Lakewood Reviews Emergency Operations Plan

If disaster strikes in Lakewood, the city will be ready for it.

At least that’s the idea behind an update to the city’s emergency operations procedure.

The is working on the Emergency Operations Plan, which would cover just about any natural or man-made disasters, should they occur in the city.

There are four phases of the plan — as presented recently to city council — that address preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation. The city is using the Cuyahoga County plan, which mirrors the state’s strategy.

In it is a blueprint about how the city should respond to natural disasters, technological accidents, terrorism and other major incidents.

Lakewood Fire Chief Scott Gilman wouldn’t go into details of the procedures — citing the city’s security — but he provided Lakewood Patch with an outline.

There are four major elements.

• The Basic Plan provides and overview of the local response system. It explains local hazards, capabilities, needs and response organization. It also outlines the “emergency service function” — which includes transportation, communication, public works, firefighting, health services, food, law enforcement and energy.
• The Emergency Services Function Annexes: Provides specific direction for the essential emergency functions outlined in the Basic Plan, but emphasize on timely execution.
• Support Annexes: Outline the mission, policies and concepts should a disaster occur — which would include recovery and mitigation.
• Incident Annexes: This highlights the response to specific situations, and also includes planning considerations for specific hazards. This element allows the city to have some flexibility for “site specific” plans, with regard to federal, state and county policies.

recently reviewed the plan, which was submitted to the public safety committee.