As the Cold War shifted towards an end, Civil Defense organizations started to decline in importance, instead being replaced by civilian agencies with the goal of protecting from the most common disasters, floods, fires and the like, instead of the fallout from all-out war with the Soviets. Discussions started in the mid-80's amongst County Administrators who got to work creating the concept that would eventually become Shiloh County's Emergency Response Team. At the inception, the team was a sm