Mutual Aid in North Carolina
The Mutual Aid System is a voluntary agreement among North Carolina municipalities to share resources during a disaster. All 100 counties, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and nearly three-fourths of the 650 municipalities have signed the mutual aid agreement. (See full participants list in WebEOC File Library under Mutual Aid Agreements.)
History
The Mutual Aid System was developed following Hurricane Fran in 1996. At that time there was no uniform agreement among North Carolina's cities and counties so they could help one another during and after disasters. With no policies and procedures to address logistics, deployment, compensation and liability issues, intra-state cooperation was limited and inefficient.
Then Gov. Jim Hunt formed a task force to address long-term recovery needs from the storm. The group recommended developing a statewide mutual aid agreement. The League of Municipalities and the N.C. Association of County Commissioners developed the statewide mutual aid agreement and distributed it to county governments and municipalities. The N.C. Division of Emergency Management serves as the repository for the agreement.
Contact
NCEM Exercise Officer - 919-825-2772
Mutual Aid Agreement forms can be found in WebEOC