No Better Time to Plan

When it comes to emergency preparedness, other tasks may seem to take precedence - meeting a deadline for work, hitting the gym, getting dinner on the table, etc.  Today, however, staff from City Hall carried out an exercise they knew was necessary to perform.  This morning, they gathered in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), located on the 2nd floor of City Hall, and proceeded to get "briefed" on the situation: at 6:00am, City had suffered a 6.2 earthquake, which caused a fire at Brisbane Elementary School and a mudslide on the 200 block of Alvarado St.  Staff then broke out into their various sections - Logistics, Administration, Finance, Planning, Communications, and Operations.  The room became abuzz with energy as staff worked quickly to activate their sections.  Pretty soon, the phones started ringing, with mock callers inquiring about where they should evacuate to.  Each section carried out their duties fairly smoothly, working with one another to pass information.

After the exercise was over, staff debriefed about areas they felt could be improved, with Office of Emergency Services (OES) Director, Randy Breault, taking down notes, along with OES Coordinator Shelley Romriell.  This proved to be an invaluable exercise, and one in which staff left feeling they were now in better positions to be able to serve the Brisbane residents in the case of an emergency situation ever descending upon this community.