Emergency Operations Center
Disasters Happen
And we are preparing for the next one. When a disaster happens here, we may be on our own for some period of time. While we encourage everyone to personally prepare, there will be times that is not enough. It may not be enough in terms of the degree of the disaster or the length of recovery time. That is where your Emergency Operation Center (EOC) is the local service that connects us together and to other regional resources.
Our Emergency Operations Center
The EOC concept is implemented nationally at all levels of government and communities. We have established our community EOC at the Echo Lake Community church on Lost Lake Road. It is centrally located, has parking and space for special operations.
The EOC has supplies for medical triage and food. It also provides a principal place for community information and critical communications with the county, state, and federal agencies. Keeping track of injured people, fires, and other critical information will be handled by trained staff at the EOC.
During a disaster and the recovery period, there is usually considerable confusion and lack of good information for the public. The EOC staff will gather information and report accurate information to the community on a real time basis. In addition, it is critical to disseminate this information to other agencies as it is needed to gain wider support.
If you would like to be part of this operation, training, and mission, please contact EOC@echolakecommunity.org.
Communications
The Communications Unit is a critical function of the EOC. This station is used to communicate with field CERT units, Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management and others as needed. This station supports voice and digital communications. In addition, a record of messages is documented from this station.
Operations - Planning - Logistics
The core of the ICS team will operate around this table in the EOC. The Operations Section will coordinate field teams as well as facility teams from here. The Planning Section will support operations with the resources needed during an activation. The Logistics Section will find the resources necessary to meet the objectives of the current and subsequent operational periods
EOC Open House
This was the display presented during the August 14th EOC open house. Personal preparedness handouts were available to encourage everyone to prepare.
In the back are some of our community emergency supplies. While we lack many supplies, our current support is readily accessible for deployment.
Echo Lake Emergency Response Plan
The following documents are the core documents that assist further refinements or defination o the Echo Lake EOC Operations. It is understood these documents will need revision as the EOC team matures and staffing roles change.
Echo Lake Emergency Response Plan Rev 1.3
Incident Command System courses
These courses and tests are available on the Web at http://training.fema.gov/is/
IS-700.b, National Incident Management System, An Introduction
IS-100.c, Introduction to Incident Command System
IS-200.c, ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
Ham Radio Operators
During a disaster, communications are critical. We have a trained and licensed group that provides various communications around the community. They will assist the CERT teams communicate to/from the EOC with their on-going status and critical needs.
Education and training are critical to the success of this part of operations.
If you are a Amateur Radio Operator and would like to be part of the team, please contact eoc@echolakecommunity.org.
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
A critical component of the community emergency response are teams of trained responders that will administer search & rescue, aid, and communication out in the community. This unit is the hands-on people that will be evaluating and helping individual households following a disaster. More information about this effort can be found HERE. If you would like to be part of the team, please contact EOC@echolakecommunity.org.