LAKEPORT — The county supervisors discussed the emergency response to the recent wildfires and considered recommendations for future improvements Tuesday.
“We haven”t had a disaster in Lake County of this magnitude in quite some time. It kind of was an eye-opener for a lot of people,” Lake County Sheriff”s Capt. Chris Macedo told the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS).
Macedo referred to the Wye and Walker fires, which broke out minutes apart in northeastern Lake County in mid-August, and the Scotts Fire, which started in the northwestern part of the county about a month later.
The blazes burned more than 12,500 acres combined, destroyed two homes and threatened hundreds of others. No one died as a result of the fires.
“Sometimes it takes something like this to get everyone motivated,” BOS Chair Rob Brown said Tuesday morning at the Lake County Courthouse.
Matt Perry, interim county administrative officer, described a number of recommendations county staff developed in the wake of the fires.
Suggestions on the planning side included assessing the organizational structure of the Office of Emergency Services (OES), evaluating the current Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and identifying locations for an emergency operations center during disasters.
The recommendations also hit on topics such as training, communications and telecommunications.
Another series of suggestions came out of a debriefing involving 13 county and state agencies on Sept. 17.
Spring Valley resident Monte Winters commended the efforts of the first responders, saying, “We were extremely lucky not to lose more property and more lives, frankly.”
He suggested ways the county could improve its preparedness such as adding more volunteers to community emergency response teams and enhancing communications in Spring Valley and other areas.
“Spring Valley dodged a bullet here,” District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing said. “It could have been very, very, very disastrous out there. Fortunately the first responders and the folks who fight the fires held the line and Spring Valley wasn”t trapped, but that could have easily been the scenario.”
The BOS unanimously approved the list of staff suggestions, the recommendations that came out of the debriefing and the idea of hiring a consultant to assess the OES and EOP.
“I think it”s important to have a plan in place so we don”t have to worry about trying to develop a plan after the memory of this fire is gone,” Brown said.
The BOS also approved a resolution terminating the local emergency it proclaimed in August because of the Wye and Walker fires, finding that the perilous conditions no longer exist.
Jeremy Walsh is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 263-5636, ext. 37 or jwalsh@record-bee.com. Follow him on Twitter, @JeremyDWalsh.
