Coast 'Makes Progess' on Emergency Planning and Operations

Last month Paul Cole, assistant chief of operations and safety for Cal Fire and the Coastside Fire Protection District, presented to the fire board at a Coastside Emergency Action Program (CEAP) meeting a look at Cal Fire’s emergency plan, mainly to inform the three new members — Karen Anderson, JB Cockrell and Harvey Rarback — about the mission of the District and its role during emergency operations and emergency planning.

What Coastsiders will want to know from this presentation is that in the event of a disaster on the coast, the main functions of an emergency plan are in place, but there’s still more work to be done.

In the presentation, Cole explains that Standardized Emergency Management Systems (SEMS) require that every emergency response involving multiple jurisdictions or multiple agencies include the following five functions:

• Command/Management

• Operations

• Logistics

• Planning/Intelligence

• Finance/Administration

“The five functions are currently in place and will be used during any Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activation,” said Cole.

However, Cole adds that the Coastside EOC is “not fully ready just yet, but is making progress” because "more time is needed" to fine tune roles with all the represented agencies in emergency planning and operations.

Those agencies are:

Government

City of Half Moon Bay

County of San Mateo

Cal Fire

Special Districts

Cabrillo Unified School District

Coastside Count Water Dist.

San Mateo County Harbor District

Granada Sanitation District

Montara Water & Sanitation District

Voluntary/Nonprofit

Half Moon Bay Chamber of Commerce

ARES Ham Radio Operators

Coastside Hope

Coastside Adult Day Care Center

Coastside Medical Reserve Corp.

American Red Cross

Coastside Emergency Action Program

CEAP is a disaster preparedness committee bringing all these key organizations to the table in order to sufficiently prepare for a disaster. CEAP meets the first Friday of the month at 9:30 a.m. at the Department of Emergency Services, 537 Kelly Ave. in Half Moon Bay. If you are interested in joining the CEAP committee, please click here.