Temple Fire & Rescue hires Fire and Emergency Management Specialist
The City of Temple hired Jennifer Henager as the new Fire and Emergency Management Specialist for Temple Fire & Rescue.
“Out of the numerous applicants that applied Jennifer Henager was clearly an outstanding choice,” Temple Fire & Rescue Chief Mitch Randles said. “Henager has already proved to be a great addition to our team and I look forward to see what she brings to the department.”
Henager has a bachelor’s in business from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She was first introduced to a career in emergency management while she was working for Baylor Scott and White Hospital.
“At the time we were opening the continuing care hospital and I started doing their evacuation drills, fire training, and life safety training,” Henager said.
However, it was not until Hurricane Ike hit in 2008 where she was fully thrown into the profession.
“I got to set up the medical shelter at the old police department building and I loved being able to help evacuees get registered and make sure they were comfortable,” said Henager.
Before joining the city of Temple, Henager was the Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator for Bell County. In her new position Henager is looking forward to some new opportunities and being able to give back to her community.
“I want to serve; I want to be there to help people on their worst day when they need someone to help them,” said Henager. “I want to be someone who can get them the resources they need or point them in the right direction.”
Aside from being the emergency management coordinator Henager will also serve as the compliance manager for the fire department.
“That is actually new territory to me,” she said “I have done things with compliance before, but I have never been the manager for an organization or for a department. I’m excited to see where this will go.”
With her new role Henager hopes to establish a solid emergency management program within the city as well as teach the public how to prepare for disasters like Winter Storm Uri.
“Unfortunately, most of us will experience some form of a disaster in our life and so being prepared at home with a plan and resources is important,” said Henager.
Before disasters strike Henager encourages residents to try and prepare to take care of themselves and their family.
“You’re going to be in better hands than if you’re relying on someone to help you,” Henager said. “As we saw with the winter storm, we couldn’t get resources here. It’s not that we didn’t want to help people, we just couldn’t do it right away. It took time for us to get the resources people needed.”