Item 26 - Adoption of the City of Santa Ana Emergency Operations Plan

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City of Santa Ana Emergency Operations Plan Part I Basic Plan resources are deployed to provide public safety and necessities of food, water, shelter, medical care and utilities to sustain the responders and the public through the emergency phase. Transition to Recovery As the initial and sustained operational priorities are met, City officials consider recovery phase needs. Short-term recovery activities include returning vital life-support systems to minimum operating standards. Long-term activity is designed to return the community to normal functioning. Recovery planning should include review of ways to avert or mitigate future emergencies. During the recovery phase, damage is assessed, local assistance centers and disaster recovery centers are opened and hazard mitigation surveys are performed. 3.2 ICS, SEMS and NIMS Management Systems 3.2.1 Incident Command System (ICS) Southern California firefighting agencies developed the Incident Command System (ICS) after rapidly moving, destructive wildfires occurred in southern California in the early 1970's. ICS was designed to allow multiple agencies to coordinate their response, communicate effectively and share resources during large or complex fires, where these multiple agencies have to combine forces to manage a widespread event as a single entity. Primary ICS features include: • Essential Management Functions - Five essential functions that must be performed to adequately manage any incident: o Command/Management - Establishing priorities and objectives and providing authority to act; o Operations - Carrying out the tactical response activities to fulfill the objectives; o Planning/Intelligence - Gathering, verifying and distributing information and preparing action plans; o Logistics - Acquiring the personnel, supplies, equipment and support services needed to meet the needs of the response; and o Finance/Administration - Performing purchases or contracting, maintaining cost accounting and performing cost recovery for incident expenses. • Management by Objectives — Measurable and attainable objectives for a given time period; • Incident Action Planning — Written or verbal plans specifying the objectives and the steps necessary to achieve them, job assignments, resources required and supporting information; • Common Organizational Structures and Terminology — A common organizational structure that can be scaled in size to meet the demands of any incident, together with common job titles and other terminology, so that all responding organizations can communicate effectively. • Manageable Span of Control/Unity of Command — Structuring the response organization so that supervisory levels can effectively ensure that subordinate levels are able to achieve response objectives in a safe manner, and that all response elements have only one supervisor and chain of command. 3.2.2 Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) In 1991, the Oakland -East Bay Hills Fire caused similar devastation and substantial loss of life in northern California, and involved agencies identified similar problems with multi -agency communication and coordination as those identified in the development of southern California's ICS. The State of California passed legislation establishing the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) and requiring its use by all jurisdictions in the state to manage multi -agency or multi jurisdictional emergency incidents in California. SEMS incorporates all ICS features described above, and further includes: Five Levels of Response - SEMS consists of five organizational levels that are activated as necessary to meet the needs of the incident: o Field Response - The field response level is usually the first level to become activated. This is where emergency response personnel and resources, under the command of an incident commander, implement tactical decisions and activities in the field in direct response to an incident or threat. In the City of Santa Ana, field response is primarily conducted by Santa Ana Police Department, Orange County Fire Authority or Santa Ana Public Works Agency. 117