Emergency responders adapt to intense fire season. Second in a series on Malibu wildfires.
By Vicky Shere / Special to the Malibu Times
In spite of a potentially disastrous fire season and statewide funding shortages, local officials see progress in their ability to fight wildfires. Pre-deployment of resources and an incident command system are “lessons learned by emergency responders,” authorities said. Community groups are also becoming more involved in perpetuating fire safety.
“We’re better equipped than we were in ’93,” said Los Angeles County Fire Department Assistant Chief Reginald Lee, who oversees Malibu, referring to one of the most devastating wildfires in California history. “We’re pre-deploying extra resources to the location.”
Firefighting operations
Resource allocation was applied during the January Bluffs Park/Malibu Road fire, when 300 firefighters were deployed from Los Angeles City and Ventura County fire departments as well as local fire stations.
The initial, automatic response to any brush fire includes five engines [each with a 500 gallon capacity], a water tender vehicle [with a 3,000 gallon capacity], three helicopters, a bulldozer team, four camp crews, three superintendents, one patrol, two battalion chiefs and, when they are in Southern California, two SuperScooper planes (which can dump 1,600 gallons of sea water), said Maria Grycan, county fire community services representative.
Swimming pools and natural water bodies supplement fire hydrants for water sources, Grycan said. Some Black Hawk helicopters have snorkels to bring water to the fire, other helicopters have to land to load water, as was the case in January when helicopters took water from special ponds on the campus of Pepperdine University.
“Augmented staffing levels” of personnel and equipment at the daily conference calls among county firefighters also takes place, Grycan said. Additional water tenders, patrol vehicles, strike teams and bulldozers can be requested so more resources are available in the area.
The contract between the state of California for lease of a 12,000 gallon capacity DC-10 aircraft reported recently in the Los Angeles Times has not been finalized, a source at the California Department of Forestry and Fire said. A press release announcing the deal is expected shortly. That airplane will be available to any jurisdictional agency under mutual aid agreements between the county and the state.
Chief Lee and his colleagues monitor wildfires through a Fire Danger Analysis prepared daily by the county’s fire department forestry division. The report, available on the Internet, identifies hazards and ensures adequate resource planning, said forestry division Assistant Chief Frank Vidales. Lee and his colleagues use the analysis during daily conference calls with other county firefighters to coordinate resources and plan road closures and evacuations.
Evacuation
The Fire Department orders evacuations and law enforcement carries them out, Grycan said.
“Every homeowner needs to know two ways to get out,” Grycan said. “Residents are asked to leave early so law enforcement can get people to safety.”
However, some areas of Malibu are not easily evacuated. Residents of the upper Rambla Pacifico area have long been concerned about another big fire coming their way; for many, there is only one way out, since access to Pacific Coast Highway from Rambla Pacifico is closed because of a landslide. The only way out is to take a series of small winding roads up into the canyon and then backtrack down Las Flores Canyon, which takes 15 to 20 minutes in good weather. The only advice Grycan could give to residents in that area was that residents should “get out as quickly as possible” at the first reports of fire inland, before flames are visible.
If there is time, homeowners should place a sign on their property saying they have a pool, Grycan said. This helps firefighters who don’t know the area build a Fire Department connection.
Once law enforcement receives an evacuation order, command posts are set up in the field, at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, and at the county’s Emergency Operation Center in East Los Angeles, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Sgt. James Royal.
“This Incident Command System has been developed as a nationwide system due, in large part, to lessons learned by emergency responders in Southern California,” Lt. Debra Glafkides, Malibu’s liaison with the sheriff, wrote in an e-mail.
Representatives of different agencies “co-locate” to allocate resources, carry out their missions and communicate with the media, Royal explained. While firefighters work to contain the fire, Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies and the California Highway Patrol map out traffic control points and designate evacuation routes, Royal said. A basic evacuation plan is modified by conditions in the field. An evacuation route guides people to assembly points (a safe zone where people can get updated information) and a pre-designated shelter. In January’s Malibu Road fire, traffic was diverted through the Pepperdine University campus and an evacuation shelter was opened at Malibu High School.
Assembly points vary, depending on the hazard, Malibu Emergency Services Coordinator Brad Davis wrote in an e-mail. Bluffs Park, the Civic Center, the Malibu Community Center at Point Dume are other assembly points, Royal and Davis said.
Community-based prevention
While recent fires have honed emergency responder skills, county firefighters see increased community involvement as an important tool in fire prevention.
For the last five years, residents of Big Rock Mesa, Malibu Lakeside and Horizon Hills have worked with firefighters to plan site-specific defensible space and obtain funding for mitigation projects. These homeowner groups have gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars for brush clearance and tree trimming from the nonprofit California Fire Safe Council.
“It’s quite exciting to see homeowners learn the pros and cons of different mitigation techniques,” said Deputy Forester J. Lopez, the Fire Department’s point person on the projects. “As we relay that information to communities, methods of fire safety get perpetuated and homeowners become part of the solution.”
“It’s a collaborative approach to fire prevention,” the forestry division’s Vidales said. “We work with communities so they can help themselves.”
Emergency contact numbers, Web sites
City Emergency Hotline: 310.456.9982
City’s Web site: www.ci.malibu.ca.us
Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station: 818.878.1808
General Information, L.A. County Fire Dept.: 323.881.2411
Web: www.fire.lacounty.gov
Fire Prevention and Inspection (Brush Clearance): 818.880.0341
Fire Plan Unit: 818.890.5783
(Identifies hotspots, makes presentations to homeowners)
Fire Station 70 (Division Headquarters) 3970 Carbon Canyon Rd.: 310.456.2513
Fire Station 71 – 28722 PCH: 310.457.2578
Fire Station 88 – 23720 Malibu Rd.: 310.456.2812
Fire Station 99 – 32550 PCH: 310.457.3706
Wildfire Evacuation Checklist: www.fire.lacounty.gov/SafetyPreparedness/SafetyPrepFireStorms.asp
Brush Clearance: www.fire.lacounty.gov/Forestry/Forestry.asp
Fire Prevention Tips: www.fire.lacounty.gov/FirePrevention/FirePrevFirePreventionTips.asp
Daily Weather Danger Report and Terms: www.fire.lacounty.gov/Forestry/PDF/FireWeatherDanger.pdf;
www.fire.lacounty.gov/Forestry/FireWeatherDangerTerms.asp
Evacuation Checklist: www.fire.lacounty.gov/SafetyPreparedness/PDFs/Operation%20Evacuation.pdf
The Malibu Times Web site: www.malibutimes.com
Readers can also subscribe to the paper’s News Flash service by emailing jf@malibutimes.com, which emails late-breaking news to its readers.