State, tribal, and territorial EOCs are activated as necessary to support local EOCs and to help ensure that responders have the resources they need to conduct response activities.33 As described in the Prologue, state support can be critical for ensuring populations affected by an incident receive the immediate help and supplies they need, including, for example, clean water when the local water source has been contaminated.4 State support is delivered through integration of state- and local-level coordinating structures. Coordinating structures at the state level vary, depending on factors such as geography, population, industry, and the capabilities of the local jurisdictions, and are designed to leverage the capabilities and resources of partners from across the state/tribal land/territory. In some instances, such as the pesticide poisoning of field workers described in the Prologue,6,7 chemical incidents may even not be identified without the cooperation of investigating state agencies.
Regarding communications with the public, an intentional or otherwise large-scale incident will attract regional, national, and multi-national interest. Local public communications teams likely will be overwhelmed by inquiries and will look to public affairs staff from neighboring jurisdictions and state (and federal) agency communications offices for help meeting the demand. As the response team grows and more organizations are added to the incident command structure, their public affairs staff will be available to help answer questions from the press and the public as well.
Footnotes
4. CSB. (2017, May). Chemical Spill Contaminates Public Water Supply in Charleston, West Virginia. Report Number: 2014-01-I-WV.
6. McClure, CD., Peoples, SA., & Maddy, KT. (1978). Public health concerns in the exposure of grape pickers to high pesticide residues in Madera County, Calif., September 1976. Public Health Reports, 93(5), 421-425.
7. Peoples, S. A., & Maddy, K. T. (1978). Organophosphate pesticide poisoning. The Western Journal of Medicine, 129(4), 273–277.
33. Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2019, October 28). National Response Framework. Department of Homeland Security. 4th ed.