Earthquakes to fires: 2017 firestorm spurred major shift for Sonoma County emergency officials

When Neil Bregman joined the city of Santa Rosa in 2014, his job was to prepare for a massive earthquake.

Catastrophic wildfires were something that occurred mostly in remote areas in Lake and Mendocino counties, not in populated city centers like Santa Rosa. The last time the city had seen a fire of that magnitude was the 1964 Hanley Fire — which carved a nearly exact path to the Tubbs Fire.

That firestorm a half-century later caught nearly everyone in emergency management flat-footed.

“Honestly, the attitude was, ‘It happens up there, it doesn’t happen here,’” said Bregman, the city’s emergency preparedness manager. “There’s no other way to say it than we were not ready, we were not expecting it. The Rodgers Creek Fault was what everyone was worried about.”

For Bregman, earthquakes are still a concern and he hopes the magnitude 4.4 quake in September was a wake-up call for residents. If the fires taught people anything, it is that they can’t be complacent about disaster readiness, he said.

Still, as Bregman and other local leaders looked to improve their response in the wake of the firestorm five years ago, there were few other communities they could turn to for help.

No other urban community had experienced a wildfire of such magnitude, something that would tragically change only 13 months later with the Camp Fire in Butte County. Local officials were some of the first on scene to share the lessons they had learned and continue to be a national voice on fire response and recovery, Bregman said.

The fires led to a shift in how emergency personnel and public safety officials respond to weather events and prepare for the fire season and led the state to dedicate more resources to fire prevention.

A growing network of lookout cameras installed at key viewpoints throughout the county help notify dispatchers and first responders about fire activity in the field. That has been a game-changer, giving fire personnel their first look at the size, location and terrain so they can better assign resources, said Paul Lowenthal, Santa Rosa Fire Department division chief.

The state has set aside tens of millions of dollars annually to preposition engines and fire crews in high-risk areas during red flag warnings and heavy winds, and boosted efforts to shore up the mutual aid system, where local departments back up each other during times of emergency.

The state has also ponied up $1.5 billion for fire prevention, such as prescribed fires and brush maintenance.

Sonoma County’s two state senators, Mike McGuire and Bill Dodd, said continuing to prioritize funding for prevention and mitigation is a top goal in the next legislative session.

Both lawmakers said they want to see greater investment in the state’s airborne capabilities. Southern California has helipads near water reservoirs that officials can tap into during fires, something that can be replicated here and would allow responders to make a quicker advance, McGuire said.

“We can put a straw into that reservoir, suck the water out and immediately go dump it on the wildfire,” he said.

Local emergency operations centers are ready to go in the event of a disaster, reducing time spent setting up computers in those crucial first hours of an emergency.

Regional collaboration and communication between agencies has improved, too.

On a recent Monday morning, Bregman joined emergency officials, public safety leaders and other local officials on a weekly briefing call to discuss emergency issues and fire resources.

It ensures agencies aren’t working in silos, a factor that led to confusion and slowed response during the firestorm, and provides a structure to quickly bring together personnel during a real event, he said.

Someone is on duty round-the-clock monitoring for emergencies, and both city and county workforces have become more nimble in the pandemic.

“Everywhere in my house, everywhere I can sit at a computer, I have a book,” said Bregman, pointing to an emergency operations guidebook on his desk. “This is not ’17, where I was woken up in the middle of the night and had no tools. There is someone always awake, ready or available to do the evacuation for Santa Rosa and Sonoma County.”

Residents, too, are more educated and prepared, forming neighborhood preparedness groups and working to fireproof their homes — efforts Lowenthal pointed to as having some of the biggest durable impacts in better preparing the region for the next megafire.

Money is needed to keep that momentum going.

Lowenthal said the Santa Rosa Fire Department is seeking grants and other funding for fuel reduction, roadside brush clearance, particularly along evacuation routes, and to conduct prescribed burns. The department is also looking to improve its equipment with the addition of chippers and masticators, which can be used by public works to assist with fuel reduction in city open spaces, he said.

The department is rolling out a grant to help homeowners with home hardening efforts, like installing gutter guards and vent screens, and officials continue to meet with homeowners on how they can reduce risks on their property.

“We couldn’t be where we are today without the community being part of the process,” Lowenthal said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @paulinapineda22.