Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP)

The King County Office of Emergency Management first earned EMAP accreditation in 2017. It involved an 18-month vetting process of self-assessment, documentation, and an intensive on-site inspection. This recognition represents a significant achievement. EMAP is the only accreditation process for emergency management programs, and only a small number of county emergency management programs in the U.S. have achieved this mark of professional excellence. EMAP accreditation is a rigorous process, requiring an in-depth review and validation of the capabilities of King County's regional disaster preparedness and emergency operations systems against 64 industry-recognized standards. Voluntary participation fosters excellence and accountability in emergency management and homeland security programs.

As required by EMAP, the accreditation must be renewed every five years. During that time, the King County emergency management program updated plans and procedures, conducted gap analyses, and filed annual progress reports with EMAP. Then, the program conducted an intensive self-assessment, which was followed by a comprehensive peer review by an outside team of volunteer EMAP assessors. King County received reaccreditation in July 2022.