Local Emergency and Hazard Plans

Emergency plans come in a variety of shapes and sizes to meet different needs. Some links for emergency plans that individuals or businesses should make can be found on TRORC’s Preparedness page. TRORC focuses on providing assistance to towns by developing flood regulations to reduce flood damage, writing mitigation plans under contract to lessen disaster effects, and information sharing during warning and recovery periods.

Local Hazard Mitigation Plans (LHMP)

A Local Hazard Mitigation plan (LHMP) is a broad-based plan for each town that assesses hazards and proposes measures to lessen their vulnerability to those with the most impact. TRORC assists towns with these as funding permits. These plans have a 5-year lifespan. Having a FEMA-approved LHMP qualifies the town for certain grant programs, including federal recovery funds. There is no template for such plans, but there are federal requirements. Adopted LHMPs, if they exist, can be found under each town on the TRORC website (see the Member Towns section of this site). You can also check a town status through the ERAF Summary Sheet search.

TownStatusFEMA ApprovedExpiration DateExpiration Year
BarnardApproved1/20/20231/19/20282028
BethelApproved6/16/20216/15/20262026
BradfordApproved2/27/20242/26/20292029
BraintreeApproved6/1/20205/31/20252025
BridgewaterApproved11/18/202011/17/20252025
BrookfieldApproved1/12/20221/11/20272027
ChelseaApproved12/20/202112/19/20262026
CorinthIn Progress9/21/20179/21/20222022
FairleeApproved12/1/202011/30/20252025
GranvilleIn Progress10/23/201910/22/20242024
HancockApproved9/23/20229/22/20272027
HartfordApproved3/19/20213/18/20262026
HartlandApproved12/1/202011/30/20252025
NewburyApproved3/8/20233/7/20282028
NorwichApproved2/26/20212/25/20262026
PittsfieldApproved1/27/20211/26/20262026
PlymouthApproved1/12/20231/11/20282028
PomfretApproved2/26/20242/25/20292029
RandolphApproved4/26/20214/25/20262026
RochesterApproved4/1/20203/31/20252025
RoyaltonApproved10/8/202110/7/20262026
SharonApproved9/27/20219/26/20262026
StockbridgeApproved12/21/202112/20/20272027
StraffordApproved2/9/20232/8/20282028
ThetfordApproved3/5/20253/4/20302030
TopshamIn Progress9/1/20179/1/20222022
TunbridgeApproved6/30/20216/29/20262026
VershireIn Progress8/2/20188/1/20232023
West FairleeIn Progress12/18/201912/17/20242024
WoodstockApproved7/18/20227/17/20272027

Local Emergency Management Plans (LEMP)

Plans for communities can include plans to deal with specific types of hazards, and we have basic generic operational plans for evacuation, flood, and derailment available on request.

Municipal operational plans can also be more general, and in Vermont, the basic form is called a Local Emergency Management Plan (LEMP). These contain critical information and checklists. As of October 1, 2024, Vermont Emergency Management (VEM) is assisting towns in these yearly updates, rather than TRORC. 

VEM Regional Coordinators for the TRORC region include both Sid Pollock and Taiga Christie. LEMPs are due June 1st, 2025. All LEMPs must use the updated template, available on VEM’s website.

These plans are not distributed to the general public as they contain some personal contact information.

VEM Contacts:

Orange County Towns: Sid Pollock, [email protected]

Windsor County Towns: Taiga Christie, [email protected]

State Plans

Vermont has its own State Mitigation Plan, as well as a State Emergency Management Plan. Vermont also maintains a National Incident Management System (NIMS) Implementation Plan.

More about NIMS and the State Implementation Plan can be found here.