There is a 99.68% chance of a major earthquake occurring within 30 miles of the City of Santa Clara, California within the next 50 years. The problem is that while the Santa Clara Fire Department (SCFD) is responsible for conducting post-incident Preliminary Damage Assessments (PDA) following large scale incidents in the City of Santa Clara, such as natural and man-made disasters, there is currently no policy/ procedure in place for this purpose. The purpose of this research was to develop a process for implementing a PDA policy/ procedure for the SCFD to be utilized following natural or man-made disasters. Research was conducted for works relating to emergency management, preliminary damage assessment procedures and reporting requirements as well as to the disaster potential specific to Santa Clara. Interviews were conducted with SCFD command staff members and a survey questionnaire was distributed to the author's former and current fellow Executive Fire Officer Program students. Action research was the methodology utilized to answer the following research questions: (a) What is the purpose of performing preliminary damage assessments? (b) What are the natural or man-made disasters for which the Santa Clara Fire Department shall establish a damage assessment policy/ procedure? (c) What is the assessment criteria utilized in performing preliminary damage assessments? The results of this research indicated that the SCFD recognized the need to develop procedures for performing PDAs as this is an important step in the incident management process following a large natural or man-made disaster from which Santa Clara is threatened, specifically earthquake or terrorist attack, should occur. Recommendations included the development of procedures consistent with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) guidelines for performing PDAs while utilizing current technology available to the SCFD as well as the development of training for all SCFD personnel in conducting PDAs.