Emergency Management

Welcome to Emergency Management

Layton City’s Emergency Management program is responsible for coordinating the combined efforts and resources from all levels of government and various volunteer organizations to assist and protect the citizens of Layton from the effects of disasters, both natural and man made. Layton’s program supports the community before, during and after unusual events and major disasters by focusing on prevention, protection, response, recovery and mitigation activities.

The Layton City Emergency Manager functions as a part-time Emergency Program Manager, and serves as the City’s liaison on emergency preparedness, response and recovery issues. Duties include:

• Coordinate training and exercises across City departments, and assist departments with their departmental emergency plans;
• Oversee the operation of the City's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) when necessary to manage the distribution of city services and resources to respond and recover from a disaster.
• Work closely with the Fire Department, Police Department, Public Works and other city, county and state agencies to identify and analyze the hazards that may face the community and to develop, implement and update the City’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP).

The City’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) identifies hazards the City is exposed to and provides guidelines to accomplish the primary objectives of saving lives and protecting public health and property. This plan is updated regularly based on lessons learned during training, exercises and actual emergencies. Questions about the plan may be directed to the Emergency Program Manager.

Another important part of the City’s Emergency Management program is the establishment of the Layton Citizen Corps Council (LCCC) to promote community preparedness through an organizational structure dividing the City into Districts, Areas and Blocks. Volunteers serve as District and Area Coordinators, and Block Captains. The Emergency Preparedness Manager trains District Coordinators to work with citizens, faith based organizations, businesses, and other community groups to promote citizen preparedness, including Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. CERT teams in Layton are organized and coordinated under the direction of District and Area Coordinators. The LCCC also encourages citizen participation in Amateur Radio Communications, Neighborhood Watch, FireCorps and Volunteers in Police Services.

Citizen Preparedness

Layton City is committed to prepare for emergencies. This includes not only preparing and training City employees, but also encouraging businesses and citizens to prepare as well.

Why should citizens prepare? During routine emergencies, we have become accustomed to thinking of public safety response times in terms of minutes. However, when a major disaster strikes, like a serious earthquake, response times will extend to at least several days. It is critical that Layton citizens be prepared to be on their own for at least 3 - 5 days. This is because in a major disaster, the City's emergency services will be overwhelmed and responses will be prioritized, and it will likely take much longer before emergency services are available to everyone. Therefore it is very important that all citizens prepare in advance to take care of themselves, their families and their businesses for such an occurrence.

What should citizens prepare for? Because of its varying climate and terrain, Utah can experience a variety of disasters. Layton City has identified some of the potential hazards that either have occurred, or could likely occur in the Layton area. This can serve as a useful guide as citizens develop individual, family and business preparedness plans. There are actions that should be taken before, during and after an event that are unique to each hazard. For more information, visit https://beready.utah.gov/family-preparedness/be-informed-family/

How will citizens be notified about a disaster? Warnings may be given to the public using an alert and notification system, AM/FM radio, television, public address systems and mobile sirens via police or fire vehicles. In addition, the Layton Citizen Corps Council has established a localized community system whereby the City provides notification through District Coordinators as a vital means for disseminating warnings. At the present time, there are four (4) established systems to give broad scale warnings to citizens. They are:

1. The Emergency Alert System (EAS) – KSL is the Local Primary broadcast station for the Wasatch Front.
2. Layton’s Emergency Notification System (Geocast Web). Requires registration. To learn more, go to: Emergency Notification System
3. Davis County Sheriff’s Alert and Notification System
4. Calling tree through the Neighborhood Network (Districts – Areas – Blocks). Learn more by viewing Community Organization at Layton Citizen Corps Council.

Get an emergency supply kit. An emergency supply kit is simply a collection of basic items your household may need in the event of an emergency. Try to assemble your kit well in advance of an emergency. You may need to evacuate at a moment’s notice and take essentials with you. You will probably not have time to search for the supplies you need or shop for them. You may need to survive on your own after an emergency. This means having your own food, water and other supplies in sufficient quantity to last for at least 72 hours. Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster. Additionally, basic services such as electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment and telephones may be cut off for days, or even a week, or longer. Your supplies kit should contain items to help you manage during these outages. Additional information is available at https://www.ready.gov/kit and https://beready.utah.gov/family-preparedness/get-a-kit-family/.

Make a family emergency plan. Your family may not be together when a disaster strikes so it is important to plan in advance: How will you get to a safe place? How will you contact each other? What will you do in different situations? Disaster can strike quickly and without warning. It can force you to evacuate your neighborhood or confine you to your home. What would you do if basic services, like water, gas, electricity, and telephones were interrupted? Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene, but cannot reach everyone right away. Families can cope with a major disaster by preparing in advance and working together as a team. Preparing in advance and knowing what to do when an emergency strikes is each family’s best protection and each family’s responsibility. Additional information is available at https://www.ready.gov/plan and https://beready.utah.gov/family-preparedness/make-a-plan-family/.

Get Involved. Layton residents are encouraged to become part of their organized neighborhood network, under the direction of the appointed volunteer Block Captain. See the Mayor’s letter encouraging citizen participation www.laytoncity.org/downloads/LCCC/MayorLetter.pdf. One of the best ways to prepare to care for your family and to help your neighbors when professional emergency services are unavailable is to take a CERT class. For more information see Cert Page. Additional information is available at https://beready.utah.gov/get-involved/.

Hazards in Layton

The first step in being prepared for disasters is knowing what to be prepared for. Identifying what hazards can occur, how often they occur, how severe the situation is likely to get and how these hazards can affect the community should be the basis for your personal and family disaster plan.

A “hazard analysis” considers all types of hazards that have occurred, or could potentially occur. Categories of hazards include natural hazards, such as storms, floods, and seismological events, and technological, or “man-made” hazards, such as an aircraft accident or failure of oil and gas pipelines. Some hazards may be the result of civil or political issues such as a neighborhood that has been the scene of rioting or large demonstrations. Cascading emergencies, or situations when one hazard triggers others in cascading fashion, should also be considered. For example, an earthquake that ruptured natural gas pipelines could result in fires and explosions that dramatically escalate the type and magnitude of events.

The following is a list some of the hazards that have occurred, or could potentially occur in Layton City. Identified hazards include both naturally occurring and “man-made” events:

Preparedness Resources

Make a plan, get a kit, be informed and get involved are the basic steps to prepare yourself and your family for a disaster. Here are some resources to help you learn how!