Lee Board of County Commissioners voted Dec. 3 to approve a resolution adopting the Lee County Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, which details the policies and procedures the county will use in managing large-scale emergencies and disasters.
Lee County’s plan, written to be consistent with requirements in the Florida Administrative Code and established standards by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Florida Division of Emergency Management, must be revised and adopted on an ongoing basis, county officials said.
Modifications made before submitting for final approval included changes to the plan itself and supporting policies, which guide county, partner and community actions before, during and after a disaster. For example, using feedback received during Hurricane Ian, the policies supporting the ordering and communicating evacuations had significant revisions. There were also significant changes to policies on community coordination following disasters, collaborating more closely with the School District of Lee County on sheltering operations and communicating the safety of neighborhoods after an event has occurred.
These new standards, known as Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101, required the entire plan to be rewritten and restructured.
FDEM provided a series of extensions for the last revision due to the impacts from Hurricane Ian in 2022. The state consent and recommendations were received in April, county officials said.
