On Target Preparedness began providing services in July 2011. The first contract was with Wayne County Health Department to assist them in meeting their preparedness requirements as set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Work included writing emergency response plans, providing training on the plans and other disaster related topics, and designing and executing exercises.

Shortly thereafter more contracts followed with Health Departments and non-profits. Work for these also included building and designing OSHA compliant respiratory protection programs, coordinating efforts of planning with partner agencies, and planning for special events.

Our staff are trained in a wide variety of specialties to include firefighting, EMS, emergency management, public health roles, and several others.

Over our tenure working with clients, we have had the pleasure of participating or leading many unique events. Some of these events include:

▲ Assisted Moore County Health Department in 2014 for the planning of the Men's and Women's US Open Golf Championships. This was the first time in the history of the golf tournaments where the two tournaments were held at the same golf course on back to back weeks. OTP worked with the Health Department and their partners to plan for contingencies that could happen such as foodborne illness outbreaks, heat related illness, and other threats. This culminated in a series of tabletops County-wide that tested our planning prior to the actual event. During the event, OTP worked as the Public Health Branch Manager during the entire two week process. Due to the hard work on many agencies there were only minor issues that occurred.
The Moore County Public School System contracted with On Target Preparedness in November of 2022 to complete an in-depth safety assessment of all 23 Moore County Public Schools as well as two Moore County Public School’s administrative office buildings. The staff of On Target Preparedness visited each school, over a period of three months, examining and noting strengths and weaknesses regarding safety and security. On Target Preparedness also met with district and school administrators and school resource officers in a combined effort to ensure the safety of students and staff on each campus. At the conclusion of the visits, On Target Preparedness provided a comprehensive report to Moore County Public Schools to be used as a catalyst for safety and security improvements.


▲ In 2015, the Scotland County Health Department requested that the Local Emergency Planning Committee to be reinstated to aid in county-wide planning. OTP was requested by Scotland County Emergency Services and Scotland County Health Department to aid in this process. Work was completed to ensure that the LEPC policy was up to date and proper documentation was built. An initial meeting was held where new officers for the LEPC was elected and the Regional Response Team from Fayetteville came and provided information on their services. Since that time the LEPC meets every quarter and normally has twenty to forty members in attendance.

▲ In 2017, OTP worked with Wilson County Emergency Management to build a first in the State series of planning events to aid organizations regionally that had to increase planning due to the new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Emergency Preparedness Rule. This started off with a training provided that covered what the rule is and the requirements, how to properly plan for emergencies, and the emergency planning climate in Wilson and surrounding counties. The training was followed by a tabletop exercise focusing on flooding that tested the agencies in attendance plans and procedures. Agencies were then instructed to go back, revise any plans, processes, or phone numbers. The final portion was a full scale exercise requiring for the preparation of movement of patients to another facility to due facility shutdown.

▲ The Town of Waxhaw contracted with On Target Preparedness in 2021 to build the first Emergency Operations Plan for the Town. The Town was growing exponentially and the Emergency Manager and Town Manager felt the Town needed their own EOP. Working with all of the departments in the Town and the Town Council, OTP led the process of building a new EOP for the Town. At the end of this project, OTP hosted a tabletop exercise for the department heads to aid them in the initial use of their new EOP.

▲ On February 1, 2022, On Target Preparedness worked with Granville County Emergency Services to conduct an Emergency Operations Center/Emergency Operations Plan tabletop exercise. Over the last few years, the County saw increased retirements leaving a need to focus on building staff knowledge of their EOP, including their role in it. This was a three hour tabletop that approximately 35 participants including County Management attended. The scenario was a rain event that turned into a winter weather event causing hazardous snow and ice conditions.

▲ In February 2022, OTP worked with Winston-Salem Forsyth County Emergency Management, North Carolina Emergency Management, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and NASA to provide a first-of-its-kind Near Earth Object (NEO) Tabletop exercise that included State and local emergency management and response partners. OTP assisted in scenario development, planning for evaluation, and facilitation of the tabletop exercise at the State of North Carolina level, where approximately thirty-five participants were involved and in Winston-Salem, where over one hundred fifty participants were involved in learning through this event. Through advanced online audio-visual tools, participants at each remote site could actively share in the learning experience. The result was a huge lesson for all participating agencies discovering that each level of responders has different information needs, how they respond, and how coordination is essential for such a response.

▲ In 2022, our staff led Warren County Emergency Services (Emergency Management) through the Threat Hazard Identification Risk Assessment (THIRA). This was done through a collaborative effort of department directors, partners, and non-governmental agencies to determine what threats and risks could impact Warren County and translate that information into a report that would allow advanced planning for the County, including reviewing and revising the Emergency Operations Plan.

Our staff write articles and commentaries for a range of publications including Fire Engineering, Emergency Management, The Encourager, and Carolina Fire Rescue Journal.