue or first aid, maybedistributing food and water to
folks, or volunteering at ashelter doing damage assessment
of you know, maybe there's somehomes that have been damaged.
Maybe they'll drive around andkind of assess the damage to
these homes, picking up debristhat might have, you know,
(21:36):
fallen throughout the community.
So lots of different ways tohelp and it's completely
voluntary.
Obviously, in the event of atornado or whatever, your first
obligation is yourself and yourfamily.
So there's no obligation tohelp out, but if you're able to,
you want to.
You know the CERT program is agreat way to get involved.
So, like I said, we havemeetings every other month.
(21:57):
The next one is February 11th.
The next one after that will besometime probably mid-April or
so, and I put out information onthat on my Facebook page, on
the City website as well.
So that's a great way to getinvolved.
Really, any way to just beinvested in your community
really helps out, whether it'svolunteering at a charity or a
church or whatever the situationmight be.
(22:18):
The more you're invested inyour community, the better off
everybody is.
So if you can find even justone way to give of yourself,
volunteer somewhere in Raymore,in Cass County, that really
benefits everybody.
Melissa Harmer (22:30):
That's awesome.
So if anyone wants to get intouch with you, your contact
information is at raymore.
com/ EM.
Tim Baldwin, thank you so muchfor sharing a little bit about
what you do for our communitytoday.
Is there anything else you wantto leave us with?
Tim Baldwin (22:47):
No, just everybody be safe.
We're still kind of in thethick of winter here, and then
the spring weather season iscoming up,
Melissa Harmer (22:52):
Right
Tim Baldwin (22:53):
Yeah, know what to do, know where to go and always
reach out to me if you have anyquestions or want some
information on anything.
I can point you in the rightdirection.
Melissa Harmer (23:00):
Thank you so much, Tim.
Tim Baldwin (23:00):
Yeah, thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.