Bishop Lions Club gets emergency management update from county official
Civic club’s program features Mikaela Torres
Earlier this month, the Bishop Lions Club received an update on emergency management from Inyo County’s Emergency Services Manager Mikaela Torres.
“What is emergency management” was the central theme of Torres’ program, which included five phases of crisis management involving prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
She delved into the declaration process required of government to assist at the local, county/regional level and even state and federal levels if the emergency is so dire, especially with fire and flood potentialities.
Numerous agencies can be involved in addressing the emergencies, she noted, including the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Symons Ambulance, Bishop Police Department and Inyo County Sheriff’s Department, Bishop Volunteer Fire
Department, CalFire, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, CalTrans, Inyo County Search and Rescue work in their various roles of responsibility when called to do so by a central command in charge.
Torres touched on the January 2017 “Rocky Road” show with avalanche damage on mountain highways, March 2017 flooding, the July 2019 Taboose fire, COVID-19related activity to deal with the pandemic and its impacts on the county, the April 2022 wind event damage, the July 2022 Fairview Fire, and flooding in August and September, which caused substantial road damage throughout the county, including Death Valley.
For more information about the club, its programs and membership, call President Barb Smith, (760) 937-2272, or contacting any Bishop Lion. For October only, Bishop Lions will move to the Bishop Country Club for its Oct. 19 meeting at 6 p.m. and it Oct. 27 meeting at noon. The meetings will return to the VFW when the remodel is completed.
The Oct. 27 meeting’s program will be about the Manzanar relocation center and its history, restoration and other activities. The public is invited to contact Smith for more information.