[Durham INC] OES Director Groves Awarded Prestigious Colonel Phillip Nichlos Waters Award from NCEMA

[Jones, Henry R.]

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NEWS RELEASE

 

For Immediate Release                                         Date: 10/25/2023

Contact: Public Information Office                        Phone: (919) 560-0000/Fax: (919) 560-0020

E-mail: publicinformationoffice at dconc.gov<mailto:publicinformationoffice at dconc.gov>

 

OES Director Groves Awarded Prestigious Colonel Phillip Nichlos Waters Award from NCEMA

Durham, N.C. – Durham County Office of Emergency Services (OES) Director Jim Groves was awarded the 2023 Colonel Phillip Nichlos Waters Award from the North Carolina Emergency Management Association (NCEMA) during the organization’s fall conference held in Wilmington, N.C., on October 8-11, 2023. This award is presented to the local emergency management leader who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in their Emergency Management program and has contributed to the overall good and advancement of Emergency Management in the state of North Carolina.

Groves has served the residents of North Carolina for nearly 40 years. He is the inaugural OES Director, starting his tenure on March 1, 2020. Previously, Groves served 10 years as the Durham County Safety Manager/Emergency Management Coordinator from 1993-2003, then as the Fire Marshal/Emergency Management Director from 2015-2020. He began his public service career as a volunteer with fire and emergency medical services in 1984 at the Parkwood Volunteer Fire Department in Durham. During his time with Parkwood, Groves was certified as a NC Firefighter, Emergency Medical Technician, and Hazardous Materials Technician.

“The award came as quite a surprise and I’m honored to be a recipient of the Colonel Phillip Waters Award,” said Groves. “Emergency Management is not an I or me profession, rather it is grounded in teamwork and collaboration. This award represents the fantastic partners, stakeholders, and teams that I have worked with over my 20 plus years in Durham, Lee, and Orange Counties and coming full circle back to Durham County.”

At Durham County, Groves helped lead the complex mergers that involved City and Durham County Fire-Rescue fire departments, and with Emergency Medical Services and the Fire Marshal/Emergency Management Departments into the Office of Emergency Services. These mergers have resulted in higher performing teams during crisis and emergency situations, all the while creating a more diverse and equitable workplace.

“Director Groves is a consummate professional and leader in emergency services,” said Assistant County Manager for Community Safety Dwane Brinson. “Having worked with him for a number of years, his vision and passion for the work is second to none. This is a well-deserved award, and I am thrilled that about his selection.”

In 1993, Groves began his career in the Emergency Management profession when he became a County Safety & Emergency Management Coordinator. Inclusive of his duties was developing Durham County's first OSHA safety program as well as managing the North Carolina Hazardous Materials Regional Response Team #4, with responsibilities for 11 counties in central North Carolina.  As part of those duties, he became certified as a North Carolina Hazardous Materials Technician and Specialist. After that he went into the private sector for six and half years in Virginia before returning to North Carolina in 2003 as Orange County’s Emergency Services Director.

“Jim has extensive hands-on experience, responding to and recovering from: workplace safety and violence incidents, hazardous materials incidents, explosive devices, weather events, search and rescue incidents, and potential weapons of mass destruction (WMD) incidents,” said FEMA Emergency Management Specialist Jordan Rink during the ceremony. “He is a nationally known instructor traveling the state and country teaching for FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute. His leadership and management skills have been a great asset to Lee, Orange, and Durham Counties and their municipalities and the State of North Carolina. He has made an impact throughout the Triangle and nationally. There is no doubt he has made our communities and this state better prepared and a safer place to live, work, and play!”

Groves is a Certified Emergency Manager®, certifying in 2000. He is also a Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP). He graduated with honors from the American Military University in 2014 with a M.A. degree in Emergency and Disaster Management. He graduated Cum Laude from Western Carolina University in 2010 with a B.S. in Emergency and Disaster Management. He is a 2005 graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Public Health, Community Preparedness and Disaster Management program. In 2018, Groves graduated from FEMA's National Emergency Management Executive Academy.

This award is named after former Orange County Emergency Management Services Director Phillip Nichloas Waters, who had a long and respected public service career in North Carolina that began in 1965 in the Army National Guard before a stint as a deputy sheriff in Bertie County. He moved to civil defense and wrote the first civil defense plans for Bertie County, where he later became Fire Marshal and Director of Emergency Services before moving to Orange County EMS in 1989. He passed away in 2004 upon which the General Foster Griffin Award was renamed in his honor.

Learn more about the NCEMA and the Colonel Phillip Nichlos Waters Award here<https://www.ncema.net/>.

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