Office of Emergency Management

Welcome to the Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus Office of Emergency Management (OEM) page. In an emergency, local government resources are the first line of defense.

What do we do?

Prevention, Preparedness, Response, Recovery

The Ho-Ho-Kus Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is your local representative in our national OEM structure. We are a municipal interdisciplinary field that provides management and coordination prior to and during an emergency, natural or man-made disaster that may occur within Ho-Ho-Kus. Pursuant to NJ State Law A:9-43.2, each county and municipality is required to develop and maintain a state approved Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) to help protect life and property and lessen the impact and recovery of a disaster.

The Ho-Ho-Kus Office of Emergency Management (OEM) collaborates with all our public safety disciplines—the Ho-Ho-Kus Police Department, the Ho-Ho-Kus Fire Department, the Ho-Ho-Kus Ambulance Corps, and we serve as the liaison between County, State and Federal agencies of emergency management.  We also oversee the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program.

What can you do?

Stay Connected! Sign-up for Nixle and Swift911 (Smart911) alerts. The Borough utilizes Nixle as its primary communication platform to disseminate localized emergency alerts, public safety information, advisories and announcements via text massage and email. We also use the Swift911 (Smart911) emergency system that calls your phone with a recorded message when there is an emergency alert.

Click here for instructions on how to Sign-up for Nixle and Swift911 (Smart911) alerts

Take time to learn about emergency preparedness and discuss it with your family or employees. Residents and business owners within a community must be prepared by making a personal emergency action plan so that they know what to do and how to do it whether it is a hurricane, fire, pandemic or terrorism.

For further information, visit online resources such as FEMA ICPD's Disaster Preparedness Community and Build A Kit.

Volunteer! Join the CERT team. The CERT program provides residents with basic training on what to do before, during, and after an emergency or disaster. When called upon, the trained CERT member may also provide support to the community through organized municipal or county-level emergency management. If you are 16 or older and want to take an active volunteer role in your community, please consider joining CERT and enrolling in the 9-week “Basic CERT Training” course offered through the Bergen County Office of Emergency Management.

Click here to go to the Ho-Ho-Kus CERT page