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 Chapter 1— Plan Introduction 1.1 Purpose and Scope The Emergency Operations Plan (`BOP") is the primary authority for coordinating response and recovery operations in the City of Santa Ana for incidents involving or threatening extensive loss of life or property, substantial disruption to the community's infrastructure, or other debilitating impacts on the normal pattern of life within the community. This can include natural disasters, human -caused disasters (intentional or unintentional), failure of technological infrastructure, as well as significant pre -planned public events. The EOP specifies actions to be taken to protect life, property and the environment by: • Preventing disasters where possible, • Reducing the community's vulnerability to disasters that cannot be prevented, • Establishing capabilities to protect the community from the effects of disasters, • Responding effectively to the actual occurrence of disasters, and • Providing continuity of government and delivery of essential services for the well-being and rapid recovery of the population. The operational concepts in this EOP are not intended for day-to-day emergencies, which are handled on a regular basis by the Santa Ana Police Department, Orange County Fire Authority and other City departments. Rather, its focus is on exceptional situations where normally available resources are exhausted or are expected to be exhausted soon, or where the threat to lives or property is so great that the City needs to expand beyond day-to-day operations and normally available resources and implement unusual, expanded or long-term emergency response actions in order to bring the incident to a successful resolution. The EOP is typically implemented following, or in anticipation of, larger emergencies or complex events that require the response of multiple city departments, external agencies, other jurisdictions or levels of government, or mutual aid. The EOP provides a framework to manage the response of multiple agencies, coordinate resources from outside the City, integrate other levels of government, and sustain response and recovery activities over multiple operational periods. Any incident can potentially escalate into a larger or more complex emergency; as such, this EOP should always be kept under consideration by every responder or staff member involved in managing any incident. hi accordance with this EOP, emergency response personnel, City officials and staff are encouraged to request support and resources proactively and to consider implementation of this Plan, or activation of the City Emergency Operations Center (EOC), if it would assist in the successful resolution of the incident. Even if escalation of the event doesn't occur, any activation of the EOP or EOC is a valuable training opportunity and learning experience for staff. There is little harm in early activation, but consequences for a delayed or missed activation could include lost lives or property or a public perception that the City responded slowly or inadequately. Implementation of this Plan and/or activation of the City's EOC should be considered if one or more of the following factors arise in an incident: • The number of involved agencies, departments, or organizations may require or benefit from coordination from a centralized location. • The number of individual incidents occurring simultaneously may require or benefit from coordination from a centralized location. • The City's resources may be depleted, requiring the activation of mutual aid.