Tom JohnstonEmergency Management Chief

Chief Johnston is a lifelong Steger resident joined who joined Steger E.M.A (Formerly ESDA) in the fall of 2001 with his now wife, Laurin. The couple served together until 2012, when Laurin gave birth to a set of twins and resigned from E.M.A. Chief Johnston and Laurin continue to live in Steger with their four children, Faith, Kylie, Kara and Gavin.

In his day job, Chief Johnston is an Assistant Mechanic for another municipality and is also an ordained Minister. He is a strong advocate for Gear Up Get Ready, a website that advocates home disaster planning.

A few of Chief Johnston’s training and certificates include the following (to mention a few):

• Shelter Management
• NIMS
• Debris search and rescue
• Advanced traffic control
• Advanced weather spotting
• First Aid
• Emergency response to terrorist activity/bombing
• Emergency radio operations
• Mobile command operations
• Defensive driving tactics
• Emergency preparedness planning
• Response to radiological incidents
• Basic hazmat response
• Railroad disaster response
• Basic crowd control
• Advanced crowd control
• Handcuffing and subject control