The Brief

On a fall morning 34 years ago, a fire, rekindled and supercharged by Diablo winds, began its assault on the East Bay hills. Many times since, Californians have lived through similar disasters.

The fire then was fueled by brush — desiccated by both long-term drought and days of 90-degree heat during the peak of California’s fire season. Powerful winds cast embers wide, setting shake roofs alight throughout hilly, narrow neighborhood streets.

First responders were overwhelmed.

Water pressure fell as service lines ruptured and homes burned.

Communication between departments — including those that rushed into the area to offer mutual aid — was disorganized, with at least one unit waiting 24 hours for orders, while others freelanced, doing what they thought was best. A lack of common radio frequencies delayed evacuations.

Those who went to the emergency operations center were “greeted by pandemonium,” according to an after-action report released by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, known as Cal OES.

Just days after the Oakland Hills fire began on Oct. 20, 1991, the flames were under control. But 25 people were dead, 150 were injured and more than 3,000 homes were destroyed, making it one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history at the time.

California Gov. Pete Wilson, right, surveys the destruction after the Oakland Hills Fire.

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Robert A. Eplett

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Cal OES

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The 1991 fire tore through neighborhoods of narrow, winding, hilly streets in the East Bay.

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Robert A. Eplett.

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Cal OES

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Things had gone so poorly that California’s legislators recognized change was needed.

By 1993, they enacted a law to overhaul how the state manages disasters, including how emergency responders coordinated their work and how they disseminated lessons learned. One provision of the law mandates that Cal OES “complete an after-action report within 180 days after each declared disaster.” (The original legislation said 120 days; lawmakers changed it to 180 in 2022.)

The goal was to make sure that emergency departments across the state could learn from thorough recountings of past crises, avoid repeating mistakes and save lives in the process.

However, compliance has been a mess.

Since 2017, Cal OES has completed only six after-action reports, a fraction of the more than 100 that need to be completed following disaster proclamations by California governors. Eighteen are listed by the agency as in process.

It’s been more than 2,900 days since the 2017 Thomas Fire — one of California’s most destructive fires — was contained. Cal OES has yet to release its report.

The 2017 fire season after-action report is still being written by Cal OES in early 2026. In this photo, a hot shot crew cuts a line among homes in Montecito during the 2017 Thomas Fire.

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Many other reports have been similarly delayed.

Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, a Stockton Democrat who heads the Assembly Committee on Emergency Management, pointed out that the report on the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California “was not published until 10 months after the L.A. wildfires started.”

“Emergency response is a rapidly changing landscape,” Ransom said, “and when reports take years to become public, we leave potential solutions on the table and risk those lessons becoming outdated.”

Cal OES told LAist that it remains committed to streamlining its processes while upholding rigorous standards.

“For every incident that receives a Governor’s State of Emergency proclamation, Cal OES conducts a thorough after-action review,” a Cal OES spokesperson wrote in a statement. “Given the scale, complexity, and number of after-action reviews, completion timelines can vary to ensure completeness and meaningful analysis.”

It isn't just fires: All kinds of disasters require state reports. The Cal OES after-action from a 2021 oil spill in Orange County is still in process.

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'Cal OES has never completed after-action reports on time'

In 2019, the California State Auditor’s Office released a deep dive into Cal OES’s history of delayed after-action reports, finding that out of 65 emergency proclamations issued from 2014 to 2018, just eight reports had been completed.

According to the audit, “the project manager responsible for improving after-action reporting at Cal OES shared with Cal OES’s advisory board and its director that Cal OES has never completed after-action reports on time.”

The audit — titled “California Is Not Adequately Prepared to Protect Its Most Vulnerable Residents From Natural Disasters” — references mistakes made during the Sonoma Complex and Thomas fires in 2017.

It points out that crucial evacuation messages during the Sonoma and Thomas fires were sent only in English, even though many people in those areas lacked proficiency in the language. But, the audit argues, if Cal OES had published its reports in a more timely manner, that could have influenced Butte County to make changes to its emergency preparations. A year after those 2017 fires, the Camp Fire killed 85 people in Butte County. During that fire, the county sent alerts only in English.

“The potential value that one jurisdiction could gain from learning about another’s errors during emergency planning or response makes Cal OES’s failure to complete timely after-action reports a serious concern,” the audit states.

The COVID-19 after-action report is still in draft form. Here a person takes a test in Oakland in 2022.

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Martin do Nascimento

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Why the delays?

The audit scrutinizes three factors that contribute to Cal OES’s delays:

• Non-cooperation from local agencies
• Lack of staff to research and write the reports
• A lack of clarity about when the clock starts on 180 days

Cal OES makes the case to the auditor that local jurisdictions are often delayed in sharing information, if they share it at all. That’s a problem, as state after-action reports rely on local agencies providing details about their emergency response.

The auditor questions Cal OES’s decision to delay the reports for that reason, given the benefits of sharing information quickly. It's unclear if this issue has been resolved since the audit was written.

Another reason cited for the delays was a lack of resources.

In response to the audit, then-Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci acknowledged that the agency had not completed after-action reports in a timely manner and that there was an ever-growing backlog. He cited personnel constraints, and said that the same staffers responsible for the reports were also working on the disasters themselves.

“As disasters increase in scale, complexity and frequency, there are more AARs [after-action reports] to complete, yet fewer staff to complete them,” Ghilarducci wrote.

The after-action report for Tropical Storm Hillary is also still in the works. Here, Joseph Wolensky stands on a Palm Desert street and asks, "You call this a storm?" during the August 2023 deluge.

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However, he said, even if an after-action report hasn’t been filed, Cal OES engages in dialogue with local jurisdictions during and after a disaster.

The auditor’s office replied: “These discussions are a poor substitute for the broader and more complete perspective that after-action reports are intended to provide.”

Cal OES has increased staffing levels since the audit was published in 2019, according to Heather Gonzalez and Drew Soderborg, analysts with California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office. They told LAist that it’s unclear whether that increase has improved the agency’s ability to write after-action reports.

Finally, in the audit, Cal OES mentions a lack of clarity around when the 180-day period specified in California law begins. The agency operates as though the clock starts when a disaster has wrapped. But that moment can be unclear — or even nonexistent.

Which may be why the state has waited a decade for an after-action report about tree mortality. That emergency declaration was signed in 2015 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown, who left office in January 2019. According to official records, that emergency is ongoing, as are many others, years after being initiated.

The audit also notes that Cal OES officials have discussed the need for a firm definition of when to start the 180-day clock.

“Given that the law requiring Cal OES to complete these reports became effective in January 1993,” the auditor wrote, “... we question the urgency of its efforts to produce those reports in a timely manner.”

Ransom, the Assembly member from Stockton, pointed out that the disaster declarations for the Eaton and Palisades fires also remain open. She said she is developing legislation to improve the after-action report process.

“We need to be proactive about ensuring California is better equipped for the next disaster, " Ransom said. “We are determined to get reports out faster and ensure accountability moving forward.”

Preparations are underway to begin critical testing of NASA spacecraft for the Artemis II mission that will send four astronauts around the moon.

Fuel testing is set to begin Monday, NASA says. The fueling phase of prelaunch testing known as a "wet dress rehearsal" was delayed because of freezing temperatures at the launch pad located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Here is what to know about preparations and the mission.

What exactly is a wet dress rehearsal?

A wet dress rehearsal is a designated time before launch when engineers and crew conduct testing of the spacecraft. During this final test, the Orion spacecraft that will house the astronauts and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will be checked over the course of a detailed countdown schedule.

A countdown clock began at 8:13 p.m. ET on Saturday, counting down to the simulated liftoff on Monday evening.

On Monday, more than 700,000 gallons of fuel containing liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen is scheduled to be loaded into the rocket. Launch teams will also practice removing the fuel from the rocket and will conduct a launch countdown.

A simulated launch window will start at 9 p.m. ET and is expected to last until 1 a.m.

The Orion spacecraft has been powered up for several days because of the cold weather and engineers are preparing to charge its flight batteries, NASA said on Sunday.

The chance for the Artemis II mission launch, which was scheduled to occur as early as this coming Friday, will now take place no earlier than next Sunday, according to NASA. There are also launch opportunities in March and April.

The mission is set to last for 10 days and will send astronauts around the Earth and then around the moon before heading back to Earth. It's the first crewed mission to fly to the moon in more than 50 years. The Artemis II mission is a step toward the goal of returning humans to the moon's surface and then eventually to Mars.

Artemis II astronauts are not part of prelaunch testing

NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen will not be on the spacecraft during testing.

The Artemis II mission astronauts have been in quarantine in Houston since Jan. 23. This is to limit their exposure to others and ensure they do not become ill prior to launch. During quarantine, the astronauts wear masks, avoid public spaces and keep contact with family, friends and colleagues as long as they follow quarantine guidelines, according to NASA.

If prelaunch testing goes well, the astronauts will fly to Kennedy Space Center in Florida six days before launch where they will live in astronaut crew quarters inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building.
Copyright 2026 NPR

President Donald Trump said Sunday he will move to close Washington's Kennedy Center performing arts center for two years starting in July for construction, his latest move to upturn the storied venue since returning to the White House.

Trump's announcement on social media follows a wave of cancellations by leading performers and groups since the president ousted the previous leadership and added his name to the building. Trump made no mention in his post of the recent cancellations.

His proposal, announced days after the premiere of Melania, a documentary of the first lady, was shown at the center, he said was subject to approval by the board of the Kennedy Center, which has been stocked with his hand-picked allies. Trump himself chairs the center's board of trustees.

"This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment," Trump wrote in his post.

Neither Trump nor Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell, a Trump ally, have provided evidence to back up their claims about the building being in disrepair.

The sudden decision is certain to spark blowback as Trump upturns the popular venue, which began as a national cultural center but Congress renamed as a "living memorial" to President John F. Kennedy in 1964, in the aftermath of the slain president's death. Opened in 1971, it is open year-round as a public showcase for the arts, including the National Symphony Orchestra.

Since Trump returned to the White House, the Kennedy Center is one of many Washington landmarks that he has sought to put his stamp on in his second term. He demolished the East Wing of the White House and launched a massive $400 million ballroom project, is actively pursuing building a triumphal arch on the other side the Arlington Bridge from the the Lincoln Memorial, and has plans for Washington Dulles International Airport.

Leading performing arts groups have pulled out of appearances, most recently, composer Philip Glass, who announced his decision to withdraw his Symphony No. 15 "Lincoln" because he said the values of the center today are in "direct conflict" with the message of the piece.

Last month, the Washington National Opera announced that it will move performances away from the Kennedy Center in another high-profile departure following Trump's takeover of the U.S. capital's leading performing arts venue.

The head of artistic programming for the center abruptly left his post last week, less than two weeks after being named to the job.

A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

As Trump announced his plan to rename the building — erecting his name on the building's main front — he drew sharp opposition from members of Congress, and some Kennedy family members.

Kerry Kennedy, a niece of John F. Kennedy, said in a social post on X at the time that she will remove Trump's name herself with a pickax when his term ends.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Before he was the man expected to start as quarterback in Super Bowl LX this Sunday for the Seattle Seahawks, before he signed a $100 million contract, before he was the third overall pick in the NFL draft and before he was a standout at USC, Sam Darnold was turning heads as a football and basketball star at San Clemente High School in Orange County.

LAist recently caught up with Darnold's high school football coach, Jaime Ortiz, to find out what he was like before he made it to pro football's biggest stage.

Ortiz, who is still the coach at San Clemente High, has known the Darnold family even before Sam came to San Clemente. He says Sam was always ahead of other kids when it came to sports.

"Whether it was soccer, whether it was baseball, whether it was football, whether it was basketball, Sam was always an ultra-competitor," Ortiz said.

The coach said he first started noticing something special in Darnold during his sophomore year. However, Darnold's ascent was put on pause his junior season due to injury. But Ortiz said everything changed in Darnold's senior year.

"He was the league MVP in football. He was the league MVP in basketball. He was the Orange County Athlete of the Year," Ortiz said. "Everybody kind of recognized, whether it was on the basketball court or on the football field, that Sam was one of the best athletes to come out of Orange County."

Ortiz said he's enjoyed watching Darnold take the next step in his football journey.

"It's a blessing as his high school head coach to see a guy live out his dream and doing it the right way," Ortiz said.

Ortiz said Darnold is still a big part of the San Clemente High family. He comes back to Orange County in the off-season and works out at the high school. Ortiz still texts weekly with the quarterback and may watch the Super Bowl in person on Sunday. Ortiz said current students at San Clemente High are proud of what Darnold's done.

"There's a lot of Seahawks fans down here in San Clemente," Ortiz said. "They weren't there last year, but they are now, primarily because of Sam."

They'll be cheering Darnold on Feb. 8 when his Seattle Seahawks face the New England Patriots for Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara.

On a recent weekday morning in Los Angeles, a young mother dropped off her 2-year-old and 4-year-old at a child care center located in a neighbor’s home. It was the 2-year-old’s birthday, so she also brought a treat for the staff and kids: a “Cars”-themed red velvet cake, the child’s favorite.

Then she went off to her job as an office cleaner. The child care provider never saw her again.

“She was picked up,” said the provider, Adriana, who asked to be identified only by her first name because although she is a legal resident of the U.S. she fears wrongful deportation. She also asked not to name the mother and children. “The kids were saying, ‘Where’s mommy? Where’s mommy?’ It was hard for us providers to explain. It was heartbreaking.”

The Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigrants has taken a particularly high toll on the child care industry – both for families and providers. In California, almost 40% of the workforce is foreign-born and more than a million parents — immigrant and otherwise — rely on child care providers so they can go to work.

Absenteeism and empty classrooms

Several recent reports have found that since Trump beefed up immigration enforcement, child care centers have lost staff — immigrants who are afraid to come to work — as well as immigrant parents who are afraid to drop their children off for fear of being arrested and separated from their children.

One study, from the Center for Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley, found the effects to be wide-ranging.

“The administration’s policies targeting immigrant populations not only harm the immigrant (early childhood education) workforce, they also have the potential to destabilize the already-fragile ECE system that immigrant and nonimmigrant children, families, and ECE professionals rely on,” the authors wrote.

The loss of staff and revenue has affected all families, not just immigrants, because it means the already-tight child care market has shrunk even further, according to New America, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C.

“Aggressive immigration enforcement has already caused closures, empty classrooms, and absenteeism in day care centers in some communities,” according to a report by the American Immigration Council, a research and advocacy organization.

‘Bigger than we can imagine’

California is home to about 1.7 million babies and toddlers, the vast majority of whom spend at least some time in child care while their parents work. Some are enrolled in licensed day care centers, some have nannies, and others have informal arrangements with neighbors or family members.

The tightening of the child care industry has been an extra burden on families who are already juggling the demands of work and home life. Child care is expensive and hard to find in California — the immigration crackdown has made it even harder.

“The impact, especially on women, is bigger than we can imagine,” said Patricia Lozano, executive director of Early Edge California, which advocates for early childhood education.

But it’s the children who might suffer the most, she said. Not only are some missing their regular child care providers, but those with immigrant parents may be experiencing stress at home and a disruption of their routine.

“Kids benefit from going to child care. That’s a healthy, safe place for them to be,” Lozano said.

Lozano’s group encourages immigrant families to make a plan for their children in case a parent is arrested, and inform the child care provider. The group also reminds child care providers they shouldn’t allow immigration enforcement officers into a child care center unless the agents have a signed judicial warrant. Early Edge California and other groups have published a website, All in for Safe Schools, that offers guidance to schools and child care centers on how to help immigrant families and LGBTQ students. In addition, the Service Employees International Union, which represents more than 30,000 chid care providers in California, also provides resources for immigrants.

“Know your rights, have a plan, be prepared,” Lozano said. “And talk to your kids about it in a way they can understand.”

Locked doors, pulled shades

In Alameda County, where 34% of the population is foreign-born, the immigration crackdown has had a noticeable effect on families and child care providers, even though the county has not seen significant immigration enforcement compared to other regions, said Kym Johnson, chief executive officer of BANANAS, a nonprofit child care referral and family resource service in Oakland.

Some child care providers are avoiding public places, such as parks and playgrounds, while some immigrant families have dropped out of playgroups or kept their children home from day care when immigration agents are spotted in the neighborhood, Johnson said.

At one playgroup in East Oakland, organizers started locking the door and closing the blinds to make families feel safe. At another playgroup, located at a library, staff helped families create safety plans in case immigration agents arrived.

Bananas used to hold monthly diaper give-aways in a parking lot that would regularly attract 200 families. Fewer people started showing up after Trump took office, Johnson said, so now the group holds the giveaways several times a month, attracting smaller crowds, and moved the event indoors, so families can’t be seen from the street.

“People have been trying to stay under the radar when they can,” Johnson said. “We do what we can to help people, because so many of these families don’t have a voice. And the kiddos especially don’t have a voice.”

‘They’re targeting everyone’

Adriana, the child care provider in Los Angeles, has been in the child care business for 23 years. She tends to a dozen or so children in her home and is also raising her own four children. The day of the 2-year-old’s “Cars”-themed birthday, Adriana called the children’s grandmother after the mother didn’t arrive to pick them up.

Alarmed, the grandmother tried unsuccessfully to reach the children’s mother and then brought the children to her house. Eventually the family learned what happened: Both the children’s parents plus their uncle were arrested and deported to Colombia. After a few weeks, the grandmother and children moved to Colombia, as well, so the family could be united.

Meanwhile, Adriana started bringing her passport everywhere she went. She also started locking both gates at her house, not opening the front door unless she knows who’s ringing the bell, and working with parents — even those with legal status — to create back-up plans in case they’re arrested.

“I’m here legally, but they’re targeting everyone,” she said. “I’m just scared. What if my kids are in school and I can’t call? I try not to let it affect me, but it’s always in the back of my mind.”

She often feels frustrated and helpless, but tries to create a safe, welcoming environment for the children in her care so they can focus on having fun — and find some relief from the anxiety they may be feeling at home.

“It’s sad. (Immigration agents) are targeting hard-working people, not criminals,” she said. “People who are just trying to make ends meet for their families. But my job is to take care of children. So we try not to put that fear onto the kids.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.