Jeff Braun's Emergency Management Blog

The Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management coordinates disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery activities, with the mission of providing a safe and secure environment to the residents and businesses of Fort Bend County.   The Office of Emergency Management provides leadership, coordination, and support to reduce the loss of life and property through a comprehensive, all-hazards emergency management program.  Striving to meet this mission, the Office develops and maintains partnerships with volunteer and career emergency management/first responder organizations from all levels of government, especially the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management, private sector businesses, and private non-profit agencies.

However, the mission of the agency is much simpler to explain.  Borrowed from the endless courage and conviction of the NASA program and its famous Flight Director Gene Kranz, the staff of the County EOC have also adopted the motto of “Failure is not an Option.”  As the leader of the “Tiger Team” of flight directors who brought the Apollo 13 spacecraft safely back to Earth on April 17, 1970, Gene Kranz demonstrated extraordinary courage and heroism. Kranz’s fateful remarks that day, “Failure is not an option,” carried his team through the Apollo 13 crisis. Pushed to the brink of fear and doubt, they refused to give in to these emotions or to succumb to panic. Instead, under Kranz’s leadership, they worked together to save the imperiled spacecraft and bring the crew of three astronauts safely home after its oxygen system failed.