In a decisive move to enhance public safety and emergency preparedness, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a comprehensive motion by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey P. Horvath to implement key recommendations from the McChrystal Group’s independent After-Action Report on the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades Fires.

The report, commissioned to evaluate the county’s evacuation policies and alert systems, identified five critical areas for improvement:

Policies, Protocols and Authority – Updating policies and County Code to clarify decision-making responsibilities for issuing evacuation warnings and orders.

Training and Planning – Standardizing and enhancing evacuation-specific training for all County departments and partner agencies.

Resource Management – Restructuring and increasing staffing for the Office of Emergency Management strengthen its capacity to manage large-scale emergencies.

Situational Awareness and Interoperability – Modernizing technology systems and integrating communications under a unified platform, called LA-RICS.

Community Engagement and Public Information – Launching robust and consistent public education campaigns to increase community preparedness.
Additionally, the Board directed the Chief Executive Office to provide a 60-day feasibility and fiscal impact report on restructuring the county’s Office of Emergency Management to ensure it has the autonomy and authority to coordinate countywide emergency management effectively.

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger emphasized her commitment to turning lessons learned into concrete and swift action.

“The Eaton and Palisades Fires revealed critical gaps that must be closed to protect our residents in the face of worsening wildfires,” Barger said. “By implementing these recommendations, we are strengthening coordination, improving communication, and building a more resilient County. My focus is on ensuring that we act quickly and responsibly so that no community feels left behind in an emergency.”

“Change moves at the speed we choose, and when it comes to emergency preparedness, we are choosing urgency,” said Horvath. “To those who have suffered loss, in Sunset Mesa, Malibu, Topanga, the Palisades and beyond, we carry your experiences forward as a call for change. Restructuring the Office of Emergency Management into a fully resourced department is the first crucial step to implementing the After Action Report’s recommendations. I am committed to seeing each step through because, as a disaster-prone region, we must learn from every crisis—past and present, and build a system worthy of our communities’ trust.”

Barger and Horvath’s motion directs the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Sheriff’s Department and the Office of Emergency Management to provide joint progress reports to the board every 60 to 90 days until all recommendations from the After-Action Report are implemented.

The Board of Supervisors also instructed staff to explore funding sources, including reallocating existing resources, to ensure timely execution of improvements.

Even before the After-Action Report presentation to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Sept. 30, Los Angeles County had already begun taking decisive steps to strengthen emergency response.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department has integrated the FireGuard satellite program into its incident command platform and contracted for satellite-enabled hotspot tracking, while also developing an updated Computer Aided Dispatch system to improve communication and response times.

The Sheriff’s Department has launched the Citizen Evacuation Tracker, allowing real-time monitoring of evacuation progress, and is updating its Computer Aided Dispatch system while developing a standardized evacuation training curriculum for all patrol stations.

Meanwhile, the Office of Emergency Management has started issuing evacuation warnings to zones adjacent to those under evacuation orders, giving residents more time to prepare, and has expanded staff training on the Genasys Alert system, enhancing readiness for Incident Command Agency Representatives.

Together, these proactive measures underscore Los Angeles County’s commitment to putting the lessons of the After-Action Report into immediate action and strengthening emergency preparedness across all communities.

The Eaton and Palisades Fires claimed 31 lives, destroyed more than 16,000 structures and scorched nearly 37,000 acres, making the fires the most destructive in county history.

These actions represents the first in a series of steps to modernize Los Angeles County’s emergency response systems in the wake of these catastrophic events.