San Diego has suffered through some of the most devastating wildfires in California, and agencies across the county are working closely together to ensure there’s a well-prepared plan in place should the smoke rise again.
Emergency response teams from every agency across San Diego County – including fire, law enforcement, water, electricity, and animal services – have been working together on a new, comprehensive plan to prevent and extinguish wildfires as quickly as possible.
According to agencies, San Diego’s Mount Soledad is one of the regions currently exhibiting significant wildfire risk factors. An aerial view of Mount Soledad from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department's (SDFD) Copter 1 shows several red flags: thousands of people living in homes built on hillsides; dense, old brush that has never been exposed to fire; homes with very little defensible space; and very limited roads by which to access the area.
“There are very few roads in and out of here, and unfortunately, there are a lot of dead end roads once you get into the community, that are heavily grown," said SDFD Assistant Chief Brian Fennessy. “One way in, one way out. And if you can imagine a situation where a community is working to evacuate in that kind of condition, where we're trying to bring resources in, it's really a recipe for disaster.”
Keeping in mind the very real risks of wildfires sparking in the region, a pre-fire plan is being created for San Diego County designed to help emergency responders achieve the best results, in the worst conditions.
"Any type of delay really can equate to loss of life and loss of structure, so it's important that our commanders who show up first on the scene have an initial plan,” said Fennessy, who takes over as SDFD Chief effective Nov. 12.
“Where are the hazards? Where are the wires? Where are the things aircraft need to pay attention to? Where are the evacuation routes? Where are we going to put base camp? Where are we going to stage all this equipment that we have ordered? It's all in the plan," he explained.
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Fennessy says the greatest loss to life and property happens within the first six hours of a large fire. This current wildfire plan is aimed to serve as a playbook for firefighters who are first to arrive.
“Whether or not they're familiar with that geography, that area of the city, they quickly pull up a plan and get a good start on that incident,” Fennessy added.
The regional pre-fire plan is being created with the help of consultants, who've spent decades working in the fire service.
The City of San Diego used Homeland Security grants to fund the project: $250,000 in 2014, another $250,000 in 2015, and $125,000 for 2016.
Representatives from local emergency agencies, along with the consultants, divided San Diego County into more than 100 communities for the pre-fire plan.
So far, agencies have completed individual plans for about 60 local communities at the highest risk for wildfires.
“These pre-plans bring together all the emergency response agencies under one coherent plan that they agree to up front, that allows them to execute them rapidly," said Mike Rohde, a retired Orange County firefighter who now runs the consulting firm Rohde & Associates.
The pre-fire plan includes a risk assessment matrix with a color-coded diagram.
"Red, green, yellow coding indicates the type of risk associated with the various elements, such as population, density, and amount of water available,” explained Rohde, who borrowed the concept from the U.S. Army.
"This is a really good example of how we have come together countywide, because fires have no boundaries," said Mike Scott, the program manager for Regional Technology Partnership, which oversees how Homeland Security money is used at the local level.
Scott, the former chief of Heartland Fire and Rescue, said San Diego’s pre-fire plan template is being shared with Orange County, whose emergency agencies are also taking a similar approach to fire prevention.
"We're better prepared to serve the all of San Diego County in advance, as opposed to being reactive. We're now better coordinated and more organized," he added.
