General Plan Update - City of Inglewood

6.8 Emergency Preparedness
by the Governor. The Los Angeles area, in which the City of Inglewood is situated, falls
in the Southern Region of the State of California’s three regions as defined by the OES.
Specifically, the City is in Area G of the Southern Region of the state Mutual Aid
emergency management areas.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is designated by federal law to
coordinate and provide Federal resources to state and local governments relative to
disasters declared by the President. The Public Works Mutual Aid Agreement, conceived
by Los Angeles County in the late 1980s, provides for sharing of personnel and public
works equipment between signatory cities and counties within the State during times of
emergency.
Private Organizations
In addition to agreements between government entities, private organizations play a key
role in disaster planning and response. In particular, the American Red Cross, Salvation
Army, churches and other non-profit organizations provide food, shelter, clothing, health
care, volunteer labor and other emergency services to disaster victims, in coordination
with the governmental agencies. A variety of private sector organizations coordinate
community emergency preparedness efforts, to heighten public awareness and
understanding of the need for disaster preparedness and to encourage private disaster
preparedness activities. City park facilities as well as Hollywood Park and Inglewood
Unified School District facilities are the designated assembly and coordination locations
for emergency sheltering and assistance efforts coordinated by the Red Cross, the State
and/or FEMA. In addition, the Red Cross provides interagency emergency response
planning and training support.
General Mandates and Guidelines
Local officials have the authority to declare a local emergency and to invoke emergency
regulations to facilitate response to the emergency. Planning and preparedness are critical
in mitigating the extent of the impacts of a disaster, through pre-disaster abatement, predisaster
response preparation, and post-disaster recovery plans. FEMA and the State
identifies local multi-hazard mitigation plans as key tools to assisting local jurisdictions in
prioritizing mitigation programs and projects to prevent or reduce the possible damage
that can be inflicted on the City and its residents from the various disasters that threaten
it.
• Regulatory Setting
Federal
Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000
In 2000, the Disaster Mitigation Act was signed into law to amend the Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief Act of 1988. Among other things, this new legislation reinforces the
importance of pre-disaster infrastructure mitigation planning to reduce disaster losses
City of Inglewood General Plan Update Technical Background Report
6.8-7