New coordinator hired for Office of Emergency Management

Matthew Griffin, Sanders County’s new coordinator for the Office of Emergency Management, brings a wealth of experience to the job. 

Griffin, a resident of Heron, took over the position from retiring Bill Naegeli, who served the county for more than 30 years. 

A graduate of Montana State University with a degree in mechanical engineering technology, Griffin has professional experience in wilderness search and rescue incident management. During the past six years, he also served as a volunteer incident commander for search and rescue operations in New Mexico, working in both operations and planning.

Griffin has approached his new position with several goals in mind. First on his to-do list is keeping the public informed about current conditions. The winter of 2025-26 was unusual due to a lack of snow accumulation. Total precipitation, including both snow and rain, was 116% of normal. However, the snowpack — measured by depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) — was at 73%. SWE represents the amount of water that would be produced if the snowpack melted instantly.

Griffin’s effort to keep the public informed includes several Facebook pages. The first is Sanders County Emergency Management, and the second is Fire Information-Sanders County. Both sites are updated regularly. 

Another public alert system available to residents is the Sanders County Hyper-Reach Alert System, which requires signing up to receive notifications. Alerts may include floods, fires, severe weather, public health notices, criminal activity, missing persons, and spoofing scams. The public can sign up at signup.hyper-reach.com/hyper_reach/sign_up or by texting “alerts” to 406-230-0082.

Griffin is also building a database of all water sources in Sanders County. The information will be accessible to state and federal agencies during wildfires using Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping technology.

Several long-term goals are also on Griffin’s wish list. These include larger generators for county facilities and emergency services in case of extended power outages. County emergency plans can be viewed online at co.sanders.mt.us/253/Plans.

“I’m biased toward technology.” Griffin continued, “How can we get affordable technology for communications and documentation, and work on backup power for all my emergency services, backup communications, even backup fuel." 

He referenced two large wind events this past winter that caused countywide power outages. He also hopes to compile a database of homeowners who may have special needs in the event of evacuations.

For landowners interested in getting a free detailed property assessments and wildfire prevention inspection can contact your local DNRC office.