Mayor Luis Vasquez; Andres Stevens and Chief Gillaspie.
By Tammye McDuff
A new city employee was introduced at the Downey Council meeting, Tuesday, January 13th. Fire Chief Mike Gillaspie announced the newest member of the Downey employee family “As fire chief I am pleased to announce the appointment of a new Emergency Preparedness [EP] Manager and Coordinator, Andrew Stevens.”
The EP Manager is assigned to the Fire Department and is tasked with the coordination of emergency training and preparation for each city department as well as EP volunteers and the community. Gillaspie stated “I was the Intern Manger for this position and I quickly realized how important this role is within the community. This position requires technical knowledge of each mandate and statutes required by the local government. This job also requires that the EP Manager oversees the city’s emergency operations plan and training the cities employees.”
Stevens has a Bachelors degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from the American Military Institute. He has extensive experience in Emergency Management and as a volunteer Fireman. Coming from Alaska, Stevens served on the Homeland Security Emergency Management Division as an Infrastructure Protection Planner and has worked for several worldwide, nonprofit disaster relief programs such as Team Rubicon and Reach-Out World Wide. Stevens has responded to over 40 domestic and international emergency disasters in Alaska and authored several Emergency and Disaster plans for local cities as well as writing and receiving grants for emergency preparedness. Stevens is a Marine Corp veteran and served in the initial onset of Iraqi Freedom and has been a volunteer Fireman, “Thank you for your service,” states Gillaspie. Stevens will be assigned to Fire Staff Administration.
“It is a pleasure to accept this position for the City of Downey,” states Stevens, “as the Chief mentioned I have spent most of my entire adult life in preparing for emergency disasters. Downey has shown their commitment in preparation, mitigation and has shown its strength to build a culture of resiliency across this community.”
The City’s Emergency Preparedness Committee is comprised of ten residents who are appointed by the City Council members. The EPC committee’s mission is to assist in providing disaster preparedness public education to the community and make recommendations that better prepare the community and its residents. The EPC also assists in water barrel distribution; PTA presentations; drug take back programs; fundraisers for the American Red Cross and Neighborhood Watch Programs.
