WEST HOLLYWOOD—The city of West Hollywood in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the assistance of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station conducted two Emergency Operations Center (EOC) simulation exercises. The city regularly prepares for emergencies by having training exercises. The simulations allow the West Hollywood City Hall and City Council staff members to engage in coordinated public safety response scenarios with law enforcement and Fire Department personnel, as well as with additional agencies and organizations.

“Public safety is the City of West Hollywood’s number-one priority,” said city of West Hollywood Mayor Lauren Meister.

“We’re all better prepared for emergencies and disasters through training and I applaud our partners at the Los Angeles County Fire Department, as well as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, for designing and implementing a truly comprehensive emergency operations exercise that will help us all to coordinate and respond in the future.”

The training reflected the recent gun violence tragedies that occurred in San Bernardino, California, and Orlando, Florida. There were two Emergency Operations Center drills. One occurred in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Both exercises included the participation of about 35 city staff members and nearly 20 representatives from local law enforcement and the fire department. The City’s Public Safety Department activated the City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at City Hall. The EOC is responsible for coordinating the City’s response to and recovery from emergency incidents.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Training Services Section created a training film. The 53-minute film was created as a “live breaking news” format with social media and cell phone footage and a news anchor. The film stimulated an emergency situation which was reports of a structure fire in West Hollywood. The situation escalated with an active shooter scenario which had emergency responses, road closures, evacuations, shelters, and a mock news conference. The EOC drill included role-playing in order to have the exercise matched, as closely as possible, a real-life emergency response experience. Participant feedback will help to inform EOC improvements and help the city to remain well prepared for emergencies in the future.

September is National Preparedness Month. The city encourages everyone in the community to take action and make a plan with neighbors and family, as well as for pets. Plans should be made by community members on how to stay safe and communicate during potential disasters and emergencies and store or refresh reserve water and food supplies.

Check out the city of West Hollywood’s website which features tools and information to help community members prepare for emergencies. For more information on the City’s Public Safety Department or the City’s efforts on preparing for emergencies please call (323) 848-6414.  For those who are deaf or hearing impaired, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.Please visit www.weho.org/publicsafety for additional information.