Emergency management operations may be conducted as short-term or long-term responses to incidents of violence or natural or man-made disasters.

Although, in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations, the City of Edna, by and through its City Council, is an emergency management entity, it operates under a consolidated Jackson County Emergency Management Plan. Depending on the type and extent of an emergency, the city may respond to the emergency with its resources or with the consolidated resources of Jackson County and other entities.

In response to an emergency situation and pursuant to state law, the mayor of Edna or the Jackson County judge, as chief elected officials, or the City Council or the Commissioners' Court, as elected governing bodies, have the authority to request that the governor issue an Emergency Declaration or a Disaster Declaration for the city or a part thereof. The mayor of Edna and/or the Jackson County judge have the authority to issue evacuation orders for all or part of the City of Edna.

The Jackson County emergency management coordinator is the principal emergency operations agent for Jackson County and the city manager is the principal emergency operations agent for the City of Edna. Emergency operations for both the county and the city will be coordinated and conducted, primarily, from the Jackson County Emergency Operation Center.

For any emergency, the predominant response in the first 24 to 72 hours of an emergency will come from local resources. Thereafter state and federal response and assistance is anticipated under the provisions of the National Response Plan (NRP).

On site response operations to an emergency will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the National Incident Management System (NIMS).