Clark County EOP Basic Plan 4. Roles and Responsibilities 4 Roles and Responsibilities Section 4 identifies roles and responsibilities for staff and agencies that are part of the County’s emergency management structure and for departments and agencies at all levels of government, and community partners that may perform emergency functions under the EOP. 4.1 General Agencies and response partners may have various roles and responsibilities throughout an emergency’s duration. Therefore, it is particularly important that the local command structure be established to support response and recovery efforts and maintain a significant amount of flexibility to expand and contract as the situation changes. Typical duties and roles may also vary depending on the incident’s size and severity of impacts, as well as the availability of local resources. Thus, it is imperative to develop and maintain depth of qualified staff within the command structure and response community. Primary roles involved during the initial emergency response will focus on first responders, such as fire services, law enforcement services, and public works agencies. Depending on the type of incident, initial response also may include hospitals, the Southern Nevada Health District, and hazardous material teams. In all emergencies, saving and protecting human lives is the top priority of the County and emergency response personnel. Other departments that may be involved in emergency response have emergency functions that are similar to their normal duties. Each department is responsible for developing and maintaining its own procedures for carrying out these functions during an emergency. Specific responsibilities are outlined below, as well as in individual annexes. 4.2 Emergency Management Organization For the purposes of this plan, the County’s emergency management structure will be referred to generally as the EMO. Roles and responsibilities of individual staff and agencies are described throughout the plan to further clarify the County’s emergency management structure. The Emergency Manager may, depending on the size or type of incident, delegate the authority to lead response and recovery actions to other County staff. Additionally, some authority to act in the event of an emergency may already be delegated by ordinance or by practice. As a result, the organizational structure for the EMO can vary depending upon the location, size, and impact of the incident. The EMO is divided into two general groups, organized by function—the Policy Group and Emergency Response Agencies. 4-1