Over the past several years, the state has experienced an unprecedented number of emergencies and disasters. As these climate-driven natural disasters become more severe in California, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) staff has met each new challenge head-on.
The nearly 2,000 staff at Cal OES have responded to increasingly complex disasters in fresh and innovative ways, strengthening the foundation of emergency management to prepare for, respond to and recover from all types of emergencies and disasters.
This week, Cal OES welcomes you to learn more about Jon Bell, Senior Emergency Services Coordinator with the Debris Operations Unit at Cal OES. He’s passionate about seeing change happen for those impacted by disasters.
“Being able to really give somebody a little bit of hope after they’ve had some of their worst days is the best part of my job,” Bell said.
In the five years Bell has been with Cal OES, he has worked on nine different federal disaster declarations and has been deployed to more than half of the state’s 58 counties for various projects. But none of those were as personal as the 2025 LA Fire Recovery Mission.
“I am a Pasadena native,” Bell said, about the Eaton Fire. “Being able to support the community that I grew up in, and seeing family and friends who lost their homes, has provided me a unique perspective and reinvigorated my interest in supporting wildfire survivors.”
As a Senior Emergency Services Coordinator with Debris Operations, Bell is one of the first people on the ground to support a local jurisdiction with recovery efforts, information sharing, initial damage estimate projections, project formation, and contracting actions for debris removal operations.