The St Clair County Commission adopted a resolution recently honoring Bryan Schaefers, Planner for the St Clair County Emergency Management Agency. He served St. Clair County for 22 years and was recognized during the April 26 regular meeting of the St. Clair County Commission.

Schaefers began his career in the United States Air Force in 1978 until he transitioned over to Emergency Management.

“Looking back on my career as a member of the Emergency Management Agency, I am most impressed by the citizens of St Clair County and how they always come together in a time of need for each other,” Schaefers said. “Whether it was floods, tornadoes or winter weather events, the citizens always pulled together and took care of each other making my position as an emergency manager much easier to do.”

Schaefers said following the major disaster of April 27, 2011, they, as a community, worked for days and weeks to respond and recover from the tornadoes.

“Since then, the EMA has taken even more actions to help lessen the effects of another similar disaster, by pushing for storm shelter grants, giving away weather alert radios and investing in an automated call system for alerting the public of impending disasters,” he said.

During the destruction of the chemical stockpile at the Anniston Army Depot, residents and Schaefers worked together and were critical members of the response planning actions that were taken by the county. With the communities’ help, he developed plans for every school, nursing home and day care for sheltering and evacuation in case of an accident during the stockpile’s destruction.

“I am proud to have served as a member of the EMA team for these many years and working with a great staff through some of the most difficult times in many of our lives,” Schaefers said. “Many people do not really know what the EMA is, or what it does for the county. We are your voice to the State EMA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency before, during, and after disasters. We proudly serve the citizens of this county, and I will miss the people of St Clair County as I move into my retirement years. However, emergency management is in my blood, so you may see me as a volunteer following some other event if the Lord permits.”