West Jordan Emergency Manager, Jeff Mulcahy, graduated with a degree in emergency and disaster management. 

That came after nearly 32 years in the Air Force, where he served as public affairs manager, an airborne linguist speaking Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Spanish, and Command Post Chief.

He’s volunteered with disaster relief agencies like the Red Cross and Team Rubicon.

Now he teaches West Jordan residents how to take care of themselves in disasters and emergencies of every kind, using an “all hazards” approach.

“I think people don’t know that we offer it and I also think people don’t know that West Jordan has an emergency manager,” said Marie Magers, West Jordan Public Information Officer. 

Mulcahy was hired just more than two years ago after working with emergency planning for Sandy City and Unified Fire Authority.

At the beginning of his time at West Jordan, he taught a program for volunteers in the community called the “Community Emergency Response Team,” or CERT. Currently there are no active CERT teams in the city. 

Instead, he teaches a free class on the last Thursday of every month to prepare residents to “take care of themselves until the cavalry arrives” when disasters or emergencies hit.

“It's going to be hard for all of our people—who are also victims of the disaster—to respond immediately because they're busy trying to take care of their families and their houses just like everybody else,” Mulcahy said. 

The city is not equipped to give every resident water, food and supplies, Mulcahy said, leaving the responsibility to each resident to take care of themselves for a time. 

“I want to provide them with the tools that they can use to prepare themselves,” Mulcahy said. “The more people that are prepared, that's the less people that I have to worry about as an emergency manager.”

With each month featuring a new topic and new speakers that Mulcahy vets from residents, he aims to “keep it fresh,” reduce repetition, and get residents a more comprehensive emergency preparedness education. 

Previous classes have focused on the city’s earthquake potential, being hygienic in a disaster, how police will react in a disaster, how to stop bleeding, debris management and more. 

In the coming months, big things are coming for the class including a course on GIS mapping on August 22 and a mock emergency roleplay exercise on September 26 that residents won’t want to miss. 

No registration is required, residents only need to show up. Classes are held in the city hall community room the last Thursday of each month at 7 p.m., excluding July and December. 

If residents are unable to attend in person, the class will be available on Zoom and recorded. λ