The information contained in this article is not intended as legal advice and may no longer be accurate due to changes in the law. Consult NHMA's legal services or your municipal attorney.
Dan Stowers recently returned to New Hampshire to serve as the Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Manchester. A native of the state, he enlisted in the military the day after graduating from Pinkerton Academy in Derry, embarking on a career that took him around the world. After retiring from the Army early, he settled in Georgia, where he spent the next two decades working in both the fire service and emergency management. He advanced through the ranks, eventually serving as an assistant fire chief in a combination department outside of Savannah and later as the State Planning Director for Georgia Emergency Management-Homeland Security.
With nearly 20 years of experience at the city, county, and state levels, Stowers has responded to numerous emergencies and disasters, gaining insights not commonly found in textbooks or online courses. His time as Georgia’s State Planning Director, where he coordinated emergency planning efforts across 159 counties and managed seven Presidentially Declared Disasters, reinforced a key challenge faced by jurisdictions of all sizes: a lack of trained
personnel to effectively staff emergency operations centers (EOCs) before, during, and after a disaster.
Challenges in Emergency Management Staffing
Most municipalities in New Hampshire have an emergency operations plan that designates specific Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) to coordinate response efforts. These range from ESF 1 (Transportation) and ESF 4 (Firefighting) to ESF 13 (Public Safety/Law Enforcement), among others. Each ESF is assigned a lead representative responsible for coordinating efforts in all phases of emergency management, including mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
While department heads such as public works directors or finance officers can attend planning meetings with advance notice, the challenge arises when a disaster occurs. These individuals are often needed in the field, leading their departments in critical response efforts, making it
difficult for them to remain in an EOC for extended periods. The issue is not just having enough personnel, but ensuring that those in the EOC have the knowledge and experience to effectively support operations
This challenge is common across jurisdictions, regardless of size. To address this, Stowers helped develop a solution that strengthens emergency
management programs by establishing partnerships between municipalities that are not geographically close and are unlikely to experience the same type of disaster at the same time. Through small meetings that grew into coordination sessions held twice per year, each municipality’s ESF primary and alternate representatives became a backup for the other. For example, Municipality A could send members of its finance department to Municipality B to assist with damage assessment reports and public assistance applications after a major disaster. The same could be said for all of the other emergency support functions.
The Benefits of Municipal Partnerships
In 2013, Stowers worked with several communities to develop an approach that paired municipalities with different risk profiles. One example involved a coastal municipality, prone to hurricanes and flooding, forming a partnership with an inland municipality near Atlanta, where tornadoes, ice storms, and hazardous material incidents were more prevalent. The partnership evolved into a structured exchange program:
- Twice a year, ESF primary and alternate representatives from one municipality would visit the other.
- These visits included facility tours, operational briefings, software demonstrations, and discussions on shared challenges.
- The program concluded with a full EOC tour and a working lunch.
- A few months later, the process was repeated in reverse, with the second municipality visiting the first.
Over time, these partnerships proved invaluable. When a hurricane struck the coastal municipality, finance department staff from its partner city assisted with damage assessment reports and public assistance applications. Similarly, when an ice storm impacted the inland city, emergency support staff from the coastal municipality stepped in to help coordinate response efforts.
By implementing this model, jurisdictions gained trained backup personnel, strengthened response capacity, and established professional relationships that facilitated collaboration during emergencies.
Applying This Approach in New Hampshire
Stowers encourages municipal leaders and emergency management personnel in New Hampshire to consider similar partnerships. The key is to pair municipalities from different regions that are unlikely to be affected by the same type of disaster simultaneously.
For example:
- A municipality in Carroll County could establish a partnership with one in Cheshire County.
- A town vulnerable to river flooding could partner with one more prone to ice storms or wildfires.
Regardless of a municipality’s size, no jurisdiction has unlimited resources or personnel. By proactively forming these partnerships, towns and cities can enhance their emergency response capabilities, improve disaster recovery efficiency, and ensure their communities receive the support they need when disaster strikes.
Building strong municipal partnerships today can lead to more effective emergency management and greater resilience in the face of future crises.