San Bernardino County Fire Office of Emergency Services Takes CESA Southern Chapter’s Silver Award

On Sept. 2, San Bernardino County Fire Office of Emergency Services (OES) was awarded the California Emergency Services Association– Southern Chapter’s Silver Award for the SBCOA WebEOC – “Creating a Culture of Connectivity.” This award is presented to an organization, agency, or individual in the public, private and non-profit sector who have demonstrated exceptional efforts in the field of emergency preparedness, emergency services, or emergency response. OES initially developed the San Bernardino County Operational Area (SBCOA) WebEOC Program to provide information sharing among county departments in the event of a local emergency. The initial goal was to utilize WebEOC as a vehicle for critical information collection from the Operational Area. Over time SBCOA WebEOC has evolved into an Operational Area “Culture of Connectivity”. During activations, SBCOA WebEOC has expanded into OA daily operations. It has been recognized as a “California-Centric” disaster communication model, reflective of Standardized Emergency Management System and a template for critical OA reporting up to CalOES via CalEOC. SBCOA activates the OA EOC on average seven times per year. As a result, over 40 county departments with disaster roles are familiar with WebEOC as an incident management tool. In addition, WebEOC has become an integrated “daily operations tool” for OES emergency management. To improve disaster communications and to explore the expansion of WebEOC for integrated “daily use” information management, OES has formed a multi-disciplinary OA WebEOC Advisory Committee, which includes critical stakeholders such as the County Administrative Office, Public Health, Public Works, Human Services and the Communications Joint Powers Association. This collaboration greatly increases use during EOC Activations and likewise increases the overall value and sustainability of the WebEOC Program. The end result is a proven communications model and the embodiment of the San Bernardino County Fire OES Mission: “Through leadership and guidance, strengthen countywide emergency management capabilities…”