I’ve been in law enforcement for over 30 years, and the wildfire devastation occurring in Los Angeles is unparalleled and heartbreaking. I started with the Laguna Beach Police Department in 1996. At that time, the emotional and financial impacts of the 1993 Laguna Beach fire were still very real and evident in our community. The anxiety from that catastrophe is still felt today. LA has a long road to recovery, and I am proud to see our town come together to offer financial and material aid.
The police department’s primary mission during a wildfire is to protect life by facilitating the mass evacuation of people within the impacted areas. In 2019, I had the opportunity to visit the city of Paradise with then-Mayor Bob Whalen following the destruction caused by the Camp Fire.
This was an opportunity for us to evaluate the management of the Paradise Camp Fire evacuation. The challenges they faced were not only eye-opening but chilling. They had a robust evacuation plan in place. Still, they could not execute it because of the speed of the fire, limited personnel, utility poles falling across roadways, power loss, and evacuation of their dispatch center. Public works had to utilize heavy equipment to move hundreds of live power lines and vehicles from their evacuation routes so people could escape and allow emergency responders to enter the city. Large holes were left in the asphalt where vehicles burned to the ground…