Who is EMA and what are they doing here?

I Live in East Tennessee and on my arrival at work this morning I noticed two government vehicles pulled up in front of this building that I've not seen a single person open in the 2 years I've been here Mon.-Fri. 9-5. The building is really just a room with a glass front and this for advertisement.







Here are the vehicles they drove here today. Now if you can see the name on the sign it is Emergency Management Agency(E.M.A.) It doesn't say anything about FEMA, but they do have govt. plates. I one of these guys in the office as I walked by and he was dressed in usual button up & tie.

Who is EMA? what are their purpose? Why is this the first time anyone has been in that office in the last 2 years at least?

I thought about going down there and asking them what they are doing and services they offer since they are advertising on their glass and all..

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[edit on 21-10-2009 by SeeingBlue]

Did a quick search for- 'E.M.A.' related to FEMA and it seems that there is the federal level= FEMA, then it is broken down to state levels such as

ema.alabama.gov...

and then broken down further to county levels such as

www.allen-ema.com...

Sounds like the old atage-"Too many Chiefs and not enough indians"

Also don't forget that our 'Emergency Management Agencies' are directly related to our 'Homeland Security Agencies'

Indeed. I wonder what made them come in the office here for once? They getting ready for disasters you think? Collecting data? Don't think it's routine business though.

Almost every town or county (and state) has an 'EMA'. Sometimes they are called 'ESDA' (emergency services disaster agency).

Whenever there is a disaster or emergency EMA responds (mostly with volunteers). Many times civilian disaster teams, ham radio operators and storm spotters are members of EMA.

EMA stands for 'Emergency Management Agency'.

Tennessee EMA:
TEMA