Safety Assessment Program Evaluator Student Manual

CA Emergency Mgmt. Agency Safety Assessment Program Evaluator Manual April 2011with joint powers. Mutual aid is based on the concept of „neighbor helping neighbor‟ intime of need without the expectation of compensation, although there are cases after thefirst 12 hours of aid when compensation of responding may be sought. Mutual aidassistance can include any type of resource from other jurisdictions, the State, and eventhe private sector. The State of California Master Mutual Aid Agreement governsCalifornia‟s mutual aid system.ICS - Incident Command System – A very successful management approach that isused during emergency response operations. ICS is an organizational structure thatencourages communication vertically through the layers of the organization as well aslaterally between sections in the same layer. ICS also incorporates incident actionplanning into operations, allowing for the definition of measurable goals to keep theoperation coordinated.OA – Operational Area – One of the five levels of the Standardized EmergencyManagement System (SEMS). An Operational Area is composed of a county and all thecities and special districts within that county. The OA is responsible for supporting alltactical operations of the cities and special districts within it, and communicating disasterevent operational status to the next SEMS level, the State Regional EmergencyOperations Center (REOC).REOC – Regional Emergency Operations Center – This is the facility operated andmaintained by the State of California within the mutual aid region being served. REOCSare located in Los Alamitos for the Southern Region, Oakland for the Coastal Region,and Mather (near Sacramento) for the Inland Region. It is through these operationscenters that the State provides support to the Operational Areas, coordinates requests forstatewide resources, and provides the communication link between local governmentsand the State of California. REOC operations are under the jurisdiction of the CaliforniaEmergency Management Agency.Safety assessment – The process by which facilities of all occupancies and infrastructurelifelines are evaluated for their safety for continued use or disuse. This process is underthe direction of local governments through their Building and Safety or Public Worksdepartments. During safety assessment, the cost estimating process known as „damageassessment‟ must not be done.SOC – State Operations Center – This is the facility operated and maintained by theState of California in Sacramento County from which all requests for assistance arecoordinated. All response efforts from State Agencies and state resources are alsocoordinated and directed from this location. EMAC is coordinated for mutual aid fromout of state, and federal agency resources are also requested and coordinated from thislocation.27