County Emergency Operations Center update – Welcome to San Bernardino County

County leadership and representatives from various county partner agencies are closely monitoring developments of the Line and Bridge Fires at the county Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and developing response and relief strategies.

The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is the central command facility responsible for developing and exercising emergency preparedness plans and oversees emergency response operations for the county and operational area members such as cities. It creates mitigation plans and actively prepares for “worst case” hazard scenarios such as fire, floods, mudslides, earthquakes and threats of terrorism.

To ensure that the implementation of these plans is effective, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) employees’ cycle through the planning, training and exercising phases and revises the plan based on the results of the training and exercises.

OES Director Crisanta Gonzalez, said that “there is always a process of improvement that we try to build into emergency management.”

If an emergency is proclaimed by the state, county or two or more cities, the EOC will activate and disseminate the emergency or disaster information to residents.

“If we’re activating an area, it’s life and death. We want the community to understand that when we get to the level of issuing an evacuation order, they need to go,” Gonzalez said.

Before an emergency is declared, you can visit Preparedness Starts Here, which provides you with tools to help you prepare for an emergency kit.

Gonzalez said, “Make sure that you have identified in advance what you want to bring with you. Do you need to bring medication, or what’s the one thing that you would want your loved one to have?”

“We never want to think of it, but we do need to plan for evacuations,” said Gonzalez.

Additional County Update News – September 13, 2024