AUGUSTA, Maine — Aroostook County EMA Director Darren Woods was named the Northeast States Emergency Consortium’s Maine Emergency Manager of the Year for 2017.
Woods was surprised with this presentation at the ninth annual Maine Prepares Conference in Augusta on Tuesday, April 25.
Maine Emergency Management Director Bruce Fitzgerald stated, “I was extremely pleased to present Darren Woods, director of the Aroostook County EMA, with the 2017 Maine Emergency Manager of the Year award. Darren’s leadership and steady demeanor is well known in the County, but also extends throughout the state of Maine through his service as the Maine County EMA Directors Council president for two years in a row, and his important contributions on state and even national issues.
“We are very fortunate to have Darren and his whole staff at the Aroostook County EMA working hard to prepare, respond, and recover from the many natural, technological, and manmade hazards we face here in Maine,” Fitzgerald said.
In presenting the award, Fitzgerald said Woods has embraced technology such as drones and social media to engage colleagues in exercises, training and situational response, and has also spurred improvements to the County’s Emergency Operations Center and moved toward accreditation for the County EMA program.
Woods has worked in various roles at Aroostook EMA starting in 1998 and took the position of agency director in 2013.
