Photo credit: ShoreDailyNews during a  training exercise at the New Facility located at The Eastern Shore Regional Fire Training Center, August 2020

When a disaster occurs, the County’s emergency operations plan (EOP) may be directed from the County Emergency Operations Center (EOC). When an emergency occurs or is pending, the Emergency Operations Center Manager confers with Emergency Management as to what level of EOC activation is needed and which EOC representatives need to be notified. Agency representatives can communicate and command the incident as one unified force while also having access to outside resources and information. There are many county departments, state, private and volunteer agencies that may be called to the EOC – Emergency Management, Sheriff’s office, Public Safety, Schools, Public Works, Building & Zoning - as well as state and private agencies such as Virginia State Police, Health Department, Department of Social Services, VA Cooperative Extension, VDOT and ANEC. Also represented are volunteer agencies such as Fire/EMS companies, the amateur radio club (ESARC), Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC).