The Park Fire in Northern California once again demonstrates that severe weather events can happen at any time. And when they do, emergency personnel must be prepared to act.
How should EOCs (Emergency Operations Centers) be set up to facilitate preparedness, though?
Read on to learn more about the EOC preparedness cycle.
The role of the EOC
But first, what’s the role of an EOC during a disaster?
A coordination structure for collecting, analyzing, and sharing information, the EOC collects a large amount of data from multiple sources during an incident.
Within it, analysts from stakeholder organizations sift through that data, distilling it into consumable reports so that decision makers have the best possible information and intelligence.
What else does the EOC do?
The EOC also communicates information to response teams in the field, giving them greater insight into their work.
Hallmarks of an EOC
Does this work need to be done in a traditional brick-and-mortar facility?
Not anymore. With the take-off of advanced emergency management software, we’ve seen the rise of the virtual EOC.
Whether virtual, physical, or some combination of the two, EOCs nonetheless have certain distinguishing characteristics. According to NIMS, they include:
An EOC supports resources needs and requests, including allocation and tracking
An EOC serves as a single source for requesting additional resources from across the jurisdiction and from surrounding jurisdictions. Whether the EOC gives tactical instructions or dispatches resources requested from tactical commanders depends on the jurisdiction.
An EOC coordinates plans and determines current and future needs
An EOC is a synthesis of multiple departments, agencies, and organizations that work together in a coordinated fashion. EOC personnel facilitates a standard planning process to achieve EOC objectives.
An EOC provides coordination and policy direction
An EOC helps to integrate stakeholders and works with senior officials to facilitate the development of policy direction for incident support. EOC personnel work with legal counsel, authorize relevant protocols and procedures for response and coordination, and ensure the dissemination of timely, accurate and accessible information to the public.
EOC Planning
Given the welter of responsibilities, EOCs have to be ready to be mobilized at a moment’s notice. Such readiness requires a high degree of planning.
For their part, EOC planners are responsible for coordinating and developing plans that are flexible, actionable, and guide operations to accomplish a given mission. EOCs themselves perform deliberate and incident action planning.
What’s the difference?
- Effective planning helps to ensure that the whole community is represented and involved in the planning process.
- Incident action planning consists of incident action plans that help to synchronize operations and ensure that operations support incident objectives.
EOC preparedness cycle
Not only can EOC planning take different shapes, but it involves various components. Planning in the EOC context includes the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of operational information related to an incident.
Of course, planning alone doesn’t equal preparedness. There’s a much broader preparedness cycle that ensures that EOCs are ready for mobilization when disaster strikes.
The EOC preparedness cycle itself illustrates the way leaders continuously evaluate and improve their plans. They do so through the following activities that constitute the preparedness cycle:
- Planning
- Organizing
- Equipping
- Training
- Exercising
- Evaluating
- Taking corrective action
Finally, events such as the Park Fire, burning months before the traditional wildfire season begins, suggest that EOC preparedness is more important than ever. And so, for more tips and strategies on outfitting your EOC, read our comprehensive Guide to EOC Management and Operations.
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