New EMA Director named for Washington County, Johnson City

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Evan Clyburn will serve as the new Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director for Washington County, Tennessee and Johnson City.

Clyburn was appointed to the position by Washington County Mayor Joe Grandy at a commission meeting on July 22.

Clyburn said being an EMA is a constant learning curve.

“It’s a constant learning curve,” Clyburn said. “Basically, if we’re not safeguarding the citizens and preparing for disasters, we’re training and getting up on the new technology and ensuring that our first responders and our government entities have the latest and greatest.”

Since January 2023, Clyburn has been the Deputy Director of the Washington County/Johnson City EMA.

He started volunteering with the Johnson City Emergency Rescue Squad in 1999 and has served as a field training officer for various agencies throughout his 20-year career.

Clyburn has various advanced and instructor certifications in technical rescue, swift water rescue, rope rescue, dive operations, fire, tactical and wilderness medicine and law enforcement.

“We’re the agency that supports all the initial first response, and we are that continuity between the state and federal,” Clyburn said. “So we coordinate response efforts from the state and federal agencies [on to] our local. And then at the end of the disaster, we’re the agency that prepares all the documents. We get everything ready, and we do the recovery effort for part of it.”

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