For the purposes of emergency management, the State of Alabama is divided into seven geographical divisions, ranging from eight to twelve counties respectively. Each Division will have a pre-identified primary and alternate Division Emergency Operations Center (DEOC). The DEOC will be the primary coordination point for all state response and/or recovery operations within the respective area of operation. The Emergency Management Divisions provide the structure for coordinating State and Federal multi-agency support for catastrophic and non-catastrophic disasters or emergencies. Each State Agency designated as a Primary Division Agency will identify an Emergency Support Function (ESF) Coordinator to represent that agency as part of the Unified Coordination Group during Division activations. The ESF Coordinators provide the mechanisms for interagency coordination during all phases of incident management. Some departments and agencies provide resources for response, support, and program implementation during the early stage of an event, while others are more prominent in the recovery phase. The Divisions represent the operational response structure for the state.
