New York City Office of Emergency Management (New York City, New York)

 fire service, emergency management agency

This building had been the Red Cross center. After 9/11/2001 it was completely refurbished for use as the NYC office of Emergency Management. The agency is responsible for oversight and development of the City's emergency management plans. OEM regularly tests plans by conducting drills and exercises, and responds to emergencies to ensure that other agencies not only follow these plans, but to foster communication amongst the responding agencies. OEM also operates the City's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) where city, state and federal agencies join representatives from the private and nonprofit sectors to coordinate complex responses to emergencies and disasters.

The new OEM building has four floors with 65,000 square feet (6,000 m2) of space. It contains general offices for OEM staff, several conference rooms, the Joint Information Center (a press corps composed of press officers from several city agencies who disseminate information to the public ), a state-of-the-art media briefing room, Watch Command, and the City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). There is also space for senior officials to meet and the building is staffed 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

The nerve center of OEM is its Watch Command. It is staffed 24/7 with representatives from the City’s public safety agencies. They monitor police and fire broadcasts and dispatch OEM Field Responders if an incident warrants. Watch Commanders also have access to New York City’s 911 systems and are responsible for alerting local, state, and federal officials of emergencies. They maintain direct contact with the New York State Emergency Management Office and surrounding jurisdictions to lend support or aid if needed.