Harrisburg, PA – Today the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency highlighted the Shapiro Administration’s ongoing work to build a robust and effective emergency management system in Pennsylvania to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and other emergencies.
“A comprehensive state-wide emergency management program requires a professionally trained workforce to meet the needs of the communities and people in Pennsylvania that could be affected by disasters,” said PEMA Director Randy Padfield. “Some of this training happens in a classroom, sometimes it’s online, and sometimes it’s hands-on learning while working with partner organizations.”
Training
From 2023-25, PEMA delivered nearly 150 courses totaling more than 2,700 hours of training for state agencies, plus county and municipal emergency partners, and first responders. During that same period, 214 emergency managers across the state completed certification requirements and were issued certifications at either the associate or professional level in accordance with the requirements set by the agency.
The certification process requires specialized coursework and exercises to demonstrate knowledge and proficiency in emergency management preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery functions. Emergency management professionals need to recertify every five years by completing 75 hours of continuing education and
Response
We train and exercise to primarily respond to disasters in the Commonwealth, but also deploy to other states to support response and recovery operations after natural disasters through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, or EMAC.
Since 2023, more than 100 personnel and specialized response teams have deployed to California, Vermont, Hawaii, North Carolina, Florida, Alaska and most recently Rhode Island. These deployments were staffed by workers from PEMA, Department of Transportation, PA State Police, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Pennsylvania National Guard.
“These deployments provide invaluable opportunities for our teams to refine the very skills they would need to respond effectively to a major disaster here in the Commonwealth,” said PEMA EMAC Coordinator Jonathan Anschutz. “By supporting other states in their time of need, our personnel and teams have the ability to continue to hone their skills, we have the ability to build greater depth of capacity, and we strengthen the interstate partnerships that we can call upon when Pennsylvania faces its own emergencies.”
“During Alaska’s October 2025 Ex-Typhoon Halong storm disaster, Pennsylvania joined over 20 other states to come to Alaska and help. Alaska’s disaster covered over 1,000 miles of Alaskan coastal communities and forced the emergency air evacuation of over 1,000 survivors to shelters in Anchorage,” said State of Alaska Emergency Operations Center Incident Commander Mark W. Roberts. “This was the largest air evacuation in the United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and mutual aid emergency management personnel from Pennsylvania, who came through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, were a key part in moving and supporting survivors as they faced destroyed homes and total property loss.”
EMAC is a formal agreement that allows states to share resources, such as personnel or equipment, during disasters, with the requesting state covering all costs. EMAC was created to serve as an all-hazards national mutual aid system and has been ratified by the U.S. Congress with participation from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Recovery
In the ongoing effort to recover quicker after a disaster, recovery staff at PEMA recently delivered eight training sessions to emergency management professionals across Pennsylvania to familiarize them with the Commonwealth’s new damage assessment tool that is fully integrated into the state’s crisis management system. Accurate local damage assessments are completed at the municipal level and are critical to recovering faster for both individuals and communities affected by disasters, and identifying any potential federal disaster relief that may be available.
“Damage assessments are the backbone of the recovery process,” said PEMA Deputy Director for Recovery Larry West. “They set the foundation for recovery and they help in determining which areas may qualify for federal or state disaster assistance.”
Governor Shapiro’s 2026-27 budget proposal includes a $5 million allocation for the commonwealth’s Disaster Recovery Assistance Program, known as DRAP.
Since DRAP was established in 2023, the program has provided more than $450,000 in assistance direct to Pennsylvanians after a variety of disasters, including Somerset County flooding and apartment building fires in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
PEMA also has been authorized to establish a new Commonwealth Public Assistance Program to assist communities recovering from disasters. As the infrastructure damage thresholds to request federal assistance rise, Pennsylvania will stand ready to help eligible municipalities make needed repairs to damaged critical public infrastructure not paid for by insurance or other funding sources.
