Kentucky Signs Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement to Strengthen Emergency Response and Inter-County Collaboration
August 7, 2025 — Frankfort, KY
In a landmark step toward strengthening emergency response and disaster preparedness across the Commonwealth, Kentucky state officials and county leaders signed the Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement on Wednesday. The agreement marks a major milestone in formalizing how counties and agencies can work together during crises — ensuring efficient resource sharing, personnel coordination, and mutual support without overburdening local governments.
The agreement, celebrated at an official signing event hosted by Kentucky Emergency Management (KYEM), represents months of collaboration between state authorities, emergency management experts, and local officials. It aims to provide clear, legally sound guidance on how jurisdictions can request — or offer — aid during emergencies ranging from natural disasters and industrial accidents to public health threats.
Streamlining Mutual Aid Across All 120 Counties
The concept of mutual aid isn’t new to Kentucky, where counties have long stepped in to support one another during floods, tornadoes, ice storms, and other calamities. However, until now, there was no single, uniform framework governing those interactions. This often led to confusion over reimbursement, deployment procedures, or liability in the midst of already chaotic situations.
The newly signed Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement addresses those gaps directly. It outlines:
- How counties or agencies can formally request assistance, including personnel, equipment, and supplies.
- How responding jurisdictions can accept or decline requests, depending on their capacity.
- Clear financial protections and reimbursement procedures to ensure that no county is bankrupted by helping another.
- Legal safeguards for deployed responders, including liability protections and compensation guidelines.
“This agreement provides a safety net, not just in resources, but in clarity and structure,” said Dustin Heiser, KYEM’s Deputy Director for Operations. “It touches every discipline of emergency operations — fire, EMS, law enforcement, utilities, public health — and ensures that collaboration is not only encouraged but systemized.”
“Peace of Mind” for Local Officials
Among the county leaders praising the agreement was Hopkins County Judge-Executive Jack Whitfield, who has seen firsthand the benefits — and challenges — of inter-county aid during disasters.
“They buy you peace of mind,” Whitfield told KYEM. “I know that if we needed to, I can send every road crew I have to Pulaski County, without bankrupting my own county to do it.”
That sentiment was echoed by other officials in attendance, including emergency managers from Eastern Kentucky, a region frequently impacted by flooding, and representatives from Western counties prone to tornadoes.
For rural and underserved counties in particular, the agreement ensures that they can both request and receive critical support during crises, even if they don’t have the financial or logistical resources to provide reciprocal aid at that moment.
“This is about equity as much as efficiency,” said Maggie Rollins, Emergency Management Director of Breathitt County. “In a disaster, it shouldn’t matter how big your budget is — it should matter how fast help can arrive.”
Learning from Past Emergencies
The push for a statewide mutual aid framework gained momentum following a series of major disasters in recent years. The devastating 2021 Western Kentucky tornado outbreak, the 2022 Eastern Kentucky floods, and the COVID-19 pandemic all highlighted the need for better coordination between counties and a clearer set of rules for requesting and deploying assistance.
In several of those events, local jurisdictions were overwhelmed and relied heavily on informal networks of mutual aid. While the spirit of cooperation was strong, the lack of documentation sometimes resulted in reimbursement delays or confusion over responsibilities.
“The will to help was always there — we just needed the infrastructure to back it up,” said Dan Bell, director of Taylor County Emergency Management. “This agreement fixes that.”
A Model for the Future
With the agreement now in place, KYEM plans to begin a statewide training and education campaign to ensure that all emergency personnel are familiar with the new procedures. Templates for resource requests, reimbursement forms, and operational guidelines will be distributed to every county and participating agency.
The hope is that Kentucky’s model could inspire similar statewide agreements in other regions. While many states have regional mutual aid compacts or rely on FEMA’s Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) for cross-border aid, a formal agreement at the in-state level gives counties more autonomy and faster access to help.
“This isn’t just about disaster response — it’s about resilience,” said Dan Gavitt, a policy advisor with KYEM. “We’re building a smarter, more responsive Kentucky, one that can take care of its own in times of need.”
Looking Ahead
As climate change continues to increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, state and local governments are under growing pressure to bolster preparedness and resilience. The Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement is a proactive measure that positions Kentucky to respond faster, more effectively, and more collaboratively to whatever challenges lie ahead.
And perhaps more importantly, it’s a reaffirmation of a long-held Kentucky principle: when disaster strikes, neighbors help neighbors — and now, they have a unified blueprint to do just that.
“With this agreement,” said KYEM Director Dustin Heiser, “we’ve taken the goodwill that already exists in Kentucky and given it the structure and strength it needs to save more lives and protect more communities.”
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