This year's Golden Guardian was based on an on-going series of massive rain storms and the ensuing flood inundation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region. The amounts of rain fall overwhelmed the aging levee system and caused 10,000's to suffer varying stages of flood damage and 100,000's to be without power.

Twenty-one counties and more than 5,000 federal, state and local emergency managers and first responders around the Golden State participated in the seventh edition of Golden Guardian.

Hundreds of emergency managers and first responders participated at the State's Operations Center in Sacramento.

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and creates a network of water runoffs toward the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean. According to historical record, levee construction began in this region in the late 19^th century with the proliferation of commercial farming in Northern California. Today there are more than 1,100 miles of levees. It spans over Alameda, Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano and Yolo Counties, but nearly all Northern Counties waterways affect the Delta's waters. The water from the Delta serves about 25 million people in the state, or 66 percent of California's population, while supporting a $2 billion agriculture industry for the region.

On May 18, Cal EMA Acting Secretary Mike Dayton participated in a briefing for executives and media, alongside staff from the Department of Water Resources (DWR) at the DWR Flood Fight Warehouse at Twitchell Island near Isleton. The briefing also included a demonstration from DWR Incident Command Teams on the level of coordination during a flood fighting effort and how resources are used during an emergency.

Flood fighting crews combat water levels on Twitchell Island during the flood of 1998 in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Department of Water Resources).

The day prior, Acting Secretary Dayton also took part in a press event with the Capitol Region's American Red Cross chapter, launching the Ready When the Time Comes campaign. American Red Cross and Cal EMA have partnered with Grainger, an industrial equipment company, and PG&E to train corporate employees to mobilize for community-based volunteer forces during disasters. An assembly was also held at John Ehrhardt Elementary in Elk Grove to continue Cal EMA's outreach to schools and children. 

"The purpose of the exercises this year is really to ensure that people are on top of their game," said Acting Secretary Dayton. "Disasters are never convenient and can happen without much warning. California's Golden Guardian is sort of the pinnacle of testing our emergency managers' abilities to operate under stress. It is vital that the relationships between jurisdictions stay rock solid." 

Acting Secretary Mike Dayton and Cal EMA's Jana Bullock, with sixth-grader Madeline Miller assisting, host a presentation at John Ehrhardt Elementary School in Elk Grove with the Safely Out program.

One of the lead exercise planners, Jim Woodward of Cal EMA, said the process that built Golden Guardian 2011 began before 2010's earthquake-themed drill kicked off last year. Dozens of meetings, seminars, conferences, tabletop exercises and training sessions pieced together the massive undertaking.

"More money has been lost in California due to floods than any other type of disaster in the state's history," Woodward said. "This year we aimed to improve and enhance the development of the common operating picture in response and recovery to a catastrophic incident like we simulated in Golden Guardian. We also wanted to make a stronger effort in including our state, local and private partners to the overall strategy." 

For more information on the Golden Guardian event or other drills and exercises forthcoming for Cal EMA, check out the Training and Exercise page here.

Dan Kimble, of the California Utility Emergencies Association, and Cal EMA's Chief of Staff Helen Lopez participate in a mock press conference during Golden Guardian 2011.

"This is a crime against many of the most vulnerable silent victims who have no way out," said Mike Dayton, Acting Secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency. "The better understanding and collaboration that takes place between all these agencies, the more effective our overall effort is to end the suffering of those trapped and victimized."

Leaders from the United States Attorney's Offices (Eastern, Northern, Southern and Central Districts), Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement joined with members of human trafficking task forces from throughout California gathered to share best practices for combating human trafficking and learn about the latest efforts to build upon existing collaborative efforts.

"The meeting here today, by its broad participation by multiple federal, state and local agencies, is representative of the kind of collaboration that is really necessary in this area to make a serious dent in human trafficking," said Benjamin B. Wagner, US Attorney of the Eastern District of California. "This is a deep and spreading problem that can only be attacked by the collaboration of the agencies that are here today."

"We really had no task force presence 30 years ago, but look where we are today," said Herbert Brown, Special Agent in Charge of Sacramento's FBI Office. "I strongly believe the only way we'll have success in combating human trafficking is to maintain this type of fusion between agencies."

Frontline law enforcement officials from human trafficking task forces in San Diego's North County Region, San Francisco, Riverside and San Jose shared information on the latest cases they're working on.

In an effort to develop new partnerships between Fusion Centers and the human trafficking task forces, leaders of California's State Threat Assessment Center and Sacramento's Regional Threat Assessment Center provided key insights on state and local efforts to provide effective intelligence information to uncover the often-unseen crime.

Because human trafficking is often an international crime, those attending also heard the latest research and information from The Council of State Government - West, and the North American Center for Transborder Studies at Arizona State University.

The California Emergency Management Agency has provided $375,000 grants for a three year period, for victim services, operations, and prosecution to each of the six task forces and their NGOs in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, Westminster (Orange County) and San Diego. Cal EMA also provided additional funding for the development of three additional task forces in Sacramento, Fresno, and Riverside.

To help local jurisdictions keep up with the latest trends, Cal EMA provided a $1.2 million grant to the Westminster Human Trafficking Task Force to train law enforcement and district attorneys on identifying child victims of human trafficking. More than 100 participants attended this meeting at the California Emergency Management Agency's headquarters in Rancho Cordova.

• Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)
• Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response (EHTER)
• The Continuing Challenge -  Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Workshop
• Crisis Communications & the Media: Level II
• Disaster Mitigation

From the tornadoes in Missouri to the earthquakes in Japan, recent events have brought into focus the need for first responders to continue training for the worst case scenario. In support of this critical ongoing mission, Cal EMA brought together local, state and national first responders to participate in Urban Search and Rescue Medical Team Training to enhance their life saving skills.

This large-scale disaster training course was hosted by the California Fire and Rescue Training Authority, with funding provided by Cal EMA Fire & Rescue Division. The course, which took place during the first week of June, was being held on the grounds of Moffett Field near Mountain View, Calif. The course was a FEMA-equivalent course designed to meet training requirements for FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Teams Medical Specialists and Medical Team Managers, covering team's deployment, medical operations, safety and rescue techniques.

California Fire and Rescue Training Authority is a coalition of the California Emergency Management Agency's Fire Division, Sacramento Fire Department and Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

To participate in the course, students must be members of a Regional Task Force and have at least some medical training. Instructors include staff from Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) crews from California Task Force (CATF) 3 in Menlo Park, CA-TF 4 in Oakland and CA-TF 7 in Sacramento.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Ames Research Center hosted the participants in the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team training facility, specifically designed to support disaster and rescue training.

Doctors, nurses and paramedics from throughout the U.S. have been undergoing long hours of vigorous training by medical rescue experts on how to extricate, evacuate and care for the victims of major disasters. This cooperative venture encouraged collaboration between local, regional, state and national emergency responders from FEMA, California State agencies, the public health arena and multiple fire departments.

Links:

California Fire and Rescue Training Authority

California Emergency Management Agency

Sacramento Fire Department

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District

DART at NASA's Ames Research Center