LA County leaders, frustrated with report on January fire response, vote to take action

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to implement a set of recommendations aimed at improving emergency alerts and evacuations in the aftermath of January’s megafires.

In a lengthy and at times tense meeting, the supervisors heard the results of a so-called after-action report, which was released last week and laid out a number of failures during the devastating fires. The report highlights fragmented communication with the public, antiquated and ineffective technology and severe understaffing in the county's Office of Emergency Management. Those failures — combined with historically strong winds in a region that hadn’t seen significant rain in about eight months — were magnified by multiple simultaneous fires that stretched overtaxed agencies, the report said.

In a 5-0 vote, the board also directed the county chief executive to look into restructuring the Office of Emergency Management, one of the report’s key recommendations.

"The Eaton and Palisades Fires were not isolated events — they were harbingers of a new era of climate-driven disasters," the motion from supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath reads in part. "Los Angeles County must act now to modernize its emergency infrastructure."

The meeting offered a replay of the county's response in the hours and days after the fires that sparked Jan. 7. Consultants with the McChrystal Group, the contractor tasked by the county to produce the report, presented timelapse maps of the spread of both fires and the corresponding evacuation zones.

The county sheriff and fire chief also addressed the board, painting a picture of agencies desperately in need of updated equipment and better communication to address L.A.'s next big disaster.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell questioned how the county should prioritize the laundry list of costly changes the report calls for.

"What must be done first?" Mitchell asked. "Because none of this will be free."

Several other after-action reports, which typically come with lengthy lists of recommendations, are also in the works, supervisors heard Tuesday. Those reports’ topics will include evacuations of people with disabilities, as well as recovery and repopulation; plus state reports with detailed timelines of the fires and a comprehensive review of the response.

Here are three big takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting...

A new county department for emergencies?

The board's motion focuses specifically on the Office of Emergency Management, which currently runs out of the county CEO's office. OEM, as it is known, is responsible for planning for and responding to emergencies in the county, but it has a staff of just 37 people and no operating budget, according to the after-action report.

San Diego County has 43 employees in a similar role, according to a comparison in the report. New York City has more than 200.

The after-action report called L.A. County's emergency preparedness staffing “fundamentally inadequate" for its "complex emergency management needs.”

The supervisors' motion directs the county CEO to produce a report on how to restructure OEM as its own county department, akin to the Fire Department or the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing — and how to pay for it.

Holes in the report

The 132-page report ran through the county's emergency response protocols and holes in its systems, but it was missing input from non-county agencies that helped with the fire response.

The report's authors interviewed several county agencies, but other key agencies that were involved in fire response declined to participate, including the Los Angeles police and fire departments, the fire departments of Pasadena and Sierra Madre, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Erin Sutton, a partner with McChrystal Group, told the supervisors Tuesday that lack of participation limited the scope of the report.

"We have very one-sided information," Sutton said.

Barger and Horvath, who represent the districts affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires, were frustrated by that.

"I am incredibly disappointed," Barger said, noting that the report was supposed to be a blueprint for the county. "I feel that this report then is lacking in areas that would provide maybe answers to some of these questions."

Horvath also questioned why the report didn't include mention of false alerts sent out during the fires.

Sutton pointed to an investigation produced in May by U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia. That report found that the alert sent to nearly 10 million people across L.A. County on Jan. 9 was the result of a technological glitch.

Horvath also criticized the McChrystal Group’s report for leaving out personal accounts of fire survivors.

Questions remain about west Altadena

Fire survivors told the supervisors Tuesday that they still need answers and accountability for what happened in west Altadena, where 18 out of 19 Eaton Fire deaths occurred.

According to the report, there was a validated report of fire in west Altadena as early as 12:55 a.m on Jan. 8. L.A. County Fire personnel reported that the fire appeared to be moving west across Lake Avenue at 2:18 a.m. But evacuation orders in west Altadena weren't issued until 3:25 a.m., according to the report.

"That took time," county Fire Chief Anthony Marrone told the supervisors, "probably too much time in retrospect."

What’s next

The supervisors set rolling deadlines for the county CEO’s reports on the restructuring of the Office of Emergency Management, the first being in 60 days. That puts the initial reports back to the board into late November.