Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

After six years of service, Ryan Derby, Manager of the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services (OES), will depart the County this Friday, Oct.10, 2025, to join the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) in Sacramento.

Under Derby’s leadership, Humboldt County OES has guided the community through numerous local emergencies and advanced preparedness efforts that will continue to strengthen the county’s ability to respond to disasters.

Sheriff William Honsal praised Derby’s contributions, stating, “Ryan has served the County of Humboldt with distinction for the past six years, providing exceptional leadership, innovation, and dedication in one of California’s most disaster-prone regions. We thank Ryan for his incredible service and commitment to the Sheriff’s Office and the residents of Humboldt County, and we wish him every success in his new role with the State.”

Derby highlighted several areas of importance and accomplishments that have happened during his leadership and one of those was the implementation of the Genasys evacuation management platform.  He describes it as “a major accomplishment for my team.” He explained, “This project brought together partners from throughout the county to identify evacuation zones that are ready for use at a moment’s notice, decreasing the time it takes us to provide life-saving notifications to the public, and providing an interactive map to increase understanding of danger areas.”

Derby also expressed pride in the county’s response to numerous local emergencies. “I’m also really proud of the successful response efforts the county has led for numerous local emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic where we relocated the Emergency Operations Center twice to increase staffing capacity and set up a large Joint Information Center to oversee public communications,” he said. He added, “Another example, which is probably my favorite because of its unconventional nature, was ‘Operation Hay Drop.’ This was a major winter storm that cut off access to communities, and the largest impact was the inability to feed livestock. Our team coordinated with CAL FIRE, the US Coast Guard, and California National Guard to air drop bales of hay via helicopter to isolated ranches, helping reduce cattle die off. It was a fun mission, and I’ll never forget loading hay into a Huey.”

Derby stated one of his proudest achievements was the complete remodeling of the county’s EOC. “My team and I had a vision and were able to make it come to life on a shoestring budget—replacing tables, redesigning the flow of the room, having it painted and incorporating numerous display screens to increase our ability to monitor, track and share information. When I started in OES, our emergency operations center (EOC) was borderline embarrassing. Now it is both something that the team can be proud of and will better enable the County of Humboldt to serve the community,” he said.

In addition, Derby emphasized technological improvements and partnerships. “We have embraced a lot of new technologies to increase our service delivery and improve efficiency—such as the evacuation management platform, increased use and build out of our Humboldt Alert system and obtaining the ability to send alerts through the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS). Additionally, with an abundance of consecutive local emergencies that Humboldt County has experienced in recent years, we have had opportunities to identify new partners that can fill in the gaps of emergency response and recovery that local government cannot deliver on and have leveraged these partnerships to build a more resilient county,” he said.

He also highlighted community engagement: “We have made a conscious effort to be more public facing, engaging in routine community outreach events and talking to people, encouraging them to sign up for alerts, helping them develop preparedness plans, etc. This type of engagement is extremely important to both inform the community and show them that the people providing emergency information live, work and care for this area.”

 Derby acknowledged the difficulties of working in a rural, hazard-prone county. “Humboldt County is one of the most hazard-prone areas of California and unfortunately is very poorly funded and understaffed in emergency management. Finding creative ways to leverage partnerships, increase efficiency of process and meet legislative requirements has at times been difficult. These challenges also serve as one of the more interesting aspects of the job—having to come up with unconventional approaches to how our work is carried out and finding solutions to complex problems,” he said.

 Derby advised future leadership to focus on partnerships. “Prioritize relationship building. This career field is all about partnership and working together to serve the community in times of need. Emergency management is the world’s greatest team sport, and nobody will be successful if they try to do it themselves. Also, listening and learning from peers and partners is the only way to understand the challenges our community faces, understand community needs and make informed decisions on protective actions to take. Nobody will ever have all the answers, we must work together,” he said.

 The Office of Emergency Services exists to help the public make informed, confident decisions before, during, and after a crisis. The mission is to ensure people have the right information at the right time, because good information saves lives. Day-to-day, Humboldt County OES employees work to build a resilient community by planning for known hazards, educating the public, and strengthening partnerships across government, nonprofits, and the private sector. When emergencies occur, their focus shifts to coordinating resources, providing clear guidance, and supporting the restoration of critical services.  Derby said, “While we can’t create individual plans for every resident, we can empower people with the tools and information they need to prepare themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods.”

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Emergency Services thank Ryan for his years of leadership and service. His dedication and innovation have left a lasting mark, making Humboldt County stronger, more resilient, and better prepared for the future.