DISASTER COUNCIL MEETING 255 North Forbes Street Lakeport, CA 95453 Thursday, October 18, 2018 3:00 pm Board of Supervisors Chambers

CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 15:00 p.m. by Disaster Council Chairman (Board of Supervisors, District 3), Jim Steele.

The following members were in attendance: ☒ Jim Steele, Chair Board of Supervisors, District 3 ☐ Moke Simon, Vice Chair Board of Supervisors, District 1 ☒ Brian Martin, Sheriff Director of Emergency Services ☒ Chris Macedo, Undersheriff Deputy Director of Emergency Services ☒ Dale Carnathan County of Lake, Emergency Services Manager ☐ Denise Pomeroy County of Lake, Director of Health Services ☐ Greg Folsom City Manager, Director of Emergency Services City of Clearlake ☒ Margaret Silveira City Manager, Director of Emergency Services City of Lakeport ☒ Chief Willie Sapeta Lake County Fire Protection District ☒ Chief Brad Rasmussen City of Lakeport Police Department ☒ Scott DeLeon County of Lake, Director of Public Works ☒ Jan Coppinger County of Lake, Special Districts Administrator ☐ Randy England California Highway Patrol ☒ Teresa Stewart County of Lake, OES Assistant

Alternates Present: Chief Andrew White, representing the City of Clearlake Sergeant Gorenec was in attendance in place of Lieutenant Randy England for the Highway Patrol Supervisor Steele noted that we should review the Disaster Council By-Laws to check if they address alternates for appointed members.

Moment of Silence

A Moment of Silence was observed.

Pledge of Allegiance

Led by Sheriff Martin

Review and Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes

Undersheriff Chris Macedo moved to approve the meeting minutes, Sheriff Martin seconded the motion, all approved.

Public Comment

Cobb resident requested information on emergency response to and how the new Sirens on Cobb Mountain Work; also requested to know who will activate the sirens if the Sheriff is not available to do it. This item will be taken up during “New Business”.

Sheriff Martin introduced Chief Andrew White, the new Police Chief for Clearlake Police Department.

Emergency Situation Reports

Dale Carnathan Emergency Manager- we have several active emergencies that we keep extending. We came close to declaring an emergency during the PG&E emergency community power shut down event, but we did not. Brian Martin responded-it did not rise to the level needed to declare an emergency.

Margaret Silveira with City of Lakeport: In response to the PG&E emergency community power shut down event, there were very few homes in Lakeport that were affected, those were out of the city limits, she had difficulty with PG&E giving information on where or when the power would go out but got the idea it might not effect the city in the future. Jim Steele responded, stating that it depends on where the lines run through the grid. Sheriff Martin let the group know there will be a meeting on October 25th with stake holders for an After Action Review. Margaret suggested a county wide TTX with County, and Cities regarding the PG&E shut down would be useful. Sheriff Martin discussed the potential for the entire county to be affected at once 65,000 people and how would the county respond to providing services for the community in that type of situation.

Chief Andrew White with City of Clearlake PD-the city is in discussion on continued declaration for Sulphur Fire Incident, might drop the declaration. Sheriff Martin stated that things might continue to arise as a result of the Sulphur Fire and if they drop the declaration they become ineligible for reimbursement. Jim Steele stated he is just noticing the roads are falling apart due to heavy equipment use and asked Scott DeLeon to speak on the matter of roads, Scott said damaged roads are on going, in his experience with FEMA after the Valley Fire, and after writing up DSR’s for road damage FEMA stopped approving “roads” stating that our roads were already bad prior to the fire, therefore trying to bring the roads back to the state in which they were prior to the fire would be impossible, and actually it would be an “improvement” to the roads which make the project ineligible. Scott does not believe FEMA will allow DSR’s for roads for Pawnee Fire. Sheriff Martin states to Chief White if you don’t extend your proclamation and something new arises Clearlake won’t be eligible for reimbursement.

Office of Emergency Services Report

Dale Carnathan- EOC is available, there have been enhancements made after Mendocino Complex Fire, phone lines have been added, the porting of the numbers are being worked on and more enhancements are coming. A SOW for further construction is being reviewed. Jim Steele asked what percentage of the floor plan for the EOC construction has been completed, Dale responded 10% of the buildout has been completed. The Mobile EOC Mast has been installed which will enhance communications capabilities. It was noted the Mobile EOC is not able to get into all terrains it is not a 4 wheel drive vehicle, it is a large trailer.

Dale Carnathan on Grants-

EMPG 16 closed, EMPG 17 final reimbursements have been submitted, EMPG 18 working on application submission.

SHSGP 16 Radio updates for Mobile EOC in progress, have video displays.

SHSGP 17 Mountain tops/EOC upgrades-Need to take a look at what is going on with Goat Mountain, there are access issues, Dale asked Chief Sapeta to speak more on Goat Mountain site, Chief Sapeta stated there had been radio testing at one point the next step is a site map, he believes it will be another 1.5 years to break ground. Jim Steele stated that it should be mentioned as this project moves forward with others after people currently working on the project retire that the “Wind Power people” (out of Canada) are coming and have a lot of money and have the capability to hook up to the grid.

SHSGP 18 the NOFO has been released, working on application.

HMPG-Plan was approved, final reimbursement was requested not sure of the status of that.

Public Comment

No public comment

Old Business

Jim Steele stated Pawnee Fire-success in getting agreements with CalOES for Debris Clean-up for residents.

Emergency Operations Plan-Dale Carnathan stated Teresa Stewart is reading through the State Guidance for Homeland Security and see’s that the EOP needs to be updated every two years, we will need to begin looking at this as our plan was approved in May 2018. Our HMPG plan is good for 5 years.

Public Comment

No public comment

New Business

Mendocino Complex Fire-Agency Reports-Sheriff Martin stated that the EOC was activated on July 27th and that the activation was a success. He further stated he thought the EOC ran smoothly, each section was staffed and requests were being ordered through Logistics. Sheriff Martin stated the jail was evacuated some inmates went to Mendocino a majority went to Alameda without a lot of publicity which helped in the security of the transfer. The inmates were housed along with medical staff. There will be significant costs for this as we also sent our own staff. Other Mutual Aid was requested there were 12 patrol units on duty in the evacuation area and only 6 “reported” evacuation related burglaries. Could be more but those were the ones reported.

Fire Risk Reduction Program and Assessments-Jim Steele stated the BOS just approved the formation of a Risk Reduction JPA. Jim S. discussed a scoring sheet for a home in an area which can be requested at a cost which will help a homeowner understand their risk factors, and tells them how to fix the issues. The program will have embedded risk data for insurance companies which will lower insurance costs.

Insurance Companies will let us know if they are in agreement. The program can help us in going after grant money. If anyone is interested in learning more about the program Jim can supply a write up.

Fire District/County JPA purpose and intent- Jim Steel states an ordinance will go forward at the November 6th meeting to enact the abatement process. This ordinance will address abatement of fire hazards. If someone’s property poses a risk to their neighbors, people can be cited & they can be charged for the cost of property clearance. There was a question posed about large property owners responsibility and absentee owners, to which Jim Steele stated the details are still being worked out, and discussion amongst the group about adding language about “activities” such as metal blades or mowing after a certain hour of the day when it’s not recommended. Jim S. will take those recommendations to County Counsel.

SB-833 (McGuire) Emergency Notifications-Dale Carnathan stated the Governor sign the bill into law. Lake County has had an emergency notifications system for several years and ours was upgraded last year. The group discussed the difference in notifications available to the county over the last several years. Undersheriff Macedo stated that the old City Watch’s system had 12 phone lines that called out which meant that if 24 people needed to be notified, it would happen in 2 calls, but in the Valley Fire obviously that didn’t work well with the thousands of people needing to be notified. It was mentioned some folks received their notification two weeks after the event. Discussion was had with the entire group in how far Lake County has come, Dale C. stated that our new system has the capability of reaching out by landline, cellphone and our IPAWS all from one platform at the same time. Jim S. addressed the audience member who had previously stated he wanted to discuss the sirens to see if this answered his questions and the answer was no.

Public Comment

The Cobb resident re asked his question regarding how the new sirens on Cobb will work and who will activate them if the Sheriff is unavailable. Dale stated that the sirens were purchased by the SLC Fire Protection District, they are activated by radio, the Sheriff’s Office will activate on request of fire incident commander passed through Central Dispatch. A single; or all 4 sirens can be activated at a time. There is an Activation & Maintenance MOU being drafted at this time. Sheriff Martin advised that there is a chain of command in place where if he is out of the area the Undersheriff or Captains, or other staff at the Sheriff’s Office can order the sirens to be sounded 24 hours a day, it was also mentioned that HVL has a siren system in place and it would be best if common messaging is used when the sirens are activated.

Announcements and Events

Dale Carnathan-October 25th Public Safety AAR PG&E Shut off- at the little theater at the Fair Grounds

Sarah Finnigan from Cal OES announced she will be repositioned to Marin County but will be staying on to assist Lake and Mendocino Counties until a replacement has been hired. She also mentioned that there are currently 7 open positions in the Coastal Region and would like to put that information out there if anyone knows of someone who might be a good fit for the position. Sarah also stated the Mapping Tool, Weather App, GIS fire mapping is available a valuable for community members and staff, and that CalEOC will be putting on a Mission tasking training on their updated system.

Good of the Order

Chief White stated that the City of Clearlake is working on their HMP. He also stated that today they were approved as a PSAP for 911; which is one of the steps necessary for Clearlake to answer 911 calls.

Chief Sapeta stated the Winter Weather Preparedness Meeting was held and there is 50% chance rainy weather, 50% chance dry. Also discussed the debris flow possibility in the Northshore if there is significant rain fall after the Mendocino Complex Fire. Chief Sapeta also wanted to give credit to responders and community members for their efforts during the Mendocino Complex fire noting that there was major evacuations, the hospital 2 skilled nursing facilities and the entire Lakeport and Kelseyville areas. He stated there was 17 -22 staged ambulances to take 911 calls and that Public Health played huge part in the coordination of this effort. He acknowledged the local resources were a big part of the response and felt the EOC ran smoothly.

Sheriff Martin agreed with Chief Sapeta and also acknowledged that fire responders worked very hard and did a great job, saving homes he didn’t think were going to be saved.

Jim Steele also stated he believes if the winds had acted differently all 7 communities in the Northshore could have been lost.

Chief Sapeta discussed the availability of strike teams that can be staged during red flag warning conditions after meeting certain criteria. He stated this was available in Lake County during the last 3 Red Flag warnings and the Mendocino Task Force had a fire crew rolling through the communities. The governors office is supportive, social media has been approved to promote this and the feedback from community members is positive, seeing the extra fire patrol there ready to take action if needed.

Margaret Silveira also wanted to thank the county EOC for being open and available during their fire and also LPD for their presence as well in helping the city with evacuation and patrolling.

Chief Sapeta discussed the Cache Creek Slide. He believes the slide needs to be monitored, that since the slide was first discovered there has been an increase of property owners in the immediate area that would be impacted as well as Wolf Creek water treatment plant, with a possibility of large amounts of water reaching populated areas. He believes the potential threat of a catastrophic failure is real and wants to keep this slide on the “radar”.

Adjournment

Next Disaster Council meeting will be January 17, 2018. There being no further business, the Disaster Council meeting adjourned at 1614.