Livingston County’s Emergency Operations Plan is in the approval process.

The Public Safety and Infrastructure and Development Committee met Monday night and approved a revised, updated Emergency Operations Plan or EOP. The comprehensive plan involves all-hazards planning including terrorism-related events. It offers an outline of what to do to coordinate emergency response efforts to save lives, reduce injuries, and preserve property during local emergencies or widespread disasters. The primary goal is to assemble, mobilize and coordinate a team of responders and coordinators that can deal with any emergency.

Livingston County Emergency Manager Therese Cremonte says the plan is very important to the county as it basically serves as a blueprint for any agencies or departments that would participate in mitigating an emergency or disaster. It outlines different roles and responsibilities, gives an idea of what direction to go but also helps with planning and logistics before an event happens. She noted the plan must remain flexible though, given the nature of such events. The plan is also a base for local training exercises, so all partners and responders know their roles and what to do.

Cremonte tells WHMI it was big undertaking, as it had to be updated and there have been many changes, especially with technology, over the last four years. She noted in the past there was a combined annex dealing with communication and information technology but those had to be split since each are their own discipline and very different. She noted they had to do a lot of modernizing and updating to the plan because so many advances have been made within the last four years and everyone’s roles have changed just a little bit.

The plan must still be approved by the full Livingston County Board of Commissioners as well as the state, after which it will be good for four years. Cremonte says they’ll review and update the plan as needed during that time but will do a “super” review and revision around the end of the three year mark to get another one in place. (JM)