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A time comes each year when the nation recognizes emergency management, and that time is the whole month of August. Launched in 2025 by the International Association of Emergency Managers, National Emergency Management Awareness Month is intended to showcase the importance of emergency management and the roles of managers, directors and coordinators.
For the Marshall County Emergency Management Agency, Kim Elder is the coordinator and said emergency management starts with individuals.
"This is important to recognize. You must start by preparing yourself and your family," she said. "Marshall County Emergency Management is a resource for all municipalities in our county to assist with training, planning, exercising and mitigation. It is an ongoing process that prepares all of us for those times when an emergency or disaster hits. Preparing and planning is essential in the life safety aspect of disasters and also the recovery of your family, business and the government."
Elder has led the county through the 2018 tornado, the 2020 derecho, blizzards, floodings and more.
According to Elder, before the disasters during the last eight years, her department had a long history of partnering with first responders, businesses, people and government entities by helping develop plans and training them to respond and recover.
"During both the tornado and derecho we started with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Des Moines days or hours [beforehand] learning about what was coming and sharing that with our partners," she said. "When storm watches and warnings are issued we are out in the field storm spotting and watching radar to help the NWS with eyes on the ground. After storms pass, we are immediately in the field helping responders with life safety situations. Protection of life and property come first."
Marshall County Emergency Management helps departments respond by organizing what is needed, such as equipment and personnel, and organizing the decision makers in an emergency operations center.
At the same time, Elder works with people on immediately performing damage assessment on government and private property. That information is then sent to the NWS and Iowa Homeland Security.
"This is vital so we can start working toward recovery, which may take days, months or even years," she said. "Emergency Management is never truly finished with a disaster. We continue to reassess where we are in recovery and share lessons learned by training others and reviewing our actions to improve our next response."
With a background as an EMT, firefighter and hospital and social work, Elder was hired in 2005 as the assistant coordinator.
"I felt that this was a great way to bring a lot of my past experience into a career I would love, and I do," she said. "When the coordinator retired the Marshall County Emergency Management Commission hired me as the coordinator but did not fill the second full-time position. That was in October 2010. The commission finally approved a part-time position for support specialist in August 2025 and that position went full-time [in] January."
Matthew Vogeler is the support specialist and Elder is very glad to have the office staffed with two full-time positions, fulfilling a great need for all of the growing responsibilities of local emergency management offices. She added there are volunteer opportunities, and interested people should please contact the office at 641-754-6385.
Moving into the future, Elder said the goals are to continue educating the first responders, government officials and Marshall County residents on their role in emergency management.
"We would like to see more outdoor warning sirens installed throughout the county and focus on the possibility of tornado shelters throughout the county as well," she said. "Matt and I continue to keep abreast of new emergency management techniques and tools, attending educational opportunities as often as possible to share and learn lessons from other agencies and emergency management coordinators. We hope to improve our office size and space, as growing to a two-person office has presented some challenges in using one room for both of us."
DEPARTMENT HISTORY
According to Elder, Marshall County Emergency Management has roots in the Civil Defense era, when local emergency programs focused heavily on wartime preparedness, warning systems and severe-weather response. The office operated from the basement of Marshalltown City Hall for roughly 60 years, suggesting a local civil-defense/emergency-management presence going back to approximately the 1950s. A major chapter began in 1986 when the program evolved toward modern all-hazards emergency management. Improved 911 capabilities, interoperable radio communications, warning systems and public severe-weather education were promoted. In 2013, the agency moved from the basement of the Marshalltown Police Station to the third floor of the Marshall County Sheriff's Office due to ongoing flooding and plumbing issues at the previous location. Through the years, the county department's role increasingly reflected the modern all-hazards emergency-management model: preparedness planning, training and exercises, public warning, emergency communications, coordination with fire, EMS, law enforcement and public works, volunteer preparedness and coordination with state and federal partners.
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.