2024-018 - Emergency Operations Plan

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City of Santa Ana Emergency Operations Plan Part I Basic Plan 1.4 Plan Assumptions • The United States Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are responsible for establishing and developing guidance policies and programs for emergency management at the federal, state and local levels; and to develop national capabilities to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the full range of natural and technological disasters and national security emergencies. • State and local emergency management programs are responsible for developing and maintaining effective capabilities to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the effects of emergencies within their jurisdiction. • The City of Santa Ana has primary responsibility for the safety, well-being and quality of life of its citizens and for the protective actions and emergency response measures to save lives, minimize injury to persons or damage to property, and protect the environment in the City. • The City of Santa Ana may not itself possess all of the tactical resources or equipment to respond to all emergencies. The City will collaborate with regional public safety agencies, other levels of government, private vendors and other entities to provide resources to respond to the event. It is assumed these external resources will be available to the City in time of emergency. • The City Manager, as Director of Emergency Services, or designated alternates, will coordinate the City's disaster response in conformance with the Emergency Operations Plan. • The City of Santa Ana will utilize the Incident Command System (ICS), the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) to manage emergency response operations. • The City of Santa Ana will participate in the Orange County Operational Area (see Chapter 3 for more information on the Operational Area concept). For day-to-day operations, this includes active participation in Operational Area meetings, trainings and planning groups to develop and support regional plans and programs. hi an emergency, this means that the City will rely on the Operational Area for support and assistance with resource management, information management, mutual aid and other incident management efforts. • The City will devote all available resources to meet the demands of an emergency. Mutual aid assistance will be requested when emergency response requirements exceed the City's ability to meet them. The City will commit its resources to a reasonable degree before requesting mutual aid assistance. • While it is likely that outside assistance would be available in large-scale disaster situations affecting the City and plans have been developed to facilitate coordination of this assistance, it is necessary for the City to plan for and be prepared to conduct disaster response and recovery operations independently, to the fullest extent possible. • In a major emergency, initial efforts of the City, its emergency services, and mutual aid agencies will be focused on lifesaving and critical functions, such as rescue, emergency medical care, firefighting, maintaining law and order, and restoring vital government, transportation, public utility and other critical operations and facilities. Disaster relief operations, such as sheltering or distribution of food and water, may not begin immediately; residents are expected to be able to sustain themselves for 72 hours or more, until sufficient disaster relief services are in place. • Management of all City departments and agencies are aware of the existence of this EOP and the parts that are relevant to their responsibilities, and have prepared to fulfill those responsibilities. • Appropriate City staff and other responders will be properly trained on this EOP and their assigned emergency roles and responsibilities, and will participate in training and exercises.