Located in southwestern Washington, Skamania County extends from the northern shores of the Columbia River Gorge, through forested ridges, meadows and ravines of the Cascade Mountains. The county extends further north beyond Mount St. Helens, and further east to the flanks of Mt. Adams. Our scenery is spectacular and our communities are rural and close-knit.

We are all in this together. The Skamania County Department of Emergency Management (DEM) coordinates across agencies and geography with many public safety and community service partners - law enforcement, fire service, non profits, city, county and state departments and leaders, schools, utilities, businesses and community groups. 

We take a county-wide view to help our community prepare for, respond to, and recover from, urgent, unexpected, large scale, high-impact emergencies.

Counties across Washington, the Gorge and the U.S. all have Emergency Management offices, to coordinate regional preparedness, planning, logistical support, public information, community support, EOC (Emergency Operations Center) response and cost recovery for disasters such as wildfires, floods, landslides and other high-impact incidents when emergency services are overwhelmed and community needs escalate.

The Tunnel 5 Fire in 2023 (pictured here,) the 2024 Winter Snow and Ice storm and the 2017 Eagle Creek and Archer Mountain wildfires (on both sides of the Columbia River) are just a few recent examples of when Emergency Management activates the County EOC, to gather services in one place to tackle expanding and urgent community needs. We gather more hands to help our community when it matters most. We are also a support system as needed for first responders in the field (Incident Command - typically Fire and Law Enforcement.)

County Emergency Management is a department within the Skamania County Sheriff's Office, and supports all local jurisdictions, in gathering mutual aid support, advocating to, and coordinating with, state and federal agencies. 

The phases of Emergency Management are: Preparedness, Mitigation, Response and Recovery. Our work is a continuous cycle...

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