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OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS

Managing routine emergencies is the function of certain municipal agencies such as the Fire Department, the Police Department, and Health and Human Services. Management of a major emergency or disaster will require an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activation to coordinate response.

A major emergency or disaster exists when a situation exceeds the everyday capabilities of responding agencies or requires extensive coordination between agencies. Some elements that can be found in major emergencies or disasters include:

• A significant number of casualties
• Severe or widespread property damage
• Non-routine multi-agency response
• Shortage of needed resources
• Extended interruption of vital services such as transportation or utilities
• Extended evacuation requiring sheltering
• Extensive news media coverage

OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) coordinates emergency preparedness activities for the Municipality. The OEM accomplishes this task by acting as a facilitator to ensure the Municipality has the appropriate means for command, control, and communications for agencies that respond to emergencies threatening life or property. OEM may act as the lead agency in a complex citywide event or as an operational support agency providing logistical, technical, or advisory support to the incident commander in the field. The Office of Emergency Management is housed in the Emergency Operations Center.

MAYOR

The mayor bears ultimate responsibility for the safety and welfare of persons and property within the Municipality and may delegate emergency responsibilities to appropriate agencies and officials as allowed by law. Mayoral responsibilities for emergency management include:

• Coordinating local resources to address all phases of emergency management for all potential hazards including terrorism, natural or manmade disasters, and other contingencies
• Suspending local ordinances when necessary to support emergency operations
• Ordering evacuations as necessary
• Temporarily reassigning functions of municipal agencies when necessary to facilitate emergency services
• Requesting state and federal assistance when local capabilities have been or are reasonably expected to be exhausted
• Providing leadership in helping the public, businesses, and organizations cope with the consequences of major emergencies or disasters affecting the Municipality

Emergency Declarations

The mayor may declare a civil emergency to expedite access to the local resources needed for incident response. If the required response exceeds local capabilities, the mayor may ask for state assistance and request a gubernatorial disaster declaration. The governor may request federal aid when it appears that the combined resources of local and state agencies will be inadequate. If state or federal resources are made available to the Municipality, they will be under the operational control of the mayor or mayor’s designee.

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

The EOC is located at 1305 E Street. Its role during an emergency or threat is to coordinate command decisions, resources, and public information on a strategic level. The EOC’s role does not eliminate the requirement that responding agencies have for tactical level coordination of labor and resources. The EOC facilitates the coordination of multiple agencies into a comprehensive municipal strategy of incident response. During a large-scale emergency, the EOC may become the temporary seat of city government.

Staffing the Emergency Operations Center

During normal operations, the EOC is maintained and staffed by the Office of Emergency Management. Once activated, the EOC will be staffed by other municipal employees and community partners. The Office of Emergency Management will facilitate training in the Incident Command System and the functions required to perform an EOC role. EOC teams work together for an operational period of 8-12 hours, as defined by the EOC Director. Municipal employees working in the activated EOC will not perform their regular job functions during an emergency.

Activating the Emergency Operations Center

The EOC will be activated to support response or recovery operations when the scope or scale of an emergency surpasses the capacity to be managed from the incident command post. Persons authorized to activate the EOC are the following:

• Mayor
• Municipal manager
• OEM staff
• Incident commander
• Police chief
• Fire chief

Contingency Emergency Operations Centers

In the event that the EOC becomes damaged or otherwise unavailable during an emergency, the Office of Emergency Management may use the Development Services building or the Loussac Library as a contingency EOC.

Local facilities outside the Anchorage bowl area, including the Eagle River Emergency Coordination Center, the Eagle River Fire Station, and the Girdwood Fire Station, may be activated as a contingency EOC when Anchorage-based EOC operations are insufficient to protect life and property in those areas or at the request of the incident commander. These sites may operate as a contingency EOC or in coordination with the Anchorage EOC.

State Emergency Coordination Center

A fundamental principle of emergency management is that all disasters are managed locally. If local response is overwhelmed, the State Emergency Coordination Center (SECC) may be activated to coordinate its response with the Anchorage EOC. While the state will support local response, it will neither direct nor control local response operations unless requested to do so. Regulatory and oversight responsibilities will be fulfilled in an atmosphere of cooperation.

LEVELS OF OPERATION

The Municipality has established local operational levels as a means to communicate its alert posture for any hazard or threat that may affect the Municipality. The mayor may also choose whether to adopt the current US Department of Homeland Security threat level to indicate an existing terrorism threat. The two systems may be used together to identify the community’s level of operation with the municipal levels addressing all hazards and homeland security levels addressing any terrorism threat.

Normal Operations

Municipal agencies are conducting normal daily activities with incidents being handled with existing resources, policies, and procedures. Current conditions are being monitored by appropriate agencies.

Response Operations: Level 1

A situation or threat has developed that requires increased public information and has the potential for agencies to take coordinated action. The EOC may be activated by OEM staff during regular business hours or additional hours as needed. Conditions are being monitored with information sharing networks activated. This level of activation may result from an approaching significant weather event, the potential for a public health situation, or a plausible threat of a terrorist event with an unspecified time or national location.

Response Operations: Level 2

A situation or threat has developed requiring a partial activation of the EOC, which may extend beyond the regular workday and require round-the-clock monitoring. Staffing of the EOC by OEM staff will likely be supplemented by other agencies.

Response Operations: Level 3

A situation or threat has developed requiring a full activation of the EOC on a 24-hour rotational basis with all trained municipal staff participating or on call. A local disaster declaration is being considered or has been issued. A major earthquake or wildfire with significant property damage and threat to human life could trigger a level three activation.

Recovery Operations

Activities are shifting from EOC response operations toward a recovery coordination center or a disaster field office for implementation of recovery programs. While many municipal agencies will still be involved in the event, the EOC is returning to normal operations.

INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM

In accordance with the National Incident Management System, the Municipality’s response to major emergencies follows the principles of the Incident Command System (ICS). ICS is a standardized emergency management construct designed to provide for the adoption of an integrated organizational structure. The system reflects the complexity and demands of single or multiple incidents without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries. ICS comprises facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure. ICS is used by emergency responders in the field and within the EOC to manage the Municipality’s overall response.

COMMAND STRUCTURE

Complex incidents may involve multiple agencies with legal mandates and operational objectives that conflict with one another. These factors support the need for establishing command structure at the outset of any incident regardless of its scope or scale.

The command structure may be established as single command, unified command, or area command and may be changed as the incident progresses to meet evolving needs.

Single Command

Single command is generally established when both of the following criteria are met:

• An incident is contained within and affects a single jurisdiction
• A single agency has the legal responsibility to manage the principle incident hazard

The lead agency under single command can be established by determining the lead discipline based on the primary uncontrolled hazard element as demonstrated in the table below. During an incident with multiple hazards, the highest priority will take precedence or unified command will be established.

Unified Command

Unified command is generally established when either of the following criteria is met:

• An incident has more than one agency with legal responsibility for its management
• An incident is situated in more than one political jurisdiction

Unified command is a team effort that allows all agencies with jurisdictional responsibility for the incident to manage an incident by establishing a common set of incident objectives and strategies without losing or abdicating authority, responsibility, or authority.

Area Command

Area command may be established to oversee the management of

• A very large incident that has multiple incident management teams assigned to it
• Multiple incidents that are each being handled by a separate ICS organization

This type of command is generally used when there are a number of incidents in the same area and of the same type that may compete for the same resources, such as two or more hazardous materials spills or fires. Area command has the responsibility to set overall strategy and priorities, allocate critical resources based on priorities, ensure that incidents are properly managed, and ensure that objectives are met and strategies followed. When incidents are of different types or do not have similar resource demands, they will typically be handled as separate incidents and coordinated through the EOC.

If the incidents under the authority of an area command span multiple jurisdictions, a unified area command should be established to allow each affected jurisdiction to have appropriate representation in the command.

INCIDENT COMMAND POST

The incident commander may establish an incident command post at or near the incident site to direct response and manage resources. Where an incident is not site specific, such as during a public health emergency, the incident command post may be established at a location designated by the incident commander. When an incident surpasses the capacity to be managed from an incident command post, the incident commander will request assistance from the EOC.

COMMAND STAFF

Command staff positions are established to assign responsibility for key activities not specifically identified in the general staff functional elements. The size of the staff will fluctuate with the severity of the incident and as the incident evolves. Command staff positions may include the following:

• Public information officer
• Safety officer
• Liaison officer
• Others as assigned by the incident commander

GENERAL STAFF

General staff is responsible for the functional aspects of the incident command structure, including carrying out the directions and policies established by the incident commander and the policy group.

General staff is divided into four management sections. Each section is responsible for a specific part of emergency operations.

• Operations Section: coordinates tactical response of field operations directly related to or in support of the mission in accordance with the incident action plan.
• Planning Section: acts as the intelligence body for an incident through its collection, evaluation, and documentation of information pertaining to the incident. It also develops operational and demobilization plans.
• Logistics Section: provides facilities, services, personnel, equipment, and tracks the status of resources and materials in support of the incident.
• Finance Section: tracks costs for possible reimbursement by federal disaster declarations, coordinates payments, and administers the financial aspects of the incident and administrative tasks not handled by other functions.

POLICY GROUP

During an EOC activation, the Policy Group provides guidance to the mayor for emergency response and recovery operations. It is also charged with making emergency policy decisions, implementing local emergency powers, and maintaining local government.

The Policy Group may include the following persons or designee as needed:

• Municipal attorney
• Municipal chief fiscal officer
• Mayor’s communications director or chief of staff
• Assembly chair
• Fire chief
• Police chief
• Health and Human Services director
• Medical officer
• Key department heads and other agency representatives as required

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