California Office of Emergency Services BY: ROSIE CHEN
In 2018, 8,527 wildfires burned across the state of California. These fires ravaged many people’s houses, cars, and towns. As bad as this was, more damage might have been done if the California Office of Emergency Services (OES) wasn’t there to help. The OES is in charge of protecting Californians from, but not limited to, earthquakes, floods, significant wildfires, prolonged drought impacts, public health emergencies, cybersecurity attacks, agricultural and animal disasters, or threats to homeland security. To do this, the OES has many departments that split the challenge of protecting California. Going back to wildfires, the department in charge of rescuing people from fires is the Fire and Rescue Department of the OES. The Fire and Rescue Department’s role is to implement, update, and develop the California Fire Service and Rescue Emergency Mutual Aid Plan.
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Other departments in the OES include Cybersecurity, Task Force, Disaster Logistics, Earthquake, Tsunami & Volcano Programs, Geographic Information Systems, Grants Management, Hazard Mitigation, Homeland Security, etc. In 1943, the State War Council became the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Created with a vision of being a leader in emergency management and homeland security, merged with several departments over the years to officially become the OES in 1970. In 2004 and 2009, the OES was merged with different departments, including the Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning and the OHS to create the California Emergency Management Agency. Finally, in 2013, the Cal EMA was merged with the Office of Public Safety Communications to make the California Office of Emergency Services or EOS.
● California Office of Emergency Services
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