Torrance Municipal Code § 16.1 General

The following words and phrases shall, for the purpose of this Chapter, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this Section as defined by the California Emergency Services Act (Chapter 7 of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code, Section 8550 et seq.)

a) Emergency. The term emergency shall mean the actual or threatened existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within this City caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot or earthquake, or other conditions, including conditions resulting from war or imminent threat of war, but other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy, which conditions are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of this City, requiring the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat.

b) Local Emergency. The term local emergency shall mean the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial limits of this City, caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy, which are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of that political subdivision and require the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat, or with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.

c) State of War Emergency. The term state of war emergency shall mean the condition which exists immediately, with or without a proclamation thereof by the Governor, whenever this state or nation is attacked by an enemy of the United States, or upon receipt by the state of a warning from the federal government indicating that such an enemy attack is probable or imminent.

d) State of Emergency. The term state of emergency shall mean the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy or conditions causing a "state of war emergency," which, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single county, city and county, or city and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat, or with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.

e) Emergency plans. The term emergency plan shall mean those official and approved documents which describe the principles and methods to be applied in carrying out emergency operations or rendering mutual aid during emergencies. These plans include such elements as continuity of government, the emergency services of governmental agencies, mobilization of resources, mutual aid, and public information.

a) The declared purposes of this Chapter are to provide for the preparation and carrying out of plans for the protection of persons, property and the environment within this City in the event of a emergency; the direction of the emergency organization; and the coordination of the emergency functions with all other public agencies, corporations, organizations, and affected private persons.

b) Any expenditures made in connection with emergency activities, including mutual aid activities, shall be deemed conclusively to be for the direct protection and benefit of the inhabitants and property of the City.