Some Initial “Lessons Learned’ from California Wildfires

In case you haven’t seen, heard or been talked to about the wildfires in Southern California……which is truly doubtful, the numbers look like this:

_ 24 separate fires
_ Almost 500,000 acres burned (679 square miles)
_ 1,635 homes destroyed
_ Over 1 million evacuated
_ 24 Red Cross Shelters opened
_ 1 mega shelter opened at Qualcomm Stadium that housed 11,000 evacuees
_ Over 9,000 firefighters deployed
_ 1,500 National Guard Troops deployed

Initial lessons learned that I observed include:

_ The media is “disaster hungry” and is just waiting for each disaster to take a turn for the worse, and for us as managers, to fail in our jobs. There has been no let down after Katrina in media attention to disaster events. These fires have played 24/7 on CNN. Coordination of the media has appeared to have been managed well. Reports have been consistent, there have been no major controversies, the local officials have backed up the response system, and have in turn been backed up by the Governor.
**PAY SOME ATTENTION NOW to your media management plans, including regional conversations between and training for Public Information Officers.

_ Get your Chief Elected Official out front, and briefed up properly. Arnold presented well, always had current numbers, and was always very positive. Just as important, he did not second guess tactics or appear too political in his briefings.
** HAVE A CONVERSATION NOW with your elected officials about their role with the media during a disaster event. They need to understand how important it is that they speak confidently, smartly, but not for too long!

_ We have been rolling our eyes as a profession when asked “does your plan identify shelter space for all of your citizens at one time?” Well, guess what, now might be the time to take a look at this scenario. Amazingly, after the debacle at the Superdome in New Orleans, San Diego optioned to open Qualcomm Stadium as a mega shelter. Surprisingly, the 11,000 or so evacuees were sheltered with not even a shot fired, and interviews of evacuees at the stadium were mostly positive. Never underestimate the affect that demographics have on a disaster. The mayor commented after the stadium was closed as a shelter that this was the first time they had thought about utilizing the stadium, and that now he was going to make sure that a plan was drawn up for future use…… seems better lucky than good at this point!
**REVIEW YOUR SHELTER PLANS NOW and stop rolling your eyes and find worst case shelter space for all of your citizens. Consider regional agreements. Consider different demographics, Consider transportation challenges.

_ Plan for animal evacuations and their owners. I heard more interviews with animal owners, especially horse owners, going back into evacuated areas to get their horses than any other evacuees trying to get past fire crews. This is a major red flag that needs to be addressed through public animal preparedness and planning meetings. These horse owners did not have enough trailer space for all of their animals, waited too late to begin evacuating, and then made multiple trips into high hazard areas that easily could have resulted in rescue missions for emergency responders. After all of that, many did not evacuate to the designated large animal shelters that were set up, and chose to go to local fairgrounds where, they had to evacuate again.
**INVEST TIME AND MONEY NOW into some public outreach preparedness information for all of your animal owners, both companion and large animals. Pre-designate co-located and large animal shelters. Encourage large animal owners to begin their evacuation efforts 12 hours prior to mandatory. Have regional discussions on animal response resources, sheltering and preparedness.