The California State Operations Center is a central command and control facility, responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency management and disaster management at a statewide strategic level during an emergency and ensuring California’s continuity of operations. During an emergency, the SOC plays a primary role in assisting the Governor in carrying out State emergency responsibilities. The SOC is staffed by Cal OES personnel and representatives from federal, state, regional, local, tribal, and non-governmental organizations.

• Management: The SOC Management Team is crucial for ensuring a coordinated, effective, and safe response to an incident. As incidents expand SOC Management, led by the SOC Director and Deputy Director, provides leadership, strategic direction, and support to the operational teams, ensuring that all aspects of the incident response are managed effectively and efficiently.
• Operations:SOC Operations is responsible for implementing and coordinating the response objectives as determined by the incident action plan for each incident. This includes the coordination and deployment of resources through mission assignments, procurement, and the implementation of our mutual aid systems. The Operation Section works closely with local, state, and federal stakeholders to ensure timely and efficient delivery of resources.
• Planning & Intel: The SOC Planning and Intelligence section provides responders and executive leadership the information they need to make decisions and help the people of California during an incident. This includes producing: Incident Action Plans (IAP’s) which set incident priorities and objectives; Situation Status (SitStat) reports which assess the current situation and determine unmet needs; and advance planning products looking at the potential future impacts an incident may have so we are better prepared to respond and minimize impacts.
• Logistics: The Logistics Section is responsible for providing all support needs for the incident. This includes ordering resources, providing facilities, transportation, supplies, equipment maintenance, food services, communications, and personnel to the State Operations Center and field operations. The Logistics Section coordinates with Cal OES Disaster Logistics; in addition to internal and external partners.
• Finance & Admin:SOC Finance and Administration is responsible for all financial, administrative, and cost analysis aspects of the incident. This section ensures that all financial considerations are managed efficiently and that administrative requirements are met ensuring that financial and administrative tasks for the incident is well-supported and properly documented.
• Safety and Peer Support: The Health and Safety Team in the State Operations Center is comprised of the Safety Officer and the Peer Support Officer. This team plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of all personnel involved in incident operations by providing resources and messaging to all participants, keeping personnel apprised of all health and safety information that pertains to the activation.

Situation Cell

The Situation Cell (SitCell) is a team of highly trained Senior Emergency Services Coordinators and Program Managers specializing in identification of emerging and near-term threats and trends, analysis of potential impacts, and development of situation analysis reports for key stakeholders. The unit’s mission is to gather timely, clear, concise intelligence through all-source analysis, to gain a decision-making advantage for Cal OES and our partners.

The SitCell capability for incident reporting 24/7 is achieved through a rotating Duty Officer Program. The SitCell gives a “warm start” to a State Operations Center (SOC) activation by providing the SOC with initial situational awareness. This capability, called Enhanced Watch, gives Cal OES more flexibility when responding and supporting to an incident.

The SitCell is pioneering a firm foundation for collaborative networks of emergency management intelligence.