NATOMAS, CA— In an ongoing effort to continue strengthening relationships to enhance disaster resiliency, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) invited all 58 county emergency management leaders from across the state to an Emergency Management Summit on November 29.
Taking proactive steps to help communities stay safe, emergency managers learned from Cal OES subject matter experts about emergency planning, response and recovery best practices and available grants.
“We’ve gathered all of California’s responders to sit in a room together, to listen to each other’s feedback, challenges and successes. We’re creating an opportunity to build a new way of understanding so Cal OES can better support the needs of local areas,” said Cal OES Director Nancy Ward. “We have a responsibility to work as a team, so we can collectively respond to events and help our communities recover.”
The summit allowed emergency managers from all counties to openly discuss lessons learned from the last year and how they can prepare for the upcoming winter season and emergencies.
“California is so vastly different in each county, and the summit provides an opportunity for us to push up our own unique challenges in an open forum,” said Siskiyou County Office of Emergency Services Bryan Schenone. “Winter is no stranger for us up in Siskiyou and we get a lot of snow. We are preparing our residents now and we know we can make that phone call to Cal OES to help us with resources.”
Ongoing collaboration and strategic planning conducted through the summit aim to reinforce local response to incident areas by coordinating state and local government and emergency responders.
In California, there are 58 Operational Areas (OAs) that encompass each county and all political subdivisions located within the county, including special districts.
