Although Poway is no stranger to wildfires, the January fires across Southern California ignited a renewed interest in community preparedness. At the Feb. 4 Poway City Council meeting, Poway Fire Chief Brian Mitchell shared that our city is taking a balanced approach to community preparedness, including hazard reductions, public education and being ready to provide a quick and effective response.
Some key points from his presentation included:
- The Poway Fire Department is an ISO (Insurance Services Office) Class 1 organization, the top public protection classification. The fire department is one of only three in San Diego County to achieve that rating and plays an important role in the insurance underwriting process. While 60% of the assessment looks at fire department resources, 40% of the assessment looks at our municipal water supply.
- Firefighters are well trained – they take a lot of pride in serving our community – and are well equipped to do so. Poway will welcome a new $1.65 million fire ladder truck this spring and two type 1 fire engines within the next year (approximately $1 million each), to reinvest in the resources needed to ensure emergency readiness and minimize unplanned repairs.
- San Diego County is the “cul de sac” of the state – meaning by virtue of location there are less directions for resources to flow into the area. Fire agencies in the county make sure we cover home base first and Poway has strong partnership for mutual aid with local agencies, especially San Diego Fire-Rescue.
- During Red Flag weather events the city upstaffs (more firefighters on duty) and the state’s Office of Emergency Services provides funding for prepositioned strike teams, each made up of 5 staffed engines and a battalion chief. Two strike teams responded within minutes to the Ted Williams Fire on Jan. 20. Strike teams were strategically staged throughout the county in response to the Red Flag weather and were ready to quickly deploy to any fires in the region. Although they were funded by OES, they were made up of local government fire departments.
- Poway doesn’t have its own air support, but as part of its vegetation first alarm response plan the department normally is assisted by a water dropping helicopter from either San Diego City or San Diego County. When Poway needs more air support, like on the Ted Williams Fire, the incident commander can request mutual aid air resources through our San Diego City dispatch center. This can include water dropping helicopters or retardant dropping fixed wing aircraft. Air support on the Ted Williams Fire was made up of a supervisory lead plane that was directing two S-2 air tankers, plus three water dropping helicopters from San Diego City, San Diego County, and SDG&E.
- Technology is evolving and there is an investment statewide in modernizing equipment and communication systems. The state also can deploy a plane outfitted with a high-definition camera to map fires, from which firefighters can create a fire projection map for guiding decisions on deploying resources and targeting evacuations.
- Public education opportunities are available through preparedness workshops hosted by the fire department and events coordinated with the Poway Neighborhood Emergency Corps (PNEC). The January PNEC meeting at city hall had 80 residents in attendance to learn about the preparedness efforts by the city and local utilities. A fire inspector with the city can provide home hardening consultations to residents, evaluating risk and giving recommendations for improving defensible space and implementing home hardening techniques.
Visit the Poway Fire Department section of the website to learn more about the topics touched on during the council meeting.