On December 18, Supervisor Kuehl put forward a recommendation to direct the Chief Executive Officer of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to convene a working group to review the response to and recovery from the Woolsey fire and provide progress reports back to the Board in 90 days, and every 90 days thereafter, until such time as a final report is prepared and presented to the Board.
The report will:
- Identify best practices for evacuation and repopulation procedures, including the need for a uniform mass notification system for use throughout the Santa Monica Mountains and the County;
- Include, but is not limited to all county departments and other agencies involved in the Woolsey fire and its aftermath: County representatives from emergency response agencies such as the Sheriff’s Department, the Fire Department, Departments of Animal Care and Control, Public Health, Public Works, as well as the Los Angeles Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Ventura County Fire, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, California Office of Emergency Services, California Fire Department, National Parks, and representatives from the unincorporated Santa Monica Mountains, the Cities of Los Angeles, Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Hidden Hills, Malibu and Westlake Village and the County of Ventura;
- Engage the working group and retain a consultant, with subject matter expertise to review the County, City, State, and other involved agencies’ efforts in responding to the Woolsey fire and prepare and present a progress report detailing lessons learned and the strengths of the response and recovery efforts;
- Identify areas of improvement to assist the Board in determining whether changes are needed in order for the County to be best prepared to respond to another catastrophic event such as a wildfire of Woolsey’s magnitude, with an emphasis on the following:
- Cause and origin of the Woolsey fire;
- Deployment of firefighting resources as the fire progressed;
- Distribution and adequacy of firefighting resources, including the availability of mutual aid resources;
- Evacuation notification and procedures, including the implementation of public alert procedures and the use of mass notification systems;
- Strategic communications during the fire and its aftermath between first responders, law enforcement and municipal governments and communities impacted by the fire;
- Community repopulation notification and procedures, including any conflicts in information between and among fire and law enforcement agencies.