How the Emergency Operations Center Works to Keep Us Safe

by Mary Ford, NYC Emergency Management, Emergency Operations Center Unit Fellow

When I started as a John D. Solomon fellow in the Emergency Operations Center Unit this past September, my understanding of emergency management was peripheral. I, like most Americans, have done the occasional fire drill at school, or seen a bus ad instructing us to stock an emergency toolkit. But until an incident affects us directly, we don’t often think about the preparations going on behind the scenes.?

Since then, I have been able to sit at the nexus of New York City Emergency Management’s many capabilities, the Emergency Operations Center, EOC for short. Here, at the heart of NYCEM, teams work every day to prepare, respond, recover and mitigate emergency incidents of all sizes across the city. Every morning, the Asylum Seeker activation team meets to discuss the status and next steps of their operation to house thousands of new migrants. During the day, emergency management staff meet to plan from past incidents, communicate with public officials, gather data to inform improvements, and sharpen their skills with trainings, exercises and guest speakers.??

I have been able to work on some of these support projects firsthand, creating a responsive report template to increase efficiency during rapid-response emergencies, assisting with the reorganization and streamlining of training curricula, and creating a training exercise to help teams prepare for the upcoming heat wave season. I have also been able to learn from the many talented and thoughtful people whose expertise and hard work keep the department running smoothly. But the most awe-inspiring and interesting part of my experience has been when the EOC activates during emergencies, including the flooding events of Sept. 2023, the partial building collapse in the Bronx in January, and recent snowfalls this past month.?

?????????????? This agency fills a unique and integral role in taking care of New York City. Whenever an emergency incident expands beyond one agency’s ability to respond alone, NYCEM is there to help coordinate the efforts of the city’s many departments, nonprofits, government entities, and citizen volunteers. The details are especially important: using shared terminology, following a chain of command, designating a report structure, finding the right staff members and resources. Emergency management requires a huge array of talents, skills, and knowledge bases, all coordinated together to respond at a moment’s notice. The EOC Unit ensures that when a building collapses, a snowstorm hits, or a flood rises, those people and resources are ready to go at all times.?

Before, as I went about my everyday life, I wasn’t aware of all the people preparing our systems to withstand the worst. Now I know by the time a flood watch has been issued, or that first snowflake falls from the sky, New York City’s Emergency Management Department has been hard at work for days, weeks, even months, readying to help us stay safe. I am truly grateful to the Solomon Foundation for giving me this opportunity to peek behind the curtain of such a vital organization, and to NYCEM for all it does to make this city a better place to live.?

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