Over 300 county employees, including members of every Division in the Sheriff’s Department, helped win high praise in preliminary reports by federal evaluators of the recent SONGS Plume Phase Exercise, Sheriff’s Emergency Operations Bureau Manager Donna Boston told the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is the lead agency in County-wide emergency planning and preparedness. This is done through the Homeland Security Division, Emergency Management Bureau (EMB). Within the EMB there exists a team of highly trained emergency planners and coordinators who work to ensure the County develops effective emergency plans and is able to respond to any imaginable catastrophic event. Among those hazards that the team plans for is an emergency at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, commonly referred to as SONGS.
The County is mandated by federal and state regulations to manage a nuclear preparedness program, and part of that is to participate in evaluated exercises. On September 23, 2009, the Sheriff’s Department hosted one of these evaluated exercises: The 2009 SONGS Plume Phase Exercise.
Preparation for this exercise included countless training sessions, a fully staffed dress rehearsal, major event preparations, and the involvement of every division of OCSD.
On the day of the graded exercise, Sheriff Hutchens, as Director of Emergency Services led the Emergency Operations Center to a successful final exercise grade. At the conclusion of the emergency exercise, Federal Emergency Management Agency evaluators candidly stated that the “OC EOC rocked.” Evaluators were extremely impressed with the EOC’s ability to make decisions, implement protective actions for the public and inform the public through media relations and hotline operators. The final report for the SONGS Exercise captures the dedication to excellence which exists in the County and the Sheriff’s Department.
The EMB staff who energized the entire EOC included Sara Kaminske, Vicki Osborn, Peggy Erdner, Donna Mayer, Raymond Cheung, Janell Harriman, Katrina Faulkner, Michelle Anderson, Luis Ramirez, Michelle Prieto and Mellisa Chorn. It is through their attention to detail and willingness to push past challenges and reach for solutions that the EOC has become a national model for nuclear preparedness.