With this fall’s peak wildfire season quickly approaching, the City of Malibu is urging all residents and businesses to prepare now. The City is stepping up efforts to ensure community-wide preparedness through outreach, planning, and coordination with emergency agencies.
“The devastating Woolsey, Franklin and Palisades Fires taught us that every person, household, business and organization in Malibu needs to be prepared so that together, we can protect lives and properties and be more resilient when the next wildfire strikes,” said Marianne Riggins. “The good news is, we know when the fire conditions are coming, and we have time to prepare. Now is the time to make your emergency plans and gather supplies so you can be ready.”
Shared Responsibility:
In order to achieve community-wide wildfire preparedness, the City, the community, and emergency agencies all must play a crucial role.
City Actions Include:
- Updating the City’s evacuation plan and conducting Emergency Operations (EOC) training.
- Preparedness outreach, including the Public Safety and Preparedness Fair, fire season outlook with Assistant Fire Chief Drew Smith, mailers, social media messaging, and advertising.
- Conducting free home wildfire assessments and helping neighborhoods achieve Firewise Community status.
- Coordinating and planning with the LA County Fire and Sheriff’s Departments.
- Conducting brush clearance on City property.
- Preparing for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) and communications outages.
- Exploring additional emergency alerting tools, including indoor alerting technology.
What You Can Do:
- Review and update your emergency and evacuation plans, and emergency supplies. Get the LA County Fire Department’s wildfire preparedness guide: www.Fire.LACounty.gov/rsg.
- Prepare “go bags,” including prescription medications, essential documents and pet supplies.
- Monitor news and weather forecasts for fire weather conditions.
- Monitor Watch Duty https://app.watchduty.org/ and Protect Genasys https://protect.genasys.com/
search websites, sign up for alerts, and download the mobile apps. - Protect your home and property with brush clearance and home hardening.
- Get a free home wildfire assessment from the City’s Fire Safety Liaisons: www.MalibuCity.org/FireSafety.
- Know your evacuation zone: www.MalibuCity.org/Evac.
- Talk with your neighbors and check in with elderly or disabled neighbors to ensure that they are informed and able to evacuate.
- Be prepared for Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) power outages – sign up for alerts from Southern California Edison (SCE) and monitor outage status at: www.SCE.com/PSPS. Have backup batteries for phones, and tablets. Learn more: www.Ready.LACounty.gov/power-
outage.
The City will be putting out widespread messaging through the end of fire season on social media and the website, in the Malibu Times, KBUU 99.1 FM, and via direct mail with fire preparedness tips and resources for the community.
Save the Date for the City’s 7th Annual Safety and Preparedness Fair, September 6
As part of Malibu’s wildfire preparedness and for National Preparedness Month in September, the City will host the 7th Annual Safety and Preparedness Fair on Saturday, September 6, from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM at Malibu City Hall. All community members, businesses, schools and organizations are encouraged to attend. The free, family-friendly event will offer hands-on activities, emergency preparedness services and supplies, law enforcement and emergency personnel and vehicles, demonstrations, food, giveaways, a raffle, activities for kids, and more. Event details will be posted at: MalibuCity.org/SafetyFair.
Don’t wait until the winds start – get ready now. Learn more about wildfire preparedness at www.MalibuCity.org/FireSafety.