About Douglas County Emergency Management

Preparedness is the main responsibility of Douglas County Emergency Management Agency. We are responsible for developing and maintaining the Douglas County Local Emergency Operations Plan (LEOP) which serves as a template for response to a wide variety of threats. Our Department also works and houses plans for the Omaha Metropolitan Medical Response System, Hazard Analysis for Douglas County, and many supporting plans from other agencies.

Douglas County Emergency Management also works to reduce or eliminate long-term risks to human health and property from disasters. Assistance for recovery from disasters is provided through the federal infrastructure assistance, human service assistance and through Hazard Mitigation programs. These programs help to rebuild lives and communities that have been impacted by a major disaster, and to reduce the impact of future disasters through mitigation.

Douglas County Emergency Management maintains an Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This facility is located in the lowest level of the Civic Center and is used as part of a coordinated response to disasters and emergencies that takes place in our community. Since this facility is located underground, it is resistant to most all disasters.

The Emergency Operations Center was built after the 1975 tornados that struck the city of Omaha. It was decided that the facilities we were using were not sufficient to handle a major disaster.

The pictures show the working space of the Emergency Operations Center. We have the capability of electronically projecting television, maps, weather radar, and just about anything that can be computer generated.

Each of the desks in the Emergency Operations Center is assigned to a different working group (i.e. Omaha Police, Omaha Fire, and Douglas County Sheriff's Department). This is where information can be passed to other agencies quickly and effectively.

The Emergency Operations Center is a two-story facility with just less than 25,000 square feet of operating space. There are over 50 dedicated phone lines that can be utilized during a disaster, as well as two different message centers for the public to call and ask questions. We also have room for the Broadcast Media to operate. On the first floor of the EOC, we have a large communications room where volunteer communicators can assist in message passing during emergencies. There are two message centers for the public to call into, numerous support offices, and the back up 911 center. On the second floor of the EOC, there is space for the elected officials to meet, and observe the disaster response from.

The Emergency Operations Center is self-supporting and has back up electrical power, a radio room, kitchen, and planning room for extended operations.

On a normal day, the department is staffed with three people: the Director of Emergency Management, the Assistant Director of Emergency Management and one department Administrative Assistant. During a disaster there can be up to 240 different people who work out of the EOC.

The communications room has the capability of direct communications not only locally, but state and worldwide. The EOC uses volunteer Amateur Radio Operators and Heartland REACT members to help assist with the overwhelming amount of radio conversations that occur with any disaster. Below is a picture of one of the communications rooms located in the EOC and some of the equipment that the volunteer communicators use.