With multiple fires burning across the state, officials have activated the Colorado Emergency Operations Center in Centennial.
The centralized command post, or EOC, will provide support to communities battling the blazes.
MickiTrost, with the Colorado Office of Emergency Management, says many firefighting resources are moving into and around the state. “We do have to look at the big picture of where are all those resources are coming from, so that when we get other requests we’re able to assist those local agencies in finding the resources that they need and securing those,” said Trost.
The center is now at level 3 staffing including “command and general staff positions as well as Emergency Support Functions from public health, public safety and security, recovery and Department of Military and Veteran Affairs.”
According to a Colorado state emergency operations plan [.pdf], the EOC is not activated for an initial response, but to be a “coordinator for the acquisition, prioritization and distribution of State, private, and, if needed, federal resources” after a disaster has occurred.
Trost says the center will monitor the five fires currently burning across the state, “as well as receive resource orders and making sure that each of those individual fires have the support that it needs.”
