Sonoma County grand jury report faults government response to firestorm

Widespread communication problems among public agencies responding to the October firestorms impeded everything from evacuations and public warnings to sheltering systems and inter-agency coordination, according to a new report by the Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury.

The 19-member civilian panel concluded poor coordination among agencies handling the disaster had broad implications and “significantly slowed the issuing of alerts” to people in harm’s way, according to the ?21-page report on the fires.

Jurors echoed recommendations made by the state, which faulted the county’s emergency response, saying emergency officials’ grasp of current alert technology was outdated. More broadly, an internal post-fire review of the county’s operations, released earlier this month, found employees tasked with emergency management were overwhelmed and undertrained for a disaster on the scale of last year’s fires.

The grand jury called on the county and California to improve its statewide system of providing mutual aid to local fire departments during disasters. The group also recommended the county to shift its emergency response team from the County Administrator’s Office to an agency operating on a 24/7 basis, such as the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. A similar recommendation was made by the county’s own internal review.

Gina Nellor, the grand jury forewoman, said the goal was to provide “a level look at what was good and what was bad” in the way Sonoma County, local cities, law enforcement agencies and the county’s roughly 40 fire agencies handled the unfolding disaster.

“That’s the goal: To make our government work more efficiently,” said Nellor, 75, of Santa Rosa.

The grand jury’s 2017-2018 report was filed ?June 20 in Sonoma County Superior Court before Presiding Judge Gary Nadler. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and Sonoma County Administrator Sheryl Bratton must produce formal responses to the civil grand jury’s report within ?60 days.

The grand jury convenes for a yearlong term from July through mid-June, taking up issues based on public complaints or concerns brought by jurors. For the term ending this month, jurors produced three reports: on the October fire emergency response; on the rescue and sheltering of animals during the October fires; and a look at the county’s permitting department, according to Nellor.

Board of Supervisors Chairman James Gore said he was aware of the grand jury’s findings but has not yet had the chance to study it.

Gore said he believes the report will add a valuable perspective to the existing reviews of the county’s emergency response, which include the county’s audit of its emergency response as well as the state Office of Emergency Services review that identified flaws in the way the county alerted the public to the fast-moving wildfires.

“I applaud them for bringing a focus and an independent perspective to this issue;, we need it,” Gore said. “And the only way to improve is to embrace all levels of constructive criticism.”

The grand jury concluded:

The Red Cross “arrived late” to Sonoma County because they were involved in emergency operations elsewhere, and the initial shelter at Santa Rosa’s Fineley Center had already reached capacity by 3:45 a.m. Oct. 9.

There were no clear channels for needed three-way communication among the main government agencies responding to the first night of the fires, the Sonoma County and Santa Rosa emergency operations centers and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, which led to missed calls and a lack of timely, correct information.

This “impeded quick response or led to unintended consequences, such as all of Bennett Valley getting an evacuation notice rather than a more defined area,” the report stated.

Sonoma County’s independent fire agencies would function better under a unified organizational structure, according to the panel..

The state’s system of providing mutual aid to bolster local resources failed to provide the support needed in October in Sonoma County. Local officials requested 170 fire engines during the night of Oct. 8. The state sent 95, the report said.

Despite an overall lack of coordination, the jurors highlighted individual decisions that had significant and potentially life- saving impacts. The report called out the decision to evacuate Fountaingrove made by a Santa Rosa city fire marshal “who boldly took the initiative based on experience, expertise and sound judgment.” The report didn’t identity the fire marshal, but The Press Democrat has reported the evacuation was ordered by Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal.

“These observations and actions compensated for the lack of strategic oversight as the Tubbs fire moved from the County unincorporated area into the city limits of Santa Rosa,” the jury found.

The report highlights still-relevant findings in a 2004-2005 investigation by the Civil Grand Jury into the county’s emergency preparedness, which concluded the county had no overall plan for how to warn the public during an emergency.

The 2004-2005 jury also reported training for Sonoma County employees was spotty, a conclusion repeated in the county’s internal review in June.

The previous report found that government officials, from county supervisors and county administrator to city councils and managers, lacked commitment to disaster plans, a shortfall that “does not bode well should the county experience a major disaster.”