National Strategies in Emergency Operations Planning

Introduction to Emergency Operations Planning

Emergency and disaster planning is a process that entails the development of a cooperative, coordinated approach to dealing with urgent situations using available resources. Generally, this process is exploratory in nature and culminates in the development of a plan that provides general procedures for managing unforeseen impacts. According to Alexander (2015), emergency planning fundamentally entails preparing systematically for probable future contingencies such as major disasters and incidents. When creating Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs), national strategies like the National Response Framework (NRF) and National Incident Management System (NIMS) should be taken into consideration. These national strategies provide guidance and a framework for the creation of emergency operations plans. This paper reviews the NRF, NIMS, and NECP in terms of their most useful elements for a county's emergency management plan.

Overview of NRF, NIMS, and NECP

The National Response Framework (NRF) is a national strategy that seeks to enhance homeland security by providing guiding principles and action points for handling future contingencies and hazards regardless of their origin (Lindsay, 2008). This strategy provides guiding principles and doctrines for unified actions from all governmental levels and communities in response to major incidents and disasters. The major focus of the NRF is on response and short-term recovery from a disaster, major incident, or hazard. It defines the roles and responsibilities of different governmental and non-governmental actors across the various stages of emergency response and management. While the strategy is not an operational plan with step-by-step processes for responding to hazards, it outlines guiding principles for this process.

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is a detailed, national approach that promotes collaboration between state and non-state actors in the prevention, response, recovery, and mitigation of major incidents or disasters. This framework provides guidelines for collaboration between all levels of government, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations in preventing, responding to, and mitigating hazards (Federal Emergency Management Agency, n.d.). These different players work together regardless of the location, size, cause, or complexity of the incident or disaster. The framework comprises several components, including preparedness, resource management, command and management, communications and information management, and ongoing management and maintenance.

The National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP) is the third key national strategy in emergency planning and management. It seeks to enhance the ability of emergency responders — both state and non-state actors — to continue communicating when dealing with major incidents or disasters. This strategy provides guidelines for strengthening communication capabilities across the nation with respect to emergency management. The NECP comprises a list of recommended initiatives to govern communications between emergency response providers and relevant government officials (Chertoff, 2008).

Useful Elements for Lake County Applications

The current Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) for Lake County, California does not incorporate guidance from the three national strategies — NRF, NIMS, and NECP — since the county relies instead on a County Emergency Management Plan (CEMP). While national strategies are the premise for sound emergency management plans, Lake County's plan has seemingly bypassed these strategies in favor of the CEMP. As a result, the county has a relatively ineffective emergency response and management plan despite its significant vulnerability to natural disasters such as wildfire. Rossmann and Beausang (2018) contend that wildfires occur so frequently in this county that they have become a familiar foe. Given this recurring threat, the county could benefit greatly from establishing a comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan grounded in national strategies for disaster planning and emergency management. Such a plan would enhance the ability of emergency responders and governmental actors to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the significant losses associated with wildfires.

Establishing a comprehensive EOP would require utilizing national strategies such as the NRF, NIMS, and NECP as the foundation for actions undertaken at the county level. One of the most useful elements of these national strategies for Lake County is Emergency Support Function #4 (ESF#4) on Firefighting. As stipulated in the National Response Framework, this function seeks to provide federal support for the identification and suppression of rural, urban, and wildland fires (Lindsay, 2008). The scope of ESF#4 is to promote effective management and coordination of firefighting activities by providing required personnel, supplies, and equipment to local, tribal, and state agencies for the detection and suppression of fires.

Lake County could benefit significantly from applying this element of the NRF when developing an Emergency Operations Plan. Since the county is susceptible to wildland fires that recur annually, ESF#4 would help ensure that appropriate personnel, supplies, and equipment are in place to detect and suppress these fires. Through this function, Lake County could request federal assistance to acquire firefighting equipment and resources. Those resources would in turn enhance the capability of emergency responders throughout the county. The current plan, based on the CEMP, is ineffective in dealing with wildland fires given that residents continue to suffer significant losses (Rossmann & Beausang, 2018). Emergency responders are seemingly ill-equipped and unable to detect and suppress the recurring wildland fires — a clear indicator of inadequate firefighting resources that could be addressed by incorporating NRF's ESF#4 into the EOP.

Conclusion

National strategies on emergency management such as the NRF, NIMS, and NECP play a critical role in disaster planning, emergency response, and emergency management. These strategies provide guidelines for the development of emergency operations plans for local, county, and state governments. For Lake County, the current Emergency Operations Plan is ineffective because it fails to incorporate guidance from these strategies. The county opted to use a County Emergency Management Plan instead, resulting in relatively ineffective approaches for handling disasters and major incidents — particularly the wildland fires that recur every year. As this discussion demonstrates, the county's emergency management capabilities could be meaningfully enhanced by incorporating guidelines from national strategies, especially the NRF's Emergency Support Function #4 on Firefighting.

References

Alexander, D. (2015, September). Disaster and emergency planning for preparedness, response, and recovery. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science. http://oxfordre.com/naturalhazardscience/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.001.0001/acrefore-9780199389407-e-12

Chertoff, M. (2008, July). National Emergency Communications Plan. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/national_emergency_communications_plan.pdf

Federal Emergency Management Agency. (n.d.). NIMS: Frequently asked questions. https://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/nimsfaqs.pdf

Lindsay, B. R. (2008, November 20). The National Response Framework: Overview and possible issues for Congress. Congressional Research Service. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL34758.pdf

Rossmann, R., & Beausang, H. (2018, June 27). Wildfire a frequent and familiar foe in Lake County. The Press Democrat. https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8475008-181/wildfire-a-frequent-and-familiar