Dallas County’s Emergency Management Coordinator is now better equipped to respond to area disasters thanks to a recent certification.

A.J. Seely graduated from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Emergency Management Basic Academy. The program is conducted at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and Seely found the training beneficial for helping him be more effective in his role. “It’s really meant for program development and kind of a basic introduction to emergency management. I do have a bachelor’s degree in public administration and majored in emergency management, but I was surprised to know the practical application value through that class. So (it) was definitely beneficial (and) I brought back a lot of things that I hope to implement here, and continue emergency management program development.”

Courses Seely completed in the Basic Academy include: Foundations of Emergency Management; Science of Disaster; Planning – Emergency Operations; Exercise Design; and Public Information and Warning. He fulfilled a total of 152 hours of training in order to graduate. The Academy is the first phase of FEMA’s new Emergency Management Professional Program, which is designed to be a lifetime of learning for emergency managers.