“We failed, but we will survive,” Mayor Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner—then council member—told Malibu during the first regular council meeting following the Woolsey Fire.
What failed? Ask any resident and he or she will give you something they think went miserably wrong during the recent fire—evacuation procedures, preparation, fire department response, sheriff’s department orders, city communication, Pepperdine policies, water, power, internet and so much more.
Those failures, and their solutions, will soon be analyzed by a task force currently being organized by the city. Council voted unanimously, 5-0, to approve a task force at the Tuesday, Dec. 18, council meeting.
“The community has voiced its concerns and disappointment with various aspects of the city’s and other agencies’ response to the fire and its aftermath,” according to a staff report prepared for the meeting. “The city agrees that every aspect of this disaster should be examined so that it can be determined what was done right and what improvements are needed in order for the community to be better prepared for future disasters. The city also agrees that it is critical that members of the community must have an active role in both the review of what was done and determining what improvements should be implemented for the future.”
The task force will begin as an ad hoc committee with Council Members Rick Mullen and Skylar Peak. This was designed to allow them to fully immerse themselves in several points of contention—without the possibility of breaking California’s strict public meeting laws.
Calling the ad hoc committee a “deep dive” into how to improve Malibu’s response to fires, City Attorney Christi Hogin suggested the two members would “host meetings, invite whoever you want, travel to any offices in the county you need to and report back.”
The committee was dubbed the “Response and Recovery Committee” for the time being, and will soon be accepting suggestions and comments from residents.
“There’s going to be hundreds of people who are going to send in decent suggestions that we may not think of up here,” Wagner said, asking City Manager Reva Feldman to oversee a survey or comment page to go on the city’s website.
The committee, which will be finalized during the Jan. 14 Malibu City Council meeting, falls further down the list of city priorities, as outlined by Peak at the meeting.
First things first, Peak asked the city to “make sure that the debris flows are completely mapped” in the event of rain, for areas of the city that were burned out in the fire. Feldman assured him the task was well underway.
The second priority directed by Peak was an evacuation plan for the eastern end of town, which is still under threat from a “massive wildfire.” Vegetation in much of Eastern Malibu has not burned in decades.
The third priority was “all the things that involve rebuilding the city,” Peak said, “because we have to do everything in our power to preserve life—start with that.”