Emergency Preparedness

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Current Emergency Event(s)/Announcement(s):

State of Emergency Line Fire (9/10/24)

State of Emergency: Borel Fire (Published: 8/1/2024):

On July 30, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a State of Emergency for counties that may affect vendor services in Kern Regional Center’s catchment area. For additional details of the declared State of Emergency, please visit: In Kern County, Governor Newsom proclaims state of emergency, meets with Borel Fire first responders. As a result of the State of Emergency, the Department of Developmental Services (Department) is authorizing, pursuant to Title 17 California Code of Regulations (CCR) section 54326(a)(11), regional centers to pay vendors for absences that are the direct result of the State of Emergency. CCR, section 54326(a)(11). View the full directive from DDS here.

State of Emergency (Published: 7/3/2024):

Governor Newsom proclaims state of emergency in response to Thompson Fire. The Thompson Fire has burned 3,002 acres and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents. A copy of the proclamation can be found here. The Governor yesterday announced that California secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help ensure the availability of resources to suppress the fast-moving fire. View the full notice from the Department of Developmental Services regarding Absence Billings during a State of Emergency here.

End of COVID-19 State of Emergency (Published: 2/28/2023)

Governor Newsom Marks End of California’s COVID-19 State of Emergency. For the latest on the state’s COVID-19 preparedness and response, visit cdph.ca.gov. Visit our ELARC Covid-19 Page for additional information and resources.

Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a State of Emergency for several counties in Southern California

The Counties listed below may affect vendor services. For additional details of the declared State of Emergency, please visit: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-2-4.Feb-Winter-Storms-SOE-Proc.pdf. The counties where a State of Emergency has been declared are as follows: Los Angeles ,Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino. San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura. For these counties, the absence billing directive found here is effective starting Saturday, February 3rd, 2024.

State of Emergency - 11 Additional Counties: On March 22, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom expanded the State of Emergency declared in February 2024 to 11 additional counties that may have impacted vendor services in your regional center catchment area. For additional details of the declared State of Emergency, please visit: Governor Newsom Expands Storm State of Emergency, Requests Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for Early February Storms. These are the 11 Additional Counties: Alameda, Butte, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Monterey, Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Sonoma and Sutter. View the full directive here from the Department of Developmental Services.

View this 8-minute Video Titled, "Be READY":

The focus of this video is on the importance of disaster readiness and what can be done to prepare.

Visit https://emscimprovement.center/ for more details.

Emergency Preparedness Resources and Manuals:

View the emergency preparedness manuals from the Los Angeles Department on Disability:

View the Fillable Plan from Ready.gov:

(English) Use this form to create a Family Emergency Communication Plan, which you can email as a PDF file once completed. Make a Plan Form | Ready.gov
(Spanish) Utilice este formulario para crear un plan de comunicación familiar en emergencias que puede enviar a través de correo electrónico en formato PDF luego de llenarlo. Plan de comunicación familiar en emergencias | Ready.gov

View the Emergency Survival Guide from lacounty.gov:

Learn About ELARC's Emergency Operations Plan:

To better serve our community, Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center (ELARC) will manage agency operations and minimize disruption of services to the individuals we serve in the event of an emergency. ELARC will maintain an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP.) We encourage personal preparedness for the individuals we serve, their loved ones, those who provide services to them, as well as for our staff. ELARC will incorporate and coordinate all the facilities and personnel of ELARC, available resources of the State of California Department of Developmental Services and other partners into an efficient organization capable of responding effectively to any emergency. View the ELARC Emergency Operations Plan. View Annex G, Annex H, and Annex I of the EOP.

All Service Providers: Begin thinking about an emergency preparedness plan for your organization that will compliment the DDS and Regional Center plans

Transportation Service Providers: Please view the Department of Transportation Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities information and consider how to integrate this into your agency emergency preparedness plan.

Emergency Responders: Click here to view the Los Angeles County Regional Centers Points of Contact for Emergency Responders brochure.

Meet ELARC's Emergency Management Officer

Gina Esparza is the Emergency Management Officer at the Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center (ELARC). Her role is to assist consumers, their families and/or caretakers with emergency planning and resources. Additionally, during large-scale disasters, her role is to provide assistance in response and recovery efforts. She also works with community organizations to establish partnerships within the ELARC community.

Gina Esparza – Emergency Management Officer

(626)299-4633

gesparza@elarc.org

Families and individuals served by ELARC who are interested in a consultation with Gina should contact their service coordinator.

Service Providers:

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS PLANS DUE Post Date: June 22, 2017:

All Service Providers will be receiving a letter with an "Agency Emergency Plan template" in the mail from ELARC. Please submit your draft Agency Emergency Plan to your assigned ELARC Community Services Specialist by August 1, 2017. Please insure that your agency has also provided updated emergency contact information to your Community Services Specialist including an email address. ELARC has communicated with providers in the past regarding heat alerts, regional earthquakes, and other emergency issues. It is important that ELARC be able to communicate with you on preparedness issues and essential that we be able to reach your agency in the event of a disaster. As a Service Provider you play a crucial role in our planning together for preparedeness, response, and recovery. ELARC looks forward to sharing more information and working together to insure we all have a plan in the event of an emergency. View the Agency Emergency Plan template. View the letter from ELARC.

STATES OF EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS: (Absence Billing):

If your delivery of services was impacted due to an event that has been declared to be a State of Emergency by the Governor, you may be eligible for reimbursement. Listed below are the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) memos regarding recent Emergency Declarations.

Statewide State of Emergency due to COVID-19

For further information about any of the declared state of emergencies, please contact your assigned Community Services Specialist. View the Community Services Specialist Assignments for more details.

Extreme Heat
Water Safety
Community Safety

California extreme heat calls for extreme care. Hot weather can be very dangerous and can make you sick. Stay safe and join us in following the Governor’s lead on preparedness for hot weather this week.

Find a local cooling center linked here.

Please read and share these resources for extreme heat safety:

Ready.ca.gov
Heatreadyca.com
How to Stay Healthy in Excessive Heat

Preventing Dehydration

Drowning Prevention

Enter your zip code here for the latest weather forecast.

Severe Weather
Earthquakes
Fires

The National Weather Service:

The National Weather Services' mission is to provide weather information, water and climate data, forecasts, warnings, and impact-based decision support services for the protection of life and property and enhancement of the national economy.

Visit the National weather Service (https://www.weather.gov/) to stay informed.

The Winter Shelter Program:

The Winter Shelter Program is held annually to protect people experiencing homelessness during Los Angeles's colder months. Winter Shelters are located all across the County, and will be operating 24 hours a day. People in need of transportation to an Augmented Winter Shelter site should go to 211la.org and use the chat feature to request a ride.

For more information, please see their Winter Shelter Flyer in English or Spanish

For any inquiries, please email wintershelter@lahsa.org.

Visit the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority website for this and other resources, https://www.lahsa.org/

Resources:

American Red Cross

Cal OES, Governor's Office of Emergency Services

Cal OES serves as the state’s leadership hub during all major emergencies and disasters. This includes responding, directing, and coordinating state and federal resources and mutual aid assets across all regions to support the diverse communities across the state.

Cal OES also supports local jurisdictions and communities through planning and preparedness activities, training, and facilitating the immediate response to an emergency through the longer‐term recovery phase. During this process, Cal OES serves as the state’s overall coordinator and agent to secure federal government resources through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Visit https://www.caloes.ca.gov/

Access & Functional Needs

In 2008 California established the Office of Access and Functional Needs (OAFN) within the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The purpose of OAFN is to identify the needs of individuals with disabilities and others with access or functional needs before, during, and after disasters and to integrate them into the State’s emergency management systems. Visit their page for more details,

https://www.caloes.ca.gov/office-of-the-director/policy-administration/access-functional-needs/

Active Shooter Awareness

OAFN led the effort to update California’s Active Shooter Awareness Guidance to include AFN considerations through collaborative efforts with law enforcement, the California Specialized Training Institute, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, independent living centers, emergency managers, and other disability stakeholders.

Department of Developmental Services (DDS)

The Department of Developmental Services plays an active role in responding and takes a proactive approach to ensuring the health and safety of the DDS’ service system by facilitating emergency response activities and improving emergency response readiness.

DDS has identified the need to develop emergency preparedness material, providing necessary training and education, securing emergency go kits and portable batteries for consumers living independently or with limited supports dependent on power for life-sustaining equipment and who live within high fire threat district areas.

Visit the following pages for additional resources:

Emergency Preparedness – Provider

Emergency Preparedness – Consumer

Visit the DDS Wellness Toolkit for "Wellness & Safety Bulletins" on different topics:

Wellness Toolkit

Earthquake County Alliance

Emergency Network Los Angeles, Inc. (ENLA)

Service Providers/Vendors,

Consider Joining the Emergency Network of Los Angeles (ENLA).

ENLA is a coalition of nonprofit organizations, along with government and private-sector partners. ENLA serves as the forum where organizations share knowledge and resources throughout the disaster cycle—preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation — to help disaster survivors and their communities.

View the ENLA website.

Housing and Community Development

Community development includes more than just new development. Housing and Community Development (HCD) works to help communities recover after disasters (such as droughts, fires, and floods) by administering special federal funds for both recovery and mitigation purposes. When appropriated funds from HUD, HCD works with local governments and organizations to support programs that provide long-term recovery assistance for housing, infrastructure, economic revitalization and mitigate disaster risks and reduce future losses.

Email: Disaster Recovery or ReCoverCA.

ReCoverCA Hotline: (916) 202-1764

Visit their website, https://www.hcd.ca.gov/

Listos California

Listos California engages a statewide network of community-based organizations, Tribal Governments, and Community Emergency Response Teams across the state to boost resiliency, provide accessible in-language information and advance a new culture of disaster preparedness.

Every Californian, regardless of age, ability, income or language, deserves culturally competent education to prepare for wildfire, flood, earthquake, drought, heatwave and other disasters.

Visit their website, https://www.listoscalifornia.org/

Ready.gov

Sirens of Silence

Sirens of Silence is an autism and special needs awareness, acceptance and inclusion program launched by the Los Angeles Conty Fire Department.

The Sirens of Silence program consists of three components:

Education and awareness for the Department’s first responders through a mandatory training module as well as access to visual aids and informational materials with advice and practical tips on how to approach, respond, and communicate.
Special needs-friendly events for residents to meet and interact with first responders in a welcoming and sensory-sensitive space.
Safety-related items (i.e., seatbelt covers, sensory toys, etc.) for special needs patients.

Visit their page for more details, https://fire.lacounty.gov/sirens-of-silence/

Southern California Edison

When major disasters strike, SCE has a dedicated Customer Support Team to help impacted customers. If you have been impacted by a disaster, SCE is here to help.

Please call 1-800-250-7339 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, or Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Edison Outage Center webpage is where you can learn about outages and how you can be prepared and stay safe. You can sign up for outage alerts too. View the Edison Outage Center page.

If you or someone in your household requires the regular use of electrically powered medical equipment or other qualifying medical devices, you may be eligible for our Medical Baseline Allowance Program. This program provides an additional 16.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per day. Provided at the lowest baseline rate, this helps offset the cost of operating the medical equipment.

For more details, visit the Southern California Edison website, https://www.sce.com/residential/assistance/medical-baseline

The California Childcare Disaster Plan

The California Child Care Disaster Plan is an Annex to the State of California Emergency Plan. It provides guidance for communication and coordination of key state agencies in the event of a disaster that affects the childcare infrastructure. How to Plan for Emergencies and Disasters is a step-by-step guide with resources and information to support childcare providers, children in their care, and their families before, during, and after a disaster or emergency. The Emergency Plan Library is a collection of forms, checklists, handouts, and other disaster planning tools. These materials can be downloaded for free and are available in English and Spanish.

Visit their website: Click here for all the information.

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County of Los Angeles

Visit the Emergency Page at https://lacounty.gov/ to find out more about Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and COVID-19.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

National Autism Association

Visit the National Autism Association website (https://nationalautismassociation.org/) and explore their resources under "What We Do" menu.

Wandering Safety Toolkit for Caregivers: The Big Red Safety Box is a resource, not affiliated with Regional Center, that is intended to guide and assist caregivers in establishing a Wandering Emergency Plan for their loved ones who may be at higher safety risk.

Read the The Big Red Safety Box here.

FEMA

Visit the FEMA website, https://www.fema.gov/ for the following information and more:

For Shelters:

After any disaster you can text SHELTER + your ZIP CODE to 43362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest shelter. Please note that shelters are not activated unless there is a disaster, so this only works after a true emergency/disaster event.

211 LA

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