Years of major, destructive California wildfires got the attention of a Contra Costa County civil grand jury, which released a report on county preparedness should the county face a catastrophic wildfire within its boundaries. The panel particularly emphasized the need for the region to update evacuation plans and to incorporate advanced routing technology.
Contra
Costa County's civil grand jury comprises 19 citizens who investigate the
operations of government agencies. It is in the sole discretion of the grand
jury to determine what government functions it investigates. For the June
wildfire preparedness report, the grand jury interviewed county fire personnel,
including Moraga-Orinda Fire District Chief Dave Winnacker, who said he spent
six hours at one of the hearings.
The
grand jury found that many of the eight county fire agencies lacked updated
wildfire evacuation plans and directed that the fire agencies should
incorporate advanced routing technology to determine the most efficient
evacuation routes for residents. An example it gave was to divide the
evacuation area into grids and map all roads, access points and evacuation
centers within each section.
The
grand jury noted that a solid evacuation plan not only allows smooth resident
evacuation but also allows emergency equipment and personnel to better respond
to the fire. The panel found no fault with the MOFD evacuation plan.
Because
MOFD has in place many of the procedures proposed by the grand jury, the
district was ordered to respond to only two of the seven grand jury
recommendations; three of the recommendations, however, were duplicated between
county fire districts and fire departments.
One
of the grand jury recommendations regards the expansion of new technologies,
such as ground sensors, drones and satellites, to help detect wildfires in
high-risk areas. Though the district has been in the forefront of using such
technologies, Winnacker agreed with the recommendation.
"There's
always room to better integrate these functions into our systems," he
said.
The
other panel recommendation to the district was to consider a mechanism like the
ordinance passed by the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District, which would
enable a fire agency to recover labor and equipment costs from an electric utility
for overseeing the company's electrical work when it presents a high fire risk.
However,
the San Ramon Valley Fire ordinance, and the district's right to issue fines or
citations over ordinance violations, have been challenged in court.
"I
agree with the grand jury recommendations," Winnacker said. "They
will help move the region to a safer fire future. We will do anything to
improve regional safety."
Because
of the pressure on public agencies due to COVID-19, the grand jury gave until
June 30 for fire agencies to respond to its findings and recommendations.
Lamorindaweekly.com
By Nick Marnell
August 5, 2020
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