Mission Statement
“Area E and its DMAC are dedicated to assisting local agencies before, during, and after a disaster. We will work with our cities and partner agencies during emergency management preparation, response, and recovery.”
History of Area E
“In the first weeks of World War II, the national Civil Defense program was activated. Los Angeles County and the local military authorities quickly recognized that the size and complexity of the county would require a unique management structure to effectively coordinate war-related activities amongst the county, cities, private sector and other agencies supporting the war effort. Civil Defense Areas were formed and each area was supervised by an Area Coordinator.
During WWII, Area Coordinators were responsible for programs ranging from Air Raid Wardens to Coast Watchers to Strategic Business Protection. And those rumors of miles of camouflage netting are true!
When the war ended, the Area Coordinators and the Civil Defense program transitioned from aerial and naval assault planning to developing strategies for a new threat: nuclear weapons.
Area Coordinators began intensive campaigns designed to protect the civilian population from the effects of a pre-emptive nuclear attack. This included developing fallout shelters, stocking water, food and medical supplies and training local fire and law enforcement in radiation response procedures.
It was during this time that the Civil Defense Areas in Los Angeles became self-governing organizations through adoptions of Joint Powers Agreements between cities and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
As the Cold War era began to wind down, a new danger loomed, that of natural disasters. It was finally acknowledged that more lives and property had been lost to natural disasters than to war and a change was needed to address a long list of potential threats.
Times change and with it, Civil Defense transformed into Disaster Management with an emphasis on planning, training, exercising and public education for earthquakes, fires, floods, severe weather events and epidemics, to name just a few emergencies.
There are now eight (8) Disaster Management Areas, each has a coordinator (DMAC), to work with cities and partner agencies to assist their emergency management activities and to act as a liaison between local government and county, state and federal agencies.”
History of DMACs
The Disaster Management Areas evolved from the Office of Civil Defense developed during World War II. As the threats to our country changed over time, the Civil Defense mission shifted from defense of the homeland to supporting disaster response.
1940 – Mayor Fiorello La Guardia of New York City wrote a letter to President Roosevelt to address the threat of public attacks on the homeland. President Roosevelt responded to the public and local officials’ increasing concern by creating the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) in 1941. While the OCD did have ambitious goals, it began developing concrete civil defense plans, including coastwatchers, air raid drills, blackouts, and sandbag stockpiling. With the end of World War II, most U.S. officials agreed that the risk of an attack on the U.S. homeland was minimal.
1949 – The civil defense climate changed dramatically with the successful Soviet test of a nuclear weapon in August. Local officials began to demand a clear outline of what they were to do in a nuclear crisis from the federal government.
1961 – President John F. Kennedy made civil defense more of a priority. Kennedy issued Executive Order establishing the Office of Civil Defense and was tasked with determining policy for all nonmilitary emergency preparedness, including civil defense.
1968 – State and local governments tasked with natural disaster preparedness. This initiative subscribed to the philosophy that evacuation, communications, and survival preparations are common to both natural disasters and enemy military strikes on the homeland.
1969 – A series of natural disasters during President Nixon’s tenure increased the pressure to expand civil defense, including preparation and response to natural disasters. Several major hurricanes and earthquakes exposed significant flaws in natural disaster preparedness when no centralized system for disaster relief existed. Congress passed the Disaster Relief Act of 1969.
1974 – The interest of the American public in attack planning had waned considerably. There was little enthusiasm for ambitious shelter building projects or evacuation drills.
July 20, 1979 – To lead the Federal disaster relief efforts, the President created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
November 23, 1988 – The Disaster Relief Act of 1974 became known as the Stafford Act. The amended act clearly defined FEMA’s role in emergency management. The Stafford Act established the disaster declaration process and provided the statutory authority for Federal assistance during a disaster.
1989 – The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, followed shortly by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of communist governments across Eastern Europe. The Cold War had come to an immediate and unanticipated end, and the threat of a strategic nuclear attack on the United States diminished significantly almost overnight.
1991 – Oakland Hills Fire was a vast suburban wildland-urban interface conflagration that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, and southeastern Berkeley, over the weekend of October 19–20, 1991, before being brought under full control on October 23. The official name of this incident by Cal Fire is the Tunnel Fire. However, it is also commonly referred to as the Oakland Hills firestorm or the East Bay Hills fire. The fire ultimately killed 25 people and injured 150 others. The 1,520 acres destroyed included 2,843 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. The estimated economic loss from the fire is $1.5 billion (1991 USD).
1993 – Civil Defense Areas became Disaster Management Areas after adopting SEMS by the State of California. Under that regulation, all local governments within each county must organize into a single Operational Area. An operational area’s goals are to promote coordination of disaster management, preparedness, planning, training, and recovery efforts between communities through cooperative effort.
In the greater Los Angeles area, the Board of Supervisors established the entirety of L.A. County as an Operational Area. The BOS divided the Los Angeles Operational Area into eight geographic Disaster Management Areas (DMA’s). Each DMA has a Disaster Management Area Coordinator (DMAC) responsible for all the DMA cities. The DMAC’s responsibilities include providing emergency management planning assistance, information dissemination, and multi-jurisdictional coordination.
1998 – All-Area E City Representatives negotiated and signed the Disaster Management Area E JPA. In 2000, the County of Los Angeles CAO signed and returned the Disaster Management Area E Joint Powers Agreement.
2001 – September 11, 2001, terrorists attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In the wake of the attack, there was near-universal agreement within the Federal government that homeland security required a significant reassessment, increased funding, and administrative reorganization. In October 2001, the White House created the Office of Homeland Security. An executive order required Executive departments and agencies to develop and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks.