After Camp Fire, what comes next?

Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA)

Dec. 09--From fire to flood, the Sacramento Valley has experienced its share of disasters in just the last couple of years.

The Oroville Dam spillway emergency in February 2017 forced an estimated 180,000 to evacuate; the Cascade Fire Wind Complex in Yuba County burned nearly 10,000 acres, destroyed 264 structures and killed four people; and the recent Camp Fire in neighboring Butte County is now the most destructive and deadly wildfire in the state's history, killing at least 85 people, burning 153,000 acres and destroying nearly 19,000 structures.

The Camp Fire has created a humanitarian crisis of its own with housing demand now deeply exceeding supply, norovirus outbreaks in shelters and an entire town now leveled. Yuba and Sutter counties partnered to open an evacuation center at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds with fire personnel, law enforcement and other staff heading up to Butte County to assist.

The disaster has raised concerns for the North State and local county officials weighed in on how this has affected their outlooks on emergency response and preparedness moving forward.

County logistics

"The Cascade Fire raised several issues and when you see your sister county go through a horrific event themselves, there's certainly a focus on making California more resilient," Yuba County Administrator Robert Bendorf said.

Bendorf said county staff have been working on committees, engagements and advocacy to improve emergency preparedness, with focus on the modernization and enhancement of vegetation management practices, and promoting public infrastructure that is more durable to extreme weather events.

"There's so many components to not only emergency preparedness and response, but also to future planning," Bendorf said.

He's talking about the county's general plan, which may see updates by 2021. The county will begin work on it in the next year or so, and he said staff will look at things like how to plan future growth, hazard-resistant infrastructure and tree mortality.

For Bendorf, what's difficult is balancing property rights with concerns for urban sprawl.

"It's imperative we do the best we can to protect property rights and provide livable, safe communities," he said.

The last nearly two years of local emergencies have taught Sutter County Administrator Scott Mitnick that disaster preparedness is not a luxury in local government.

"My takeaway from the Sutter Buttes Fire (this summer) in particular is the importance of expecting the unexpected," Mitnick said, "and that we can never be prepared enough for local disasters."

Serious floods in 1955, 1986 and 1997 caught Yuba County off guard, Mitnick said, but they now have led the way in its investment of its emergency operations facility and training. He said Yuba City has done an "exceptional" job as well, and Sutter County is starting to catch up now, following the Oroville Dam spillway emergency in February 2017. Earlier this week, Sutter County even hosted an all-day emergency response training for the region at the Sutter County Fire Department.

Mitnick said he met with sheriff-elect Brandon Barnes this week whose first question was about clear evacuation routes. Following the Oroville Dam emergency spillway crisis, the county released evacuation routes for different zones within the county (which can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/ycfsx2nb), but there remained questions about closing down multiple lanes to be used to evacuate. Mitnick said each intersection would need to be staffed with law enforcement -- something not possible in Sutter County due to short-staffing.

And while the evacuation last year took some people four and five hours and frustrated the public, Mitnick said it still worked -- considering the wall of water initially thought to be heading toward Yuba-Sutter would have taken eight to 10 hours.

"But it was really sloppy and messy, and we should have done a better job," he said.

Mitnick said the recent Camp Fire was also an eye-opener to what sort of preparation is needed to run a shelter involving large numbers of people for long periods of time. Luckily, Yuba and Sutter counties had enough staff to run the shelter at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds for two weeks before the Red Cross took over.

"We were two counties working very well together with a lot of cooperation," he said.

Medical needs

Health care is an important component in an emergency situation, especially when residents are forced to flee their homes with little to no notice. Jennifer Vasquez, director of Yuba County Health and Human Services, said she and her staff learned from Sutter North Medical Group in Yuba City, which was a partner at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds shelter set up for Camp Fire evacuees; Dr. William Hoffman opened a triage clinic to evaluate patients with serious and advanced medical needs, and to help with access to prescriptions.

And while Health and Human Services staff has experience in emergency response from incidents like the Oroville Dam spillway emergency and the Cascade Fire, the Camp Fire came with a larger number of people, many seniors with specific medical needs, and for a longer period of time.

"We've been able to improve every time, but it's a fragile population that comes into the shelters because these things happen rapidly; people are unprepared to leave their homes," Vasquez said.

Her staff prepares and trains with the county as a whole, as well as in their own department. The department has storage units throughout the county stocked with supplies necessary to shelters, and they have created partnerships with other agencies -- like Salvation Army, Sutter North and Sutter County -- to be able to provide a number of resources with more staff.

"There's a lot of moving parts involved and a lot of different players that have to come to the table and work together," Vasquez said. "So much of it is about the planning; so much of that happens outside of the disaster itself."

Preparing for

the future

Marysville Fire Chief Ron Karlen said fire personnel are affected by all emergencies, not just fire, as they provide medical aid, evacuation assistance and help in recovery.

The Camp Fire worried him with impending evacuations in Oroville, which would have gridlocked Yuba and Sutter counties and affected emergency response on the highways.

He wants officials to focus on all emergencies and the unique impacts, and said earthquakes are a very real possibility not talked about very often. In spring comes water rescues and in summer comes vegetation fires. But day-to-day, he worries about the old structures in downtown Marysville and the lack of fire protection systems that are harder to defend when up in flames.

Another important piece to puzzle, he said, is preparing a robust recovery plan -- what is usually the missing link in disasters.

"As a fire department we're versed in dealing with emergencies, we're pretty good at coming up with things to bridge the new crisis, but you can't replace that with being prepared," Karlen said. "I think there's more work to be done and we need to evaluate how Marysville plays a piece globally."

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