CITYWIDE INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: New York City uses the Citywide Incident Management System (CIMS) to define roles and responsibilities and designate authority for City, state, and other government entities, and non-profit and private sector organizations that perform and support emergency response. CIMS is designed to be scalable, facilitating the integration of additional organizations, such as private sector and non-profit entities.

INCIDENT MONITORING: OEM tracks incidents affecting New York City 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Through its Watch Command, OEM monitors radio frequencies used by the City's emergency responders, local and national news, weather conditions, and 911 calls, among other communications channels. It also maintains the City's communication link with local, state, and federal agencies, and notifies City officials when incidents or issues of concern arise.

FIELD OPERATIONS:  OEM's Citywide Interagency Coordinators (CICs), highly trained emergency response personnel from the Police and Fire Departments, Emergency Medical Services, the Department of Sanitation, and the Office of Emergency Management, work around the clock to ensure emergency response plans are followed safely and efficiently. OEM sends CICs to larger incidents to facilitate interagency communication and resource requests. The CICs also ensure responding agencies follow incident command protocols. In the event of a serious disaster involving the collapse of heavy concrete and steel, FEMA will activate New York- Task Force 1, the Urban Search and Rescue team made up of elite responders from New York City's emergency services.

VEHICLES: OEM uses three special vehicles to respond to incidents in New York City. The Incident Comand Center provides OEM with an on-scene emergency command center to coordinate the deployment of resources between multiple agencies. The Mobile Data Center is a custom-built bus designed to accommodate day-to-day geographic information systems (GIS) and data collection operations. The Interagency Communications Vehicle is designed to be a quick, communications and scene-support vehicle. It can gather critical information and relay it to the other vehicles.

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER: During major emergencies and special events, OEM activates the City's Emergency Operations Center (EOC). With space for more than 130 representatives from local, state, and federal agencies and private and non-profit entities, the EOC functions as a central clearinghouse for information coordination, resource requests, and decision making.

PUBLIC INFORMATION: During an emergency, OEM works to ensure agencies involved in an emergency response provide a unified, accurate, and timely message to the public. OEM delivers emergency warnings through the broadcast media using the City's emergency public communication systems, and provides e-mail alerts about current emergencies to subscribers. In December 2007, OEM and the Department for Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) launched Notify NYC, a program to enhance the delivery of information as emergencies happen. During large-scale emergencies, OEM opens a Joint Information Center to coordinate outreach to the media.

RECOVERY AND RELIEF:  Following an emergency, OEM works with government agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide assistance to diaster victims and manage relief efforts, donations, and spontaneous volunteers. OEM uses the Citywide Asset and Logisitics Management System (CALMS) to manage the City's emergency resources and essential skills. CALMS integrates multiple resource management systems and provides a single view of the resources managed or accessible to response agencies.