On October 20, 2007, a series of wildfires raged across southern California. A month-long drought left the arid land drier than usual and winds up to 85 miles an hour quickly spread the fires out of control. The inferno grew so large that NASA satellites photographed the smoke from space. During the next 19 days, more than 500,000 acres of land burned across seven counties. Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency and President Bush committed federal resources to the response.

As hundreds of thousands of people evacuated, a five-member team the NYC Office of Emergency Management arrived on the scene.  The team included experts in planning, sheltering, logistics, project management, and human services. After a brief orientation at California’s Emergency Operations Center, the team joined operations in San Diego to help manage evacuees. 

“After September 11th, New York City received a helping hand from every corner of the country,” said Commissioner Bruno. “I am extremely gratified to offer our assistance to the people of California during their time of need.”
      
 The team’s responsibilities ranged from producing situation reports with FEMA to collecting information on fire specifics, like acres burned, buildings destroyed, shelter numbers, etc., for the governor’s briefings. The team also helped with shelter management, messaging for air quality and respirator issues, and aircraft logistics to track and schedule air support for firefighters.

During the fires, many aspects of emergency management seemed to happen at the same time. Response operations took place in front of the fire line while recovery operations occurred behind it. One of the most important lessons the OEM team brought back from its wildfire experience was to pre-establish objectives in each operational period. 

“We always need to be thinking beforehand, not only about what data we need to make decisions during an emergency, but how we will present that data so it can be easily absorbed,” explained Deputy Commissioner Kelly McKinney, the chief of the California response team.

Though wildfires are unlikely in New York City, the size and scale of the response for the 2007 California wildfires reminded the team just how much coordination is required when an incident involves City, state and federal partners.