Fort Walton Beach Resolution — 01-11 - Adopt Comp Emergency Plan — reading text

receive initial warning of a disaster or pending disaster rrom the State EOC, OkaIoosa County EOC, neighboring jurisdictions, the National Weather Service, the news media, or the general public. 2. Watch & Standby Procedures a. The City Manager or his/her designee will issue a standby order if a pending disaster has the potential of affecting Fort Walton Beach (i. e. a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico heading for Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Escambia or Walton County Counties). Departments will take the following actions: a Review this document. 6- 14  a Notify employees. a Review department emergency plans. a Insure that all department vehicles and equipment are serviced and ready. a Inventory existing communication equipment. Be prepared to collect and redistribute radios, portable telephones, chargers, batteries, etc. a Obtain maps, drawings, and other emergency work job aids. a Continue to provide routine service to the public, but plan to change to emergency procedures upon warning notification. b. During an emergency alert, all Fort Walton Beach employees are on standby. Recall procedures vary by department, and each department has the responsibility to inform employees of proper recall procedures. Employees who are recalled are expected to secure their families and homes, and report promptly to their assigned positions. c. Employees who are recalled should realize that the emergency might be several days or longer in duration. Each employee should report to his/ her emergency assignment with personal items necessary for 72 hours ( e. g. personal articles, toiletries, change of clothing, medications, special non- remgerated dietary foods, blankets/ sleeping bag, etc.) 3. Warning. a. Upon notification of a warning ( imminent or spontaneous event), each department will initiate internal notification actions to: Alert employees assigned to emergency duties. As appropriate to the situation: a Suspend or curtail normal business activities. a Recall essential off-duty employees. a Send non- critical employees home. D Evacuate the department' s facilities. If requested, augment the City' s effort to warn the public through use of vehicles equipped with public address systems, sirens, employees going door to door, etc. 4. Emergency Public Information a. Rapid dissemination of information is essential and vital for health and safety protection during and after emergencies and disasters. The primary means to do this is by direct contact with the media and by use of the Emergency Alert System (BAS) activated through the Okaloosa County EOC. See Annex ITI, ESF # 14: Public Information, for details. I. RESPONSE ACTIONS 6- 15 1. General a. Activation of City CEMP When an emergency/ disaster has occurred or is imminent, the City Manager designee, may declare a state of emergency, activating or his/ her the emergency response, recovery, and mitigation aspects of the Fort Walton Beach CEMP that apply to the affected area. Portions of the CEMP ( certain ESFs) may be activated in support of a field incident commander for smaller, single site, emergency events, without a formal emergency declaration by the City Council. b. EOC Activation The EOC may be fully activated by decision of the Crisis Action Team CAT), the City Manager, Emergency Management Director, or Police Chief. As a practical matter, any " Incident Commander" can request a Crisis Action Team ( CAT) or EOC activation. When the decision is made to activate the EOC, the EOC Incident Manager will notify the appropriate staff members to report to the EOC. The EOC Management staff will take action to notify and mobilize the appropriate organizations and operations centers, which they are responsible for coordinating. Departments assigned to an EOC function, when notified, will: ( See Chart: Departmental Initial Response Tactical Guidance and Policy; Page 16.) Call- up and dispatch personnel to the Emergency their Operations Center ( EOC) as per their Policy, Procedure, and Instruction PPIs or Standard Operating Procedure SOPs. Activate and ensure their emergency communication systems are functioning, especially internally to their key personnel ( as per their PPIs or SOPs) and ITom their key operating locations to the EOC. Activate their Policy, Procedure, and Instruction PPIs and be prepared to cany out their responsibilities as indicated in this plan. 6- 16 c. Emergency Proclamation: Declaring a State of Emergency. A local Emergency Proclamation is the legal method, which authorizes extraordinary measures to meet emergencies and I or solve disaster problems. A proclamation allows for the emergency use of resources city personnel, supplies, equipment, materials, facilities), the by- passing of time consuming requirements such as hearings and the competitive bid process, and activates extraordinary measures as outlined in this plan. A proclamation is usually a prerequisite for state and/or federal assistance and made at the onset of a disaster to allow the City to do as much as possible to help itself In preparing a proclamation, a description of the event and the necessary emergency authorizations need to be documented. The Okaloosa County EOC should be informed, and a news release made as soon as possible when an Emergency Proclamation is signed. The City may declare a civil emergency to expedite access to local resources needed to cope with the incident. If the needed response exceeds these local capabilities, a disaster has occurred. The City may further ask for a gubernatorial declaration and state and federal assistance. d. Request for Assistance. If the situation is beyond local capability, a request for state assistance, and/or federal assistance may be in the original proclamation or included in a second proclamation presented to the Governor through the Okaloosa County EOC and the State EOC. The " Local Proclamation" and the " Request for Assistance" are two separate actions, although they may be combined. Part of this proclamation includes proclaiming the City " a disaster area." The Okaloosa County EOC the liaison and serves as coordinating agency between Fort Walton Beach and state government. At the state level, decision making authority and commitment of state resources is retainedthe state EOC ( SEOC) or by the state at emergency response team ( SERT) leader. The SERT leader may issue mission assignments to state agencies ( state ESFs) in support of local response needs. Mission assignments and mutual aid agreements coordinated by the state, are tracked in the SEOC by staff reporting to the SERT leader. 6- 17  At the state level, decision making authority and commitment of state resources is retained at the state EOC ( SEOC) or by the state emergency response team ( SERT) leader. The SERT leader may issue mission assignments to state agencies ( state ESFs) in support of local response needs. Mission assignments and mutual aid agreements coordinated by the state, are tracked in the SEOC by staff reporting to the SER T leader. Should federal assistance be granted, a state coordinating officer ( SCO) will be appointed to interface directly with the federal government and to coordinate federal ESFs mobilized to support local emergency operations. 2. Evacuation a. In the event of a local or regional evacuation, Fort Walton Beach operations will be coordinated from the EOC. Initial actions include: Coordinating the mechanics of the evacuation, i.e. identification of areas to be evacuated, identification of evacuation routes, traffic control, etc. ( See 2. Evacuation; page 18.) Regional evacuations will be coordinated with the Okaloosa County EOC. Local evacuation will be reported to the Emergency Management in case coordination with county agencies required and for reporting. 3. Sheltering. a. In the event of a local or regional evacuation, Fort Walton Beach operations will be coordinated from the EOC. Initial actions include: Coordination of sheltering for a small, local evacuation, i. e. identification of shelters, communications, medical care, food, security, etc. See Annex III, ESF # 6: Mass Care, for additional details. Notifications of the Okaloosa County Chapter of the American Red Cross if their designated shelter facilities are to be used. The opening of shelters is a coordinated effort between Okaloosa County EOC and the Red Cross. Fort Walton Beach will make requests to either group. J. RECOVERY ACTIONS ( See Annex IV: Recovery for detailed information.) 1. The recovery phase will begin during the response phase, and will focus on: Damage assessment. Administration of programs to mitigate the consequences offuture disasters. 6- 18 3. Continuing actions may include: Coordination with county, state, and federal recovery staff Support and staff Disaster Field Office ( DFO) and