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Submitted by Bruce Sickles
Up to now we have given you some information on how to prepare your 72 Hour Go Kits, develop a family plan, how to shelter in place, if need be, and other ways that you can prepare for a major incident. Now it’s our turn; we would like to share a bit of information on how we will be reacting in the event of a major incident requiring the activation of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). We’ll also talk about how you could play a part in that. Our emphasis in this article is that all emergencies are local. No matter how big the incident, no matter how many state and or federal agencies get involved, the incident is local, and we’ll be handling it.
First, there are no hard and fast rules that dictate when the EOC will be activated. It really depends on the incident itself and if the Incident Commander (IC) knows he or she will become overwhelmed. (ICs were called On Scene Commanders prior to 9-11.) The IC is the person in charge at the scene and everyone else’s job is to support the IC. And that applies to everyone up the line up to and including elected officials. That’s another change since 9-11. Emergency Managers and elected officials learned during 9-11 that only the person at the scene can call the shots. The reason for that is the IC is the person that is on the scene and knows what he or she is dealing with. Those at the EOC only have an understanding of the situation.
Back to how the EOC operates. The EOC can be activated by the IC, the Fire Chief, the Police Chief, the City Emergency Manager or the Mayor. Most commonly it will be the IC. If the IC requests activation of the EOC, the first procedure that kicks in is the activation of the Situational Analysis Team (SAT). The Fire Department Alarm Room will call the Directors of seven city departments. They are the Chief Public Safety Officer (which includes the Office of Emergency Management), the Fire Chief, the Police Chief, the 311 Manager, the Department of Municipal Development director, the Environmental Health Department director, and the Water Utilities General Manager. If we can’t reach any of them, we have call down lists on their subordinates.
When a sufficient number of each of the SAT responding personnel arrives, we begin assessing the situation. Our first order of business is to gather as much information as possible in a very short amount of time to determine the extent of the incident. If the information we receive tells us the incident is minor and only minimal assistance is needed, then we will partially activate the EOC. However, if it appears the incident is serious and will probably only get worse, then we will do a full activation. What would a full activation entail? We essentially have six groups that will work in the EOC.
The first group is the EOC Coordinator’s staff. The EOC Coordinator is like an orchestra leader ensuring the vital information that comes into and leaves the EOC is acted upon and communications go back out to the IC. The Coordinator accomplishes this with a proven Message Taking system that involves the use of Radio Telephone Operators (we have a mirror image of the 911 and the Fire Alarm Room at the EOC), Runners, Message Takers, Message Loggers, and a Scribe. The other groups are the Operations Group, Logistics Group, the Planning Group and the Financial Group. Members of these groups are people that come out of city agencies as well as members of industry and volunteer organizations. PNM and the Red Cross are but a few that respond. They are all experts in their field.
How do we need that information to flow into the EOC?
There are basically two ways: 911 and 311.
Michael Padilla, former 311 Manager, had a very basic explanation of how to differentiate whom to call. “If it’s about Muffie, call 311, if it’s about Michael call 911.” We should only call 911 to report emergencies. If you have questions such as where to evacuate to, what the evacuation routes are or what and where to donate, call 311. If you have critical information that we should know about try 911. We say try 911 because it is possible the lines to 911 will be busy at anytime during an incident. If that should be the case, go ahead and pass your emergency information to 311. We have a 311 representative in the EOC Logistics Group that will receive the information from the 311 Citizen Contact Center.
Now you have the Reader’s Digest version of the EOC and how we will respond. For more information, check out our website at <www.cabq.gov/emergency>. We never know when a disaster might strike, but everyone needs to know that incidents are local and we’re ready to handle them. That’s why we say, “911 Doesn’t Ring at the White House, it rings at the EOC.”
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