Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Communications

Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Communications

OUR MISSION

To protect the lives and property of the community and first responders through comprehensive planning, training, and communication to ensure that daily requests for emergency services, as well as preparedness, response, and recovery from major emergencies and disasters is completed in an effective and efficient manner.

Meet our Administration Team »

What We Do

The Department of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications is home to the City of Long Beach 9-1-1 Public Safety Dispatchers. Our dispatchers are the City’s first, "first responders", connecting residents with Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Services. They are the first to respond to emergency calls for service from our residents to help ensure a swift response by law enforcement and fire personnel. Equally as important, 9-1-1 dispatchers relay information to first responders in the field to ensure their safety and the safety of the community. Dispatcher recruitment is continuously open and ongoing.

Disaster Preparedness 

The Disaster Preparedness Division provides educational resources to our residents to assist them in preparing for a disaster, to be self-sustaining for up to five days, and to return to normalcy as quickly as possible. An earthquake is the most probable disaster for Long Beach because of the city's proximity to numerous fault lines. Other potential natural hazards associated with Long Beach's location on the Pacific rim include tsunamis, flooding and sea level rise. Disaster Preparedness facilitates a number of community events to engage with the public and provide resources to help Long Beach families become more resilient in the face of disaster.

Emergency Operations Center

Managed by the Disaster Preparedness Division, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) serves as the hub for the City's emergency response efforts. The EOC provides the physical location for highly trained staff across multiple city departments, as well as county, state and federal representatives, to strengthen the City's ability to respond to a disaster. The EOC contains state-of-the-art technology to coordinate requests for resources, information sharing, and crisis communications. The EOC provides a unified and coordinated response to a disaster. 

Homeland Security Grants Program

The Homeland Security Grants Division oversees the administration of the City of Long Beach's Homeland Security Grants Program. On an annual basis, we manage millions of dollars for the City through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), State Homeland Security Program (SHSP), Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) and Port Security Grant Program (PSGP). These funds are used to purchase emergency operations equipment, provide training for first responders, and support Citywide homeland security projects. These grants, distributed across multiple municipalities and agencies, assist in providing a coordinated regional response to a disaster.