In 1994, the Board of Supervisors designated the Sheriff's Office responsible for managing the County's Office of Emergency Services (OES). Five Sheriff's Office employees are assigned as full time OES Coordinators to participate in various coordination meetings, workshops, trainings, drills, table top exercises, and full scale exercises to prepare and respond to emergency incidents in El Dorado County.
OES is responsible for maintaining the readiness of the County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the event of local emergencies. The EOC is a physical location where stakeholders in a disaster gather and share information, coordinate with affected agencies, as well as support first responders in disaster response and recovery. This year the EOC was moved from the government center into the new Public Safety Facility. The room is equipped with the newest technology to suit the needs of today’s types of emergencies. The EOC was activated and staffed at a level 3 (low) several times in 2019 for wildland fires and PG&E’s Public Safety Power Shutdowns (PSPS) to coordinate response and share information with affected cooperators.
In 2019 two wildland fires initiated mandatory evacuation orders in El Dorado County; the County Fire located near Highway 193 in Cool and the Patterson Fire located in the Diamond Springs area. Both fires were high impact events requiring a large resource order to contain the incidents rapidly. The County Fire was such a fast
moving fire in a populated area of Cool that evacuations orders were given on the Code Red
phone notifications system before any patrol units arrived, based on observations by Cal Fire’s Air Attack over the fire.
OES coordinates information and relays to stakeholders regarding PG&E’s PSPS program. The PSPS planned incidents increased from one incident in 2018 to seven in 2019 initiating the EOC to open at a level 3 (low). The PSPS incidents occupied OES staff time with PG&E conference calls three times a day to translate and relay information to the key stakeholders in the county to prepare them for the planned outages and possible response needs to the resident in the county. OES also coordinated the specific location needs of PG&E’s Community Resource Centers to meet the needs of the community.
A threat to Lake Tahoe’s habitat and clarity occurred this year when a fuel truck was involved in a fatal vehicle collision on a Highway 50 overcrossing causing a hazardous material spill into the Upper Truckee River in Meyers. The collision caused a breach in the fuel truck’s tank trailer, spilling gasoline and diesel onto the roadway and into the river. Due to the training and swift response from fire and law personnel, minimal impact to the lake and river occurred.
OES staff attends many school safety meetings and functional assessments at different school locations throughout El Dorado County to assist school administrators and staff with reviewing emergency plans and updating “Active Threat” response procedures. These site visits included meetings, training sessions with staff and lock-down exercises. OES has extended this service to all El Dorado County schools, both public and private, to provide free training, assessments and support. OES administers the Federal Homeland Security Grant (HSGP) covering multiple projects throughout El Dorado County. This includes distributing funds to local agencies including health services, Environmental Management, various fire districts and city municipalities.
Office of Emergency Services
18