Loading...
CC SR 20251118 04 - Wildfire Mitigation and Readiness Projects CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 11/18/2025 AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Regular Business AGENDA TITLE: Consider receiving an update on Citywide wildfire mitigation and readiness efforts. RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION: (1) Receive and file a status update on Citywide wildfire mitigation and readiness efforts. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact. All funding to support the City’s emergency preparedness efforts are included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26 Adopted Budget. The primary expenses include: • Personnel – one full-time Senior Administrative Analyst • Professional Services – consultants to assist with the preparation of emergency plans such as a Hazard Mitigation Plan; technical services for emergency radios; website hosting and other tools to keep Staff and the public informed during a major incident • Operating Materials – Supplies for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), emergency kits, public education materials and tools such as residential signs that inform firefighters of an available pool to serve as a water source during a fire, and major events such as the Prepared Peninsula Expo. • Training – Training for Staff in EOC operations and emergency drills; community education such as a recent wildfire town hall event following the Palisades and Altadena Fires. Amount Budgeted: $311,900 Additional Appropriation: N/A Account Number(s): 101-400-1430-XXXX VR (City Administration – Emergency Preparedness – various accounts) ORIGINATED BY: Lubna Mohammad, Emergency Management Coordinator REVIEWED BY: Catherine Jun, Deputy City Manager CJ APPROVED BY: Ara Mihranian, AICP, City Manager ATTACHED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS: None 1 BACKGROUND: Given that a significant portion of Rancho Palos Verdes is located in Moderate, High, or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) per CalFire’s 2025 FHSZ map, preparing for and mitigating wildfires continues to be a major priority for the City. Over the past several years, Staff have been working diligently to bolster its wildfire mitigation and readiness efforts across 6 separate tracks: 1. Wildfire response and mitigation plans 2. Staff preparedness 3. Mitigation 4. Community outreach and education 5. Collaboration with Peninsula Cities and other agencies 6. Grant funding Combined, these efforts strengthen Staff and residents’ ability to be prepared and to respond swiftly to emergencies, in order to minimize risks to City infrastructure and injury. This Staff Report, which was originally requested by former Councilmember John Cruikshank on how the City prepares for wildfires in densely vegetated canyons, provides an update to the City Council on completed, ongoing, and future planned efforts related to wildfire that the City is at risk of experiencing. DISCUSSION: Wildfire Response and Mitigation Plans City management develops, maintains, and exercises its wildfire, and any other emergency plans to ensure that City facilities and Staff are ready to respond to any size and type of wildfire. The key plan used to guide wildfire emergency response in the City is the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). This comprehensive plan is routinely reviewed and tested; ideally, the EOP is also updated every 3 years and is accompanied by EOC Position Binders for Staff in each assigned role and Annexes to address specific functions and hazards. The EOP is in the process of being updated and is currently in the final review stage. A Staff report with a proposed EOP update will be presented to City Council tentatively scheduled for December 16, 2025 for consideration. Plans are also in place to prepare EOP Annexes for various other hazards or needs the City must respond to, including evacuation, mass care and shelter, donation/volunteer management, disaster recovery, debris management, and communication/warning annexes , which will completed between 2026 and 2028. Staff Preparedness Staff engages in various trainings throughout the year to prepare for emergencies, such as setting up an emergency shelter, hosting drills, and trainings. However, the most significant effort to prepare Staff to respond to wildfires was a Functional Exercise of the 2 EOC on November 6, 2025. This all-day exercise provided a 48-hour wildfire simulation and tested Staff’s ability to: 1. Activate the EOC 2. Coordinate within the EOC and with the incident response and partnering agencies to assess the wildfire’s progress and identify emerging needs to respond to a wildfire 3. Practice EOC position roles using updated checklists and binders 4. Conduct shift exchanges to ensure the EOC’s cohesiveness during lengthy and large wildfire incidents 5. Practice public information and warning protocols and procedures About 60 Staff members, or half of all Staff, engaged in this exercise, either as a player, observer, or planning team member. Many City partners also supported the exercise, including the Area G Disaster Management Area Coordinator (DMAC); Los Angeles County Fire, Sherriff’s, and Animal Care and Control Departments; the Cities of Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Gardena, Los Angeles, Culver City, and El Segundo; Palos Verdes Peninsula School District; Palos Verdes Amateur Radio Club (PVAN); the American Red Cross; a DLAN Coordinator; the Alert South Bay Coordinator; the County’s Genasys Coordinator; the Equine Response Team; and 3 Emergency Preparedness Committee (EPC) members. Exercise feedback is actively being collected and analyzed and will be shared with City management as an After-Action Report/Improvement Plan. The EOC supplies, position binders, and organization chart will all be updated based on the exercise findings , and a Staff training and exercise schedule will be developed and implemented in early 2026. Wildfire Mitigation and Vegetated Canyons Staff utilize building codes as a key measure to mitigate hazards such as fires. These codes are closely aligned with State and County codes and are routinely reviewed and updated in support of risk reduction. For wildfire mitigation specifically, the City adopts and adheres to defensible space guidelines, which are dictated by Cal Fire’s High Fire Hazard Severity Zones. These zones were updated by Cal Fire at the beginning of 2025 and adopted by the City Council in July 2025, removing segments of the City from the “Very High” classification, while many remained in the “High” and “Moderate” classifications. Despite these changes, which go into effect on January 1, 2026, many areas face some level of fire hazards, and the City plans to maintain the same defensible space protocols it has implemented in previous years, conducting brush clearance via goat grazing and hand crews throughout the City , particularly canyons and open space areas. Many of the canyons in the City connect to neighboring Peninsula Cities. The City routinely collaborates with our neighboring Peninsula cities when it comes to emergency preparedness including wildfire mitigation and readiness. In this case, the City’s defensible space protocols are shared and coordinated with neighboring Peninsula cities and are enforced by Los Angeles County Fire Department based on the location of combustible structures. Enhancements to defensible space , removal of invasive flammable vegetation, etc., protocols with Peninsula cities are addressed on a case-by- case basis and based on available resources and grant funding opportunities. 3 Aside from the above-mentioned activities, the City has taken some additional steps in enhancing its wildfire readiness in 2025. In February, Staff conducted a fire access tour of the canyons impacted by land movement to ensure law and fire vehicles are able to utilize the trails for emergency use. Staff also continued managing the use of Pano AI cameras and responding to alerts, working to develop a public facing webpage and completing the installation of the final camera on San Pedro Hill before the end of 2025. Finally, Staff finalized a written fire weather protocol in 2025 to provide guidance on the actions the City will take during fire weather (ex. Pausing use of power tools, closing trails, public messaging , etc.). Community Outreach and Education Staff routinely engaged the public in emergency preparedness through the City’s weekly report and seasonal newsletter, presentations at Homeowners Association and Council of Homeowners Association (CHOA) meetings, the preparedness webpage of the City website, the EPC monthly message and booth, and via PVP Ready. In 2025, Staff worked to strengthen the preparedness information through all of these methods along with hosting the following events: • 2/20/25 - RPV Wildfire Townhall – This event was held at Hesse Park and included booths and presentations from City management and departments, the mayor, fire, law, and utility agencies, and California Department of Insurance. Over 100 residents attended and learned about wildfire response, mitigation, and readiness efforts and were encouraged to help prevent and redu ce wildfire impacts by implementing defensible space, home hardening, firescaping, and other disaster readiness efforts. • 4/26/25 - Peninsula-wide Wildfire Townhall and Expo – This event was also held at Hesse Park with a similar focus and design as the RPV townhall, except with more booths and shorter presentations. Assemblymember Muratsuchi hosted the event with the support of Staff. • 4/30/25 - FHSZ Information Session -- RPV hosted an information session at Hesse Park to discuss the State Fire Marshal’s recommended High Fire Hazard Severity Zone Update, the data and modelling behind it, and its implications for defensible space and fuel modification regulations. A couple dozen people attended the event. • 5/3/25 - Peninsula-wide Equine First Aid Clinic -- The four Peninsula cities held this event at Ernie Howlett Park to provide residents information on equine first aid and emergency readiness, including during a wildfire evacuation scenario. Several dozen residents joined the event to check out booths and hear presentations from the County Animal Care and Control, Sheriff’s Department Mounted Posse, and experienced veterinarians. • 9/27/25 - Wildfire Home Hardening Expo - CHOA and the City partnered to host a wildfire home hardening expo for the community at Hesse Park. Dozens of local emergency response agencies and wildfire mitigation vendors hosted booths to provide information and resources to the community. At the event, CHOA 4 conducted an emergency go bag raffle, the Fire Department provided NOAA weather radios and a fire extinguisher demo, and the City gave out free pool signs to residents to display near their homes to help firefighters identify pools during response operations. Around 150 residents showed up to the event. • 10/26/25 - Prepared Peninsula Expo -- The four Peninsula cities host a Peninsula Preparedness Expo each year in October. This year’s event included dozens of booths with emergency information and resources, including wildfire preparedness, and was held in conjunction with the PV Farmer’s Market at Peninsula High School. Several hundred people attended the event. Collaboration with Peninsula Cities and Other Agencies As mentioned throughout this Staff report, the City works closely with regional partners in all of its preparedness efforts. A key collaborative project the City is actively working on that was not previously mentioned is the development of a Peninsula-Wide Multi- Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan (natural disasters do not recognize jurisdictional boundary lines). This plan will help identify hazards on the Peninsula and develop hazard mitigation projects, along with ensuring the cities involved have access to Hazard Mitigation Grant Funds. These funds are crucial to the City’s mitigation efforts and have been used previously and currently to hire consultants to write plans, conduct goat grazing, and implement a landslide buyout program. Grant Funding Staff continue to seek funding to strengthen the City ’s wildfire readiness and mitigation efforts. In 2025, the City: • Applied for a Cal Fire grant to develop a regional Mass Care and Evacuation Plan for the four Peninsula cities in 2026-2027. • Completed an application to be added to the Board of Forestry’s Fire Risk Reduction Community List; which will help the City be more competitive for grant funds. • Continuously sought out funding to enhance regional coordination and build an active EOC as part of the Civic Center Master Plan. Planned Projects for 2026 In 2026, Staff plan to: • Update the City’s Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), which outlines how the City will continue providing essential services during an emergency. Separate from the EOP, which focuses on expanded service for emergency response, this plan outlines how government continues providing its basic services. The last COOP update was on February 18, 2017. • Create an Emergency Radio Station: Staff has been exploring the possibility of developing an emergency radio station to broadcast emergency information, even when cell service is unavailable. In 2025, Staff completed testing for the radio station finding 95% coverage on the Peninsula. A proposal will be provided to City Council with more details regarding the radio station in early 2026, with the goal to install the radio station, if approved, before the end of 2026. 5 • Support the EPC Home Hardening Model Project: The City is supporting an EPC-led project that works with local schools to develop a wildfire ready home model to display at the EPC booth during events. This project is still being developed. • Research Wildfire Mitigation and Response Projects: Staff continue to explore ways to enhance wildfire readiness, actively reviewing projects and tasks that can support these efforts, such as: enhancements to fire codes, a wildfire mitigation match program, and the development of a volunteer community brigade. Staff will continue to complete research on projects, apply for grants to support projects, and provide proposals to City Council as needed. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: City Facility Readiness Partnerships with American Red Cross (ARC) and Salvation Army City facilities will be used to support emergency response and recovery efforts during wildfires. In 2024, Staff worked with the ARC to conduct shelter site surveys at Ladera Linda Community Park, Hesse Park, and Point Vicente Interpretive Center (PVIC) to affirm that they can be more readily outfitted and deployed by the ARC as emergency shelters. The City memorialized this partnership with the ARC through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that went into effect on January 21, 2025, which will expedite the process of standing up shelters immediately during and following a wildfire or other emergency. Staff also executed an MOU with the Salvation Army to utilize their campus as an incident command center or shelter during emergencies, when available and as needed. Strengthening City Facilities In 2025, Staff focused on strengthening the key facility used in the coordination of emergency response, the City’s EOC. The EOC is considered a “Warm EOC” meaning it requires some set up to be functional and is housed in the City Hall Community Room. In 2025, EOC supplies, including office supplies, laptops, radios, and phones were all reviewed and updated to ensure the readiness of the EOC. Additionally, EOC supporting documents, including maps, organization charts, and 40 EOC Position Binders are all actively being edited and will be complete in early 2026. CONCLUSION: Staff continue critical work to reduce hazard impacts and ensure Staff, facility and public readiness for all emergencies. Many goals have been accomplished in 2025 and many more will be accomplished in the upcoming years. Emergency readiness, like perfection, should be a goal we all thrive to, but one that can never be comp lete. Staff recommend the City Council receive and file this report on wildfire mitigation and readiness efforts. 6 ALTERNATIVES: In addition to the Staff recommendation, the following alternative action s are available for the City Council’s consideration: 1. Do not approve the recommended action and direct Staff accordingly. 2. Direct Staff to add, delete, or modify certain wildfire mitigation or readiness measures. 3. Take other action, as deemed appropriate. 7