Evacuation Planning Course Scheduled for Hazard in March 2026

Emergency managers, first responders, and government administrators gathered Thursday at the Eastern Kentucky Veterans Center on Veterans Drive in Hazard for an eight-hour management-level course on evacuation planning, part of a tuition-free training opportunity posted by Kentucky Emergency Management and hosted by the Kentucky Department for Public Health.

The course, formally titled MGT-461 Evacuation Planning Strategies and Solutions, ran from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the 200 Veterans Dr. facility in Perry County. Kentucky Emergency Management, whose public information officer is David Davis, publicized the event while designating it NON-KYEM, meaning the agency served as the announcement vehicle rather than the primary training host.

The curriculum drew from materials developed by the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawaii, whose MGT-461 course description formed the backbone of the day's instruction. The course framed its purpose around a straightforward reality: "Evacuations can be ordered at any time for many types of disasters. The larger the scale of the evacuation, the more complex it is to plan as well as to execute."

Participants worked through how hazard conditions determine when evacuation becomes the appropriate protective action, and the course gave them access to data, modeling tools, and simulations designed to support real-world evacuation implementation. The stated goal was equipping attendees to "utilize current tools and technologies to institute best practices and strategies to plan for and execute an emergency evacuation."

The intended audience extended beyond emergency managers to include transportation professionals, security and safety professionals, and government administrators. That breadth reflected the course's emphasis on coordination across agencies and disciplines when large-scale evacuations require rapid, orderly execution.

Registration was handled through the NDPTC system, which carries a Department of Homeland Security requirement that participants be U.S. citizens or nationals, or receive DHS approval by demonstrating that their attendance provides a direct benefit to a state, local, tribal, or territorial government.

The Eastern Kentucky Veterans Center, situated on Veterans Drive in Hazard, served as the Perry County anchor for a training track that public health and emergency preparedness officials across Eastern Kentucky have increasingly prioritized following the region's repeated experience with flood-driven evacuations in recent years.