 January 17th marks the 30 year anniversary of the 1994 Northridge earthquake. This date marks a touchstone for emergency managers, first responders and local governments across the state. I remember turning on the TV and the TV news was covering this earthquake that had happened early in the morning in Southern California so that was really my kind of first alert that something had happened. At the time you know Cal OES you know we have responsibilities for their response to disasters like that but also the recovery and so first thing that I worked on as an employee at Cal OES was to mobilize for the recovery and the thing about earthquakes is they happen without notice and things move very quickly so we were thinking about the recovery and aftermath at the same time that we were we're responding and helping with rescues and all the important work that was that was going on. This significant event was a turning point in history for Cal OES as we continue our commitment to keeping California communities safe. Every Californian has a responsibility to be prepared and certainly we as the state office of emergency services need to plan for we need to understand what earthquakes are going to be like and the only thing we can't really predict is when they're going to happen or where but we need to have tools in our toolbox if you will and a lot of that is to you know planning, training our first responders and being ready to mobilize and manage whatever it is that comes our way. So at that time the standardized emergency management system which we've now you know had in our as a foundation for our business was brand new to the state so we were just beginning to learn what the benefits of having this you know standard approach disaster so we were able to validate in a lot of ways as we were learning how to implement SEMS and 30 years later that system has proven itself. What we try to do here at OES today is make sure the California fire service is ready for that big one when it does occur. We are looking at various improvements in our fire-based mutual aid system. We're looking at fire following the earthquake which is a huge concern and we're looking at making sure our firefighters can get their fire engines out of the fire stations often the doors to the engine house where the fire engines are stored become jammed and our first responders can't get out. Cal OES is continuously innovating and investing in new methods and technologies including ways to alert Californians before shaking occurs. For earthquakes even though it had been thought of back then we really only recently realized the benefits and the and how we can use earthquake early morning and which does give the public and first responders that valuable few seconds. Those of us who've been through earthquakes you know how important those few seconds are really does give you time to make a decision to to to put yourself in a safer position and so that's really exciting. This has been a game changer. It will automate actions such as slowing down trains putting up message boards notifying transit authorities turning off industrial valves and things like that. The Northridge earthquake is a landmark event in California history with lessons learned that forever transformed the state's emergency management landscape. It highlighted the importance of preparedness coordination and resilience in the face of natural disasters. To see more from us go to news.calos.ca.gov and follow us on all of our social media platforms.