The Stanislaus County Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is developed based on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the California Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS).

Each EOP is constructed to address the four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparation, response and recovery. It is an “all risk” document, providing guidelines for potential threats to Stanislaus County including: floods, fire, earthquake, civil disorder, terrorism, agricultural terrorism, hazardous materials and others. It provides guidelines addressing the greater than day-to-day events, including large-scale emergencies and disasters. Operational checklists are available for use by: law enforcement, fire, public works, public health, haz-mat team and other disciplines. The EOP addresses core components including: continuity of government, the Incident Command System (ICS), public alerting and warning, mutual aid and other guidelines related to maintaining a functional government. The plan includes recognition of non-government partners including community-based organizations (CBOs), faith based organizations (FBOs), utilities and care and shelter organizations. The EOP also provides a complete framework for managing incidents from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This perspective is related not to field level “command and control” but to management, coordination and support of one or more incident occurring anywhere in the Operational Area.

In addition to the management function, the EOC may include a Multi-Agency Coordination System (MACS) group, made up of policy level representatives of one or more jurisdictions or agencies that may develop goals and objectives for overall situation management and coordination. Included in the EOP is a set of position descriptions and checklists for each of the NIMS functional positions that may be called for in an EOC operation. Finally, the EOP addresses the recovery process that may ultimately involve local, state and federal agencies. Programs may include: individual assistance, public assistance and small business recovery loans. The EOP is modified as necessary and approved by the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. It is formally reviewed on a five-year schedule.