City Emergency Response Activities by Department

Hazardous Materials Incident

City Manager's Office / Emergency Management

In this incident, the City's role is to support community protection, public information, access, sheltering, logistics, resident needs, and business impacts. The Orange County Fire Authority is managing the hazardous-materials operation directly.

The City Manager's Office is serving as the central coordination point. This includes activating or supporting the emergency response, coordinating among City departments, tracking resource needs, supporting policy decisions, coordinating with Orange County, Cal OES, the Governor's Office, neighboring cities, OCFA, law enforcement, and public health agencies, and ensuring that City services continue where possible.

The City is providing updates and critical information through its website, social media, traditional media, and a 24/7 hotline.

The City's core services remain operational during this crisis.

Police Department

Garden Grove Police are supporting:

  • Evacuation notifications and neighborhood safety
  • Security in evacuated areas
  • Road closures and traffic control for residents, businesses, emergency vehicles, and utility crews
  • Coordination with neighboring police agencies
  • Assistance to vulnerable residents
  • Support for public safety messaging and rumor control
  • Maintaining normal police services
  • Maintaining current shelter information
  • Creating and developing evacuation and repopulation plans

Public Works

Public Works is supporting the practical field logistics needed to keep the community safe and functional:

  • Placing and maintaining barricades, cones, message boards, and closure signs
  • Supporting detours and traffic-control plans
  • Coordinating with utilities and other infrastructure providers
  • Supporting access for emergency vehicles and essential services
  • Assessing City streets, facilities, and public infrastructure affected by closures
  • Coordinating water, sanitation, trash collection changes, and service interruptions
  • Providing fuel, equipment, vehicles, staff, or logistical support to the EOC
  • Providing environmental protection measures for storm drain entry points
  • Providing animal control services for displaced pets

Community Services

Community Services staff are helping support care and receive centers and resident services, especially where City facilities are being used.

  • Preparing and operating facilities for public use
  • Coordinating shelter layout for registration, family gathering areas, pet accommodations, food and hydration stations, and charging stations
  • Supporting families, seniors, and people with disabilities with ADA accessibility and functional accommodations
  • Providing information regarding incident updates, evacuation zones, shelter options, and transportation assistance
  • Helping to manage supplies, restrooms, facility logistics, and cleanliness
  • Adjusting or canceling recreation classes, events, facility rentals, and park programs as needed in the large evacuation area
  • Tracking resource and donation management
  • Supporting press activities

Public Information

The City's public information function is one of the most important parts of the City response. The City emergency webpage serves as a centralized information page with hotline numbers and multilingual access links in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Korean.

  • Gathering information from the Incident Command Post and relaying to City management
  • Updating the City website
  • Posting social media updates
  • Coordinating messages with OCFA, Orange County, the State, and neighboring cities
  • Translating key information
  • Staffing or supporting the Garden Grove Emergency Hotline
  • Preparing FAQs and resident/business updates
  • Correcting misinformation
  • Explaining what the City can answer versus what OCFA or health agencies should answer

Economic Development / Business Support

Economic Development is focused on the business impacts of the emergency, especially for businesses affected by evacuation orders, closures, employee access issues, lost revenue, spoilage, or uncertainty about reopening.

  • Tracking affected commercial areas
  • Providing reopening guidance in coordination with public safety and health agencies
  • Helping businesses understand documentation needs for insurance or claims
  • Identifying whether state, county, or federal assistance may become available
  • Communicating with chambers of commerce, business associations, major employers, landlords, and property managers
  • Supporting longer-term economic recovery

Housing / Building & Safety

These teams are important during re-entry, especially for renters, apartment complexes, mobile home communities, and property managers.

  • Helping address habitability concerns
  • Supporting information distribution to apartment buildings and hard-to-reach households
  • Helping connect residents to housing or property-related resources
  • Ensuring that any buildings impacted by the incident are structurally safe for occupancy

Finance

Finance staff are working behind the scenes to keep the emergency response moving and preserve documentation.

  • Tracking City emergency costs
  • Supporting emergency purchasing and contracts
  • Documenting staff time, equipment use, materials, facility costs, and outside services

Information Technology

IT is supporting the digital infrastructure needed for the response, including:

  • Keeping the emergency webpage live and updated
  • Supporting hotline systems, phones, remote work, and internal communications
  • Supporting mapping, dashboards, or document-sharing tools
  • Helping protect City systems during high-traffic public information demand
  • Supporting multilingual web updates and accessibility
  • Assisting with public participation systems at public meetings