Larimer County shifts emergency plans to FEMA ‘lifelines’ model, readies dashboards and call center

Larimer County emergency management told the Board of County Commissioners on Feb. 24 that it has rewritten its Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and Recovery Plan to align with the FEMA “lifelines” model and to reflect how the county’s emergency operations center (EOC) actually operates.

Lori Hodges, director of emergency management, said the county will present the two base plans to the board for signatures after the sheriff signs them. “We are no longer gonna use emergency support functions just because it's just not how we do business in the emergency operations center,” Hodges said, describing a move toward a problem‑centric approach organized around lifelines such as safety and security, food/water/shelter, health/medical, energy, communications, transportation and hazardous materials.

The change replaces the older emergency support function (ESF) structure with seven lifeline annexes that group multiple ESFs under each lifeline. Hodges said the lifeline approach is intended to get the right mix of partners into work groups to solve cross‑sector problems before they cascade into larger community impacts — for example, preventing fiber outages that could take 911 offline during the Alexander Mountain Fire.

Why it matters: County staff said the lifelines framework will let the EOC focus on keeping critical systems functional so field responders can do their jobs. Hodges told commissioners the revised EOP and a shorter Recovery Plan more closely match how the county has operated through recent incidents including Cameron Peak Fire and the COVID response.

Operational tools: Staff described two situational‑awareness tools tied to the new plans. Justin Weitzel and Ben Butterfield built a common operating‑picture dashboard that can display incident maps, evacuation areas, shelter status, watches and warnings, incident costs and other quick metrics. A separate lifelines dashboard will show the status of each lifeline using a color code (green/yellow/red/administrative/unknown) so EOC staff can spot emerging problems at a glance. Hodges said the lifelines dashboard is in production and that she will share screenshots with commissioners.

Rameem, the county’s new GIS staffer who started in January, is developing the lifelines dashboard in coordination with the sheriff’s office, Hodges said. “We’re gonna actually have in our emergency operations center at all times what the status is of each of the lifelines,” she said.

Call center and public information: Lauren Barnes, office manager for OEM, described a mobile call center the county used during the Alexander Mountain Fire and is now developing for broader use. The call center is designed for specific incident tasks — damage reports, reunification and routing callers to shelter or partner resources — not for general public messaging, she said. “The JIC can then send them or the dispatch center…to the call center to get those questions answered,” Barnes said.

Hodges and other staff said most of the internal dashboards are for responders and partner agencies, though the county has discussed a public‑facing portal (via ReadyOp or other tools) to share validated situation reports and shelter information when appropriate. Hodges emphasized that some information, such as fatalities or law‑enforcement‑sensitive details, will remain restricted until cleared for release.

Regional coordination and annexes: Commissioners asked about municipal alignment. Hodges said the cities of Loveland and Windsor co‑locate in the Larimer EOC and that Fort Collins and Johnstown have used the county facility; she also noted the plan includes a crosswalk showing how legacy ESFs map into lifelines to help partners that still use the ESF model.

Plans and signatures: Hodges said she will seek the sheriff’s signature first and then present the two base plans for the commissioners’ signatures. She explained that the board approves the two base plans (EOP base plan and Recovery base plan), while operational annexes and contact updates are signed by support agencies and not routed to the board for each minor change. The plans are scheduled for the administrative matters consent agenda at the board’s meeting next week.

Other program work: Staff briefed commissioners on related programs and next steps: a multi‑jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan update (BRIC grant funding sought), continuity of operations/government (COOP) work to broaden departmental ownership, a 2025 community mitigation grant cycle, ongoing preparedness outreach (school and library programs, a Dare to Prepare curriculum, Hero Fest and evacuation exercises), and a planned large exercise in 2027–2028. Josh Roberts, mitigation coordinator, said the hazard mitigation planning procurement will kick off in May.

Access and functional needs: Ricardo Perez, emergency management coordinator, described an access and functional needs working group formed with nonprofits, people with lived experience and partner agencies to improve accessible sheltering and evacuation services. Perez said the group will work with the American Red Cross and other NGOs to identify gaps and make shelters and communications more accessible to people with disabilities, sensory issues and other special needs.

Training and conferences: Cole Parrott and other staff reviewed upcoming training and the Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC) planned April 28–May 1; staff noted a required prerequisite course and urged commissioners and staff who plan to attend to register early.

Finance and reimbursements: Hodges and finance staff described improvements to incident cost tracking and reimbursements. The OEM now maintains a master spreadsheet to track fund 105 activity, incident costs, and state/federal reimbursement status, which Hodges said will make post‑incident accounting and reporting easier.

What the board decided: No formal vote was taken at the work session. Hodges said she will obtain the sheriff’s signature and place the EOP and Recovery Plan base plans on the administrative matters consent agenda next week for the commissioners’ signatures. Commissioners agreed they did not need additional time to review the concise plans but asked staff to note one typo Hodges will correct before signing.

The discussion closed with the sheriff thanking OEM staff for building EOC capacity and noting how the county’s emergency infrastructure has grown over the last decade.

Looking ahead: If approved on the consent agenda, staff said they will send the signed plans to partner jurisdictions, continue annex and COOP alignment, advance hazard mitigation procurement, finalize dashboards and refine public‑facing messaging tools in coordination with public information officers.