Mutual Aid
In emergency services, mutual aid is a formal agreement among emergency responders to lend assistance across jurisdictional boundaries when required. On a smaller scale the principle of mutual aid guides the creation of community emergency response teams such as volunteer firefighters.
Municipal mutual aid may exist at the city and town level and even between agencies. Mutual aid is most often visible between jurisdictions (county and state) and regions (southwest compact) and ultimately supports and is supported by national mutual aid compacts. Arizona is signatory to various mutual aid agreements at several levels.
AZ Emergency Management Master Mutual Aid Agreement
The Arizona Emergency Management Master Mutual Aid Agreement was signed on March 16, 2004 between the state and 15 counties. The purpose of the agreement is to state for the participating parties the terms and procedures for executing mutual aid in times of emergencies. This mutual aid agreement has been implemented on numerous occasions in the years since its inception.
tHE aRIZONA mUTUAL aID COMPACT (AZMAC)
The AZMAC has been finalized and is ready for your jurisdictions approval. This final version has been approved by the Attorney General's office and the compact is considered complete.
We do not expect any further changes to the final compact.
It is unfortunate that some jurisdictions have already signed a draft copy of the compact and returned it to ADEM. These signed drafts will not be sufficient in including your jurisdiction in the compact. We ask that you follow the link above to download the final version of the compact and have it signed by the jurisdictional approving authority.
FILING YOUR APPROVED COMPACT
To file your approved and signed compact, follow these instructions:
- Ensure that the compact is signed, dated and attested to by the authorizing executive in your jurisdiction and that it is also signed and dated by your jurisdictions legal representative.
- Please include the appropriate resolution or proclamation by the governing body of the jurisdiction.
- Include Appendix B, the Point of Contact form with the jurisdiction POC information.
Please forward at least one original signed copy to:
Matthew Parks
Assistant Director
Arizona Division of Emergency Management (ADEM)
5636 E McDowell Rd
Phoenix, AZ 85008
ADEM will file an original signed document and a copy of each approved compact with the Secretary of State who will stamp and number them. The SofS will then return the copies to ADEM. ADEM will send the stamped copy back to the jurisdiction. If your jurisdiction desires an original signed copy be stamped and returned, then make sure you send two original signed copies to ADEM.
Thank you for your patience. It has been a long and complex process to get the compact finalized. The final compact brings together difficult and often confusing processes to form an accord that tries to meet the needs of all jurisdictions in the best way possible.
Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC)
 Codified in Arizona statute in July 2000, EMAC acts as a complementto the national disaster response system, providing timely and cost-effective relief to states requesting assistance from compact members who understand the needs of jurisdictions that are struggling to preserve life, the economy, and the environment during and after a disaster. See ARS 26-402 and www.emacweb.org.
Arizona has responded to EMAC requests on three occasions; assisting with 1 person to wild-land fires in Montana in 2001, with 2 personnel to Florida hurricanes in 2004 and with over 650 personnel and sundry equipment to support gulf coast communities after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Arizona has not yet requested assistance through EMAC for its own needs.
Southwest Caucus Supplement to Interstate Civil Defense & Disaster Compact - 1992
Arizona is a signatory to Southwestern Caucus Supplement to the ICD & DC which provides for mutual aid between Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Currently Nevada and Utah are not signatories.
Governor’s Executive Order 76-2 re: Interstate Civil Defense & Disaster Compact – 1953
Governor’s Executive Order 76-2, entered Arizona into the Interstate Civil Defense & Disaster Compact, 1953.
CONTACT
For additional information on any of these programs, contact us for assistance.
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