DATE: OCTOBER 13, 2026
DEPARTMENT: FIRE DEPARTMENT
FROM: SAMUEL KLEMEK, FIRE CHIEF
TITLE: ADOPTION OF THE CITY OF SALINAS EMERGENCY OPERATIONS PLAN 2026
RECOMMENDED MOTION
A motion to approve a resolution adopting the updated City of Salinas Emergency Operations Plan.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report requests City Council adoption of the City of Salinas Emergency Operations Plan 2026. The Plan establishes the Citywide system for managing natural, technological, public-health, infrastructure, cyber, and human-caused emergencies. It defines emergency authority, Emergency Operations Center activation and organization, departmental responsibilities, public warning, evacuation, shelter, resource management, continuity of government, financial documentation, recovery, training, and plan maintenance. Adoption provides one current all-hazards framework consistent with the Standardized Emergency Management System, the National Incident Management System, and the Incident Command System.
BACKGROUND
The Emergency Operations Plan is the City's principal document for coordinating extraordinary incidents that exceed routine departmental capability, affect multiple departments, threaten essential services, or require significant public protective action. It is distinct from the hazard mitigation plan: mitigation reduces long-term risk, while the Emergency Operations Plan directs how the City organizes, makes decisions, obtains resources, communicates with the public, and sustains operations during and after an emergency.
The Monterey County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan identifies the need for an updated City Emergency Operations Plan, increased Incident Command System training, a written all-hazards evacuation framework, continuity of government procedures, and sustained outreach to residents who may face language, disability, transportation, age, medical, housing, or economic barriers. The 2026 Plan converts those requirements and the City's community risk information into final operational assignments and procedures.
The Plan applies to the City Council, every City department and to employees, contractors, volunteers, and partner agencies assigned to City emergency operations. The City Manager serves as Director of Emergency Services. The Fire Department maintains the Plan and the City's emergency-management program. Field incidents operate through the Incident Command System, while the Emergency Operations Center coordinates policy, information, resources, continuity, public communications, regional support, and recovery.
Plan Structure and Operational Framework
• Base Plan. Establishes purpose, scope, authorities, planning assumptions, the concept of operations, SEMS/NIMS organization, EOC activation levels, departmental duties, communications, resource management, continuity, recovery, training, and maintenance. • Functional annexes. Establish direction and control, public information and warning, evacuation and reentry, mass care and shelter, fire and rescue, law enforcement, public works, logistics, finance and cost recovery, continuity, damage assessment, and access and functional-needs procedures. • Hazard annexes. Establish Salinas-specific procedures for earthquake and liquefaction; flooding, severe weather, and El Niño; dam failure; wildfire, smoke, heat, and drought; cyberattack and utility interruption; public-health and water-contamination emergencies; targeted violence; and airport incidents. • Department assignments. Define final responsibilities for Administration, Fire, Police, Public Works, Finance, Human Resources, Library and Community Services, the Municipal Airport, Community Development, Information Technology, the City Attorney, the City Clerk, and the Public Information Officer. • Operational checklists. Provide immediate actions for the EOC Director, Operations, Planning and Intelligence, Logistics, Finance and Administration, and Public Information functions. • Controlled appendices. Maintain role-based EOC assignments, contact-directory requirements, and potential shelter and community-support facilities. Personal contact information and other sensitive operational records remain restricted to authorized personnel and are verified quarterly.
Salinas-Specific Hazard Basis
• The City's highest hazard scores are drought and water shortage at 13.6, earthquake at 13.3, and cyberattack at 12.7. Substantial risks also include epidemic or pandemic, agricultural emergency, water contamination, hazardous materials, utility interruption, targeted violence, and localized stormwater flooding. • Earthquake exposure is Citywide. The planning inventory identifies 32,057 buildings with approximately $12.42 billion in combined value. High liquefaction-susceptibility areas include approximately 40,954 people, emergency-response and medical facilities, government and communications facilities, rail, and major roadways. • Flood exposure includes approximately 15,415 residents, 502 residential buildings, 704 nonresidential buildings, approximately $723.1 million in property, and about 21 miles of roadway within the one-percent annual-chance floodplain. Known concerns include Carr Lake, Gabilan Creek, Natividad Creek, Alisal Creek, the Reclamation Ditch, the Salinas River, and recurring roadway locations. • Dam-failure, wildfire and smoke, hazardous-materials transportation and fixed sites, extreme heat, drought, water contamination, public-health emergencies, cyber incidents, power outages, communications failures, and human-caused incidents are incorporated into the same scalable command and coordination system.
Public Information and Community Protection
The Plan requires every public emergency message to state what happened, who is affected, what action residents should take, where verified information or assistance is available, and when the next update will be issued. English and Spanish messages are released together whenever time permits, with immediate life-safety warnings issued without delay and followed by translated and accessible versions.
Alert Monterey County, authorized emergency-alert systems, City websites, social media, news media, schools, employers, libraries, faith and community organizations, field personnel, and door-to-door notification form a redundant warning network. When power, cellular service, or internet access is disrupted, the City uses field teams, radio, partner networks, mobile public address, printed information, and direct outreach to high-risk locations.
The developing 2026-27 El Niño is addressed as a seasonal severe-weather condition within the broader all-hazards Plan. Seasonal outlooks inform preparedness but do not predict the timing or severity of individual storms in Salinas. Operational decisions rely on National Weather Service briefings, observed rainfall, river and creek conditions, drainage performance, road conditions, utility impacts, and available City resources.
Plan Adoption Maintenance and Accountability
Upon adoption, the Plan supersedes prior City emergency operations plans. Department heads maintain trained personnel, current procedures, and the resources necessary to perform assigned functions. Controlled contact rosters and facility records are verified quarterly. The Fire Department coordinates an annual review each September and updates the Plan after EOC activations, exercises, material organizational changes, or changes in governing authority.
A comprehensive review is required three years from the date of adoption and every three years thereafter. Exercises will alternate between no-notice earthquake and forecast-based flood or severe-weather scenarios and will test EOC operations, English and Spanish warning, evacuation, shelter, continuity, damage assessment, communications, and cost documentation. Corrective actions are assigned, tracked, and incorporated into approved revisions.
CEQA CONSIDERATION
Not a Project. The City of Salinas has determined that adoption of the Emergency Operations Plan is an administrative and organizational activity that establishes emergency-management policies and procedures and is not a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act under CEQA Guidelines Section 15378. Adoption does not approve construction, commit the City to a physical project, or cause a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. Any later discretionary project arising from implementation will be evaluated separately for CEQA applicability.
CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE §84308 APPLIES
No. Adoption of the Emergency Operations Plan does not involve a contract, license, permit, franchise, or other entitlement for use.
STRATEGIC PLAN INITIATIVE
Adoption supports City Council priorities for public safety, reliable infrastructure, effective government, fiscal accountability, and timely communication with the community. The Plan strengthens Citywide coordination, continuity of essential services, multilingual public information, equitable protective actions, and recovery from emergencies.
DEPARTMENTAL COORDINATION
The Fire Department coordinated the Plan with Administration, the Police Department, Public Works Department, Finance Department, Human Resources Department, Library and Community Services Department, Community Development Department, Information Technology, Salinas Municipal Airport, City Attorney, City Clerk, and Public Information Officer. The Plan also establishes coordination with Monterey County emergency management and public-health agencies, the Monterey County Water Resources Agency, utilities, schools, healthcare providers, transit agencies, community organizations, agricultural employers and workers, the National Weather Service, and mutual-aid partners.
FISCAL AND SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT
Adoption of the Plan has no immediate fiscal impact, and no appropriation is requested with this action. Departments will maintain routine preparedness, training, plan maintenance, and assigned emergency functions within approved appropriations to the extent available. An actual emergency may require contingency or emergency funding for staffing, contracts, protective measures, shelter, supplies, debris removal, infrastructure repair, and recovery. Any required budget action will be presented under applicable emergency and fiscal authorities. The Plan requires incident cost codes, time and equipment records, procurement documentation, damage estimates, insurance coordination, and state and federal reimbursement records from the beginning of operations.
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ATTACHMENTS
City of Salinas Emergency Operations Plan 2026
Power Point Presentation
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CITY OF SALINAS
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT