Nevada's Emergency Management Chief has left to join the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington D.C.
Chris Smith will be the Director of FEMA's Individual Assistance Division.
He says one of his priorities will be streamlining the process people must go through to receive federal funds after a federally-declared emergency.
"Those individuals that have gone through a traumatic event do not need to go through another traumatic event when they are trying to get some assistance that they need whether it's at the local, state, or federal level."
He has led the emergency management and homeland security operations in Nevada for the last three-and-a-half years.
He was the Emergency Management Director of the Washoe County School District for six years before that.
"Most of the emergency managers in this country run one-person shops. And so, that perspective that I have in doing that, as well as working as a state director, that's a voice that I'm really looking forward to using at a national level."
Smith will start his new job with FEMA on May 4th.
He has a bachelors and a masters degree from the University of Nevada-Reno.
Nevada Fire Marshal Pete Mulvihill will serve as Interim Emergency Management Chief until a permanent replacement is hired.
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