EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

An Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a central location from which local governments can provide interagency coordination and executive decision making in support of incident response and recovery operations.  The purpose of the EOC is to provide a centralized location where public safety, emergency response, and support agencies coordinate planning, preparedness, and response activities.

The EOC does not command or control on-scene response efforts, but does carry out the coordination functions through:

1. Collecting, evaluating and disseminating incident information;

2. Analyzing jurisdictional impacts and setting priority actions; and

3. Managing requests, procurement and utilization of resources.

The decisions made through the EOC are designed to be broad in scope and offer general guidance on priorities.  Information is disseminated through the EOC staff and tactical decisions are coordinated from field response personnel.  

Working inside an EOC can be challenging, exciting and rewarding.  People working in the EOC provide invaluable support to responders on the ground, as well as a service to their community.