FEMA selects Macon-Bibb to participate in national training

Macon-Bibb County was recently selected to participate in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)'s Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC). FEMA selects one community from each region every year, and Macon-Bibb County was the only community selected in the Southeast United States.

"Emergency Management is a team effort. This course will allow our team to build invaluable relationships and receive some of the best training the country has to offer," says Macon-Bibb Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Spencer Hawkins.

This is the second time in 10 years Macon-Bibb has been able to participate, which is extremely beneficial. In March 2025, 60 of our local responders and partners will be attending this course in Emmitsburg, MD, and they'll spend the next nine months training and preparing. On Thursday, dozens of community leaders gathered at City Hall to go over the training and what to expect with FEMA members. Emergency management officials with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation (MCN) also joined the meeting as the Nation will be joining Macon-Bibb in the training.

"This training event shows how Macon-Bibb and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation work together to protect the lives and property within their jurisdiction," says Emergency Manager Director Bobby Howard. "This is also the first time a Tribal Nation and a County have conducted this level of training in the history of FEMA.

"The land that Macon-Bibb County was founded on is the ancestral homelands of the Muscogee (Creek) peoples. Below the ground there are cultural artifacts that are deeply significant; however, when a natural disaster occurs it does not care who is on the land," says Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative Director of Advocacy Tracie Revis. "This collaboration with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, allows an opportunity to train and create plans to protect our homes, people, and places.

The Integrated Emergency Management Course is a four-day, exercise-based training activity for Emergency Operations Center personnel to practice simulated, but realistic, crisis situations, within a structured learning environment. The jurisdiction selects the hazards and core capabilities it wishes to simulate in classroom and exercise components of the course. The design will reflect the jurisdiction's specific hazards and organizational structure included in its emergency plans.

"The training we received 10 years ago had a direct impact on how we successfully responded to the disasters that have impacted Macon-Bibb, specifically Hurricanes Irma and COVID-19," says Hawkins. "Disasters are getting more intense and more frequent, and we need to be prepared."