The City of Sandwich Emergency Management Agency maintains and staffs an Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a centralized location that is critical in every phase of emergency management. It is utilized primarily for response and recovery support during incidents.
Various situations could trigger the EOC’s opening, including: severe weather events, emergencies that require resources beyond what local capabilities can handle; lengthy crisis situations; when major policy decisions will or might be needed; when a local or state emergency is declared; and when the EOC’s activation will be advantageous to successful management of an incident.
However, the EOC does not manage an incident — it coordinates.
The City of Sandwich, and the Sandwich Emergency Management Agency adheres to the National Incident Management System (NIMS) standards for incident mitigation and management. Under NIMS, the EOC organizational structure reflects basic Incident Command System (ICS) functions. However, ICS is a field-based tactical communications system, whereas NIMS provides a system for managing the event at the local, operational area, region, and state levels.