Grand jury reports county's disaster evacuation plan is in good shape
Cooperation between cities, county imperative, officials say
By Carissa Marsh Special to the Acorn

The Ventura County grand jury recently released the responses of cities and government agencies to its 2006-07 report on disaster evacuation preparedness. Most of those responding agreed that the county's plan is in good shape but that there's room for improvement.

The grand jury's report concentrated on specific areas of disaster planning, including possible deficiencies in areas subject to flooding, dam failures and tsunamis.

Twelve recommendations that would improve disaster evacuation planning in the county and enhance public safety were listed.

Among those was the recommendation that the county's Office of Emergency Services and the Ventura County Disaster Council work together with the county's 10 cities to develop coordinated evacuation plans for each community. The report also suggests the plans be distributed to the public.

Randy White, emergency services coordinator for Simi Valley, said the city will cooperate and coordinate with the county as it has done in years past.

"The grand jury's recommendations are right on the money," White said. "It wouldn't be effective for Simi Valley to develop its own evacuation plan unless it coordinated with the county and the cities."

If one city were to be evacuated, White said, it would affect the whole county, so in order to integrate and seamlessly coordinate plans, all jurisdictions would need to be on the same page.

"It obviously takes all levels of government to effectively execute a regional evacuation," he said.

Ventura County Fire Captain Barry Parker is currently spearheading the development of a Joint Information System (JIS), which will make it easier for cities to communicate with one another in the event of a disaster.

White said JIS will not only alert citizens of potential hazards in the case of an emergency, but will put out the same message across the county and state to help prevent misinformation.

"Obviously for us public safety is No. 1, and we're always looking to have more training so we're better prepared," Parker said. "We want the best outcome and we realize the best way to have that is to work together."

Grahame Watts, emergency services manager for Thousand Oaks, said that while the county has done a good job organizing, managing and responding to a variety of incidents over the years, there's always room for increased cooperation.

Though the grand jury's recommendations were supported overall, there is some disagreement among the cities and the 12-member body over the need to publicize pre-designated evacuation routes.

"Thousand Oaks, like most cities in the county, does not publicly post evacuation routes ahead of any type of incident primarily because it's a complete guess or conjecture as to what people will have to do," Watts said.

The Moorpark City Council, in its response to the grand jury report, agreed that posting advance information on evacuation routes is a bad idea.

"The problem with (publicizing evacuation routes) is, depending on what's going on, all that may change," said Hugh Riley, assistant city manager for Moorpark.

White said that in emergency management, there are some scenarios where publicized evacuation routes are necessary and others where it's catastrophic. In the case of a tsunami, pre-identified routes can be a good thing, but for most disasters, it depends on the situation, he said.

"There is no black and white answer," White said. "We're dealing with such a complex collection of hazards that are different in nature."

But the question remains: Are the citizens of the county ready to evacuate if a disaster were to strike today?

Mark Lunn, chief of staff for Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy, said Foy is impressed with the planning of the sheriff 's department's OES, which is the lead agency during an emergency.

"He's got a lot of confidence in Sheriff Brooks and his OES planning efforts in regard to the multidisciplined emergencies that we face here in the county," Lunn said.

Riley said the county is fairly well prepared on the whole, "but there is always more work to do." Part of that work is making sure the primary news outlets work hand in hand with county public information officers so that misinformation and rumor are held in check, Watts said.

The county's newly purchased public notification system, Reverse 911, which allows direct telephone notification to residents throughout the area during emergency situations, should help in that regard. Watts said it's been tested and is available on a countywide basis.

Still, White said, citizens need to do a better job of preparing for disasters and need to know where they can get information in the event of an emergency.

"The government entities - city and county - have been working very hard to put together effective education and public warning programs," he said. "But many people still have not taken the time to prepare themselves, their homes or their families for some of the scenarios we face. I think we have a long way to go as a community to get people ready to do the right thing during a disaster."

The county's full report and list of responses can be found on the grand jury's website, grandjury.countyofventura.org.