We wanted to know more about the cracks in the systems meant to keep communities safe when disasters strike. To do that, we reached out to dozens of emergency management agencies and wound up hearing from more than 40 current and former emergency managers in 11 states. They described common concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some said their agencies have been saddled with an ever-growing list of responsibilities. In Saluda County, South Carolina, the emergency management director said his team of six is responsible for everything from the county\u2019s IT department to a spay and neuter program. In San Bernardino County, California, the emergency manager said that she has had to help respond to new challenges like a lithium battery fire and, at a previous agency, was tasked with responding to busloads of immigrants arriving from other states.<\/p>\n
Funding for additional staff was the most pressing issue they cited. One North Carolina emergency management director said an internal study from about three years ago recommended their agency have more than 20 staffers, but they still only have 10. Across the country, more than half of the 1,689 local emergency management agencies that responded to Argonne National Laboratory\u2019s July 2025 emergency management survey<\/a> have either one or no permanent full-time employees, and a \u201cnotable percentage\u201d of local emergency managers who responded are volunteers.<\/p>\n \n\tWe know disasters are a matter of where and when, not if. And our reporting team at ProPublica wants to be prepared well in advance. If you are a local or state emergency manager, sign up to be a part of our long-term source network to help fuel ProPublica\u2019s investigative journalism.<\/p>\n Given the wide-ranging responsibilities and increasing risk due to climate change, part-time or volunteer emergency management positions shouldn\u2019t exist, said Samantha Montano, an emergency management associate professor and researcher at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo expect somebody to understand how to mitigate cyber risks and also recover from a tornado, I mean, these are different skill sets,\u201d Montano said. \u201cSo to think that one person is going to be capable of doing all of those things, especially working part time or as a volunteer, is ludicrous.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has caused delays in emergency management funding to state and local agencies and issued an executive order to shift more of the weight of disaster preparedness to state and local governments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kelly McKinney, the vice president of emergency management at NYU Langone Health and a former deputy commissioner at the New York City Emergency Management office, said that over the years states have become \u201coverly dependent\u201d on funding administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But there is no clear plan for alternative funding streams, according to McKinney.<\/p>\n \u201cThis crisis-management system in the United States is itself in crisis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s Only So Much You Can Do\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Several emergency managers we heard from said one of the only times they\u2019re able to draw attention to their agency\u2019s needs is in the aftermath of a wide-scale disaster. Wike Graham, the emergency management director for the Charlotte-Mecklenberg area of North Carolina, said the first question the media typically asks following such a disaster is: \u201cDid emergency management do what they were supposed to do?\u201d<\/p>\n According to Graham, that\u2019s almost always the wrong question. He instead asks: \u201cDid you properly fund emergency management staff? And did you provide them with the resources that they need? Did you make emergency management a priority for your community?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Unlike firefighters, EMTs or law enforcement, emergency managers face a \u201cpublic identity issue\u201d that can result in agencies receiving smaller budgets, Montano said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several emergency managers told ProPublica that because people in their field operate mostly behind the scenes or as part of larger departments, they often find themselves competing for funding with better-recognized agencies, and they say elected officials frequently don\u2019t have a clear understanding of their role. Some said it\u2019s simply difficult to get people to care about a disaster that hasn\u2019t happened yet.<\/p>\n Several others told ProPublica they are also seeing an uptick in the frequency and intensity of disasters, which makes it difficult to manage recovery (which can take years) while preparing for the next storm or fire. In St. Louis, for example, emergency management commissioner Sarah Russell was still in the midst of managing recovery efforts from 2022 flash flooding when the 2025 tornado hit.<\/p>\n During the St. Louis tornado, the sirens \u2014 which the city was in the early process of upgrading \u2014 weren\u2019t activated, in part due to a miscommunication between Russell and a fire alarm dispatcher, according to an external investigation commissioned by the city. Russell, who is nonbinary and uses they\/them pronouns, told ProPublica that the fire department was responsible for sounding the sirens.\u00a0<\/p>\n But even if the activation button had been pressed, more than a third of the sirens weren\u2019t working, and a later test showed that the button at the fire alarm office wasn\u2019t either.\u00a0<\/p>\n Russell was terminated in August 2025, in part due to their management of the tornado response, according to their termination letter. But Russell, who is appealing the termination, said the incident highlights the need to proactively invest in emergency management.\u00a0<\/p>\n Russell had made several requests for additional staff who specialize in emergency management to help with core responsibilities, like updating the city\u2019s outdated plan for responding to emergencies.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always things that you would do different with hindsight,\u201d Russell said. \u201cBut there\u2019s only so much you can do with so little resources and support.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer, who had been in office for a month at the time of the tornado and who was an alderwoman for the decade prior, told ProPublica that she was aware of the agency\u2019s requests for additional funding, but that most city departments make such requests. After the tragedy, the city fully automated the tornado sirens and issued an executive order declaring that the fire department would have primary authority over the sirens, replacing an unclear protocol.\u00a0<\/p>\n A city spokesperson said the new emergency management commissioner has \u201cimplemented several improvements\u201d to the emergency operations plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRecognizing that budget restraints are unfortunately the reality across many aspects of government,\u201d Spencer said via email, \u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud of the improvements this team has been able to implement with almost no additional funding.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis Isn\u2019t a Quick Fix\u201d<\/p>\n Strained budgets for local emergency management agencies aren\u2019t a new issue. But in recent months, federal funding has become uncertain.\u00a0<\/p>\n In April 2025, the Trump administration cut federal grants that pay for local disaster-preparedness projects \u2014 but a judge later halted the administration\u2019s efforts to shutter the grant program. In May 2025, federal officials delayed grants that help fund local and state emergency managers\u2019 salaries<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In December, the FEMA Review Council, which Trump created to advise on ways to reform the agency, was expected to vote on a long-awaited report that would outline the agency\u2019s future. But after a draft was leaked to CNN<\/a>, the meeting was abruptly canceled. The work of the review council has been extended until late March.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several emergency managers told ProPublica they would welcome change at FEMA. But many voiced concerns about the federal government shuttering grant programs \u2014 which fund salaries, upgrades to equipment and disaster-mitigation efforts \u2014 or drastically reducing reimbursement for local agencies responding to large-scale disasters without alternative funding in place. They said such actions would be detrimental, especially in small, rural regions with limited local budgets.\u00a0<\/p>\n In North Carolina, one emergency manager said that without federal emergency management performance grants, which can be used to pay 50% of an emergency manager\u2019s salary, \u201cwe are looking at the loss of preparedness and response capabilities.\u201d Another called the grant \u201cvital\u201d to daily operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n FEMA did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20250820-Doughty-Helene-Recovery-1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_tru.jpeg\")
Josh Morton, president of the International Association of Emergency Managers USA Council and emergency management director for Saluda County in South Carolina, says local emergency management is \u201cwhere the rubber meets the road,\u201d but local governments are often \u201cthe most limited when it comes to resources.\u201d Donaven Doughty for ProPublica<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20250820-Doughty-Helene-Recovery-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_tr.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20250820-Doughty-Helene-Recovery-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_tr.jpeg\")
\nAt the Saluda County emergency management office where Morton works, a memorial, first image, honors the two volunteer firefighters who lost their lives while responding to Hurricane Helene. Donaven Doughty for ProPublica<\/p>\n