When a mayor spots smoke coming over the hill, what should she do next?
A new emergency operations plan for Marin County streamlines the way a mayor calls for help. Designed to generate a faster, more customized response, the plan coordinates more uniformly between the state, the county, cities and people in danger. Multiple jurisdictions may be involved. First responders arrive for rescue, medical aid and evacuations. The imminent threat needs to be stabilized and essential services restored. Displaced residents need places to sleep and transportation assistance. If there is structural damage, the crisis must be followed by cleanup and environmental remediation.
That was the case in January, when a king tide event with a bigger-than-expected storm surge caused widespread flooding. Emergency operations also include restoring infrastructure and economic stability, as well as building longer-term resilience. That bigger work involves vertical coordination with state agencies, and funding requests with verified budgets and receipts.
Countywide emergency operations have always coordinated between jurisdictions, but now the systems are formalized, said Steven Torrence, Marin County director of emergency management.
“In the 2026 version, we’ve taken some lessons learned from COVID-19 and some recent flooding events. There were a lot of assumptions made. Now, we actually have a detailed process that people can point to and train for, whereas before people knew that they could request something from any county, but they did not know how,” Torrence said.
Prepared to mobilize
When a local emergency is proclaimed, the county gains the authority to mobilize local responses. Using a web-based crisis management platform called WebEOC, all actions are documented to ensure fiscal accountability and eligibility, if needed, for state or federal disaster recovery sources.
The number of county departments enlisted in the emergency operations plan has increased to include public safety, health and human services, school districts, transit agencies, utilities and accounting.
The number of people receiving services has also increased. Accommodations are planned for the unhoused, residents who speak Spanish, older adults and people with disabilities.
“In the event that they need resources such as a shelter, or something as basic as a bottle of water, there is a request flow process,” Torrence said, citing as an example that there would be a rapid countywide shelter response to a fire in a hilltop town.
“In the event there is a fire in Fairfax, we don’t want a shelter set up in Fairfax. If we need hotels or a gymnasium set up, the county can take the lead on establishing that, which alleviates the pressure from the town of Fairfax.”
The county recommends all residents sign up for its emergency alert system AlertMarin. To learn more or make a household plan by identifying a group of friends and family with whom to coordinate, visit readymarin.org.
