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Emergency Response

As demonstrated by several natural disasters in California in recent years, planning for access and evacuation is a key to protecting public health and safety and providing efficient access for first responders. In Ventura County, evacuation planning is an important aspect of preparing for a range of potential natural disasters, including wildfire, flooding, seismic, tsunami events.

In addition to policy on evacuation, this section covers the planning and placement of essential facilities. This is necessary to ensure that the first responders for the county are available and able to respond when disaster strikes.

Wildfires are fast-moving, complex and dynamic events. Evacuation decisions are complicated and directly impacted by changing conditions. Preparing static, pre-determined evacuation maps/routes are not effective as they do not take into account unforeseeable conditions such as fire rates of spread, fuel modeling, wind, topography, resource availability, viable transportation routes and the population at risk to include individuals with access and functional needs in the impacted area. Wildfire conditions change and evolve rapidly in unpredictable ways. Hence, the County utilizes a robust emergency notification system to provide timely instructional information to residents in an emergency. The VC Alert emergency notification system is a local emergency notification system that is used to send messages to landline telephones, cellular telephones, TTY/TTD devices, fax, email, and instant messaging services. VC Alert can send both text and recorded voice messages, and the text-to-speech engine is able to send notifications in multiple languages. When a wildfire poses a risk to life, property and/or the environment, the VC Alert system is used to send actionable evacuation information to residents to take action to save their lives. Every VC Alert message includes a phone number to the County Incident Information Hotline and the link to the VCEmergency.com webpage where residents can receive real-time incident information showing an interactive map of fire perimeters, road closures, evacuation shelters, and more.

Policies and programs relating to wildfire hazard planning and response, including the location of new essential public facilities; emergency services/vehicle accessibility; collaboration between emergency service providers; adequate water supply, fire flow, access, and response times for firefighting purposes; fire station locations, facilities, public services and infrastructure availability; fire protection standards for new development; mutual training/aid agreements; and response times can be found in the Public Facilities and Services Element. Additional information about fire hazard planning can be found in the 2040 General Plan Background Report as well as the following sources, as may be amended:

  • Ventura County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan;
  • Ventura County Fire Protection District Unit Strategic Protection Plan;
  • Ventura County Fire Protection District ordinances and fire prevention guidelines;
  • Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council Community Wildfire Protection Plan;
  • Santa Monica Mountains Community Wildfire Protection Plan; and
  • Ventura County Fire Protection District Personal Action Plan.

Additional specific information can be found in the following sources, as may be amended:

  • Historical data regarding wildfires in Ventura County can be found in Section 11.3 of the Wildfire Hazards chapter of the 2040 General Plan Background Report, and the Ventura County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan at https://www.ReadyVenturaCounty.org/.
  • Maps of the location and extent of fire hazard severity zones and fire hazards areas by local/state/federal responsibility area can be found in Section 11.3 of the Wildfire Hazards chapter of the 2040 General Plan Background Report.
  • The Ventura County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan includes an analysis of the potential level of impact of wildfire to the County’s landmass, population, residential structures, and critical facilities/infrastructure in the high and very high fire severity zones. This plan can be found at https://www.ReadyVenturaCounty.org/.
  • A description of the local, state, and federal agencies with responsibility for fire protection can be found in the Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council Community Wildfire Protection Plan at https://www.firesafeojai.org/, and the Ventura County Unit Strategic Fire Plan. This plan is available by request from the Ventura County Fire Protection District.
  • Development standards in SRAs and VHFHSZs that meet SRA Fire Safe Regulations and regulations pertaining to Fire Hazard Reduction Around Buildings and Structures can be found in Section 11.3 of the Wildfire Hazards chapter of the 2040 General Plan Background Report, and Ventura County Fire Protection District Ordinance 29 Fire Apparatus Access Code; Ventura County Fire Protection District Ordinance 31 Fire Code (including Section W106.1 Plans); Ventura County Fire Protection District Fire Hazard Reduction Program Standards and Guidelines, including Standard 501: Fire Apparatus Access; Standard 502: Premises Identification; Standard 515: Defensible Space and Fuel Modification Zones; and Standard 14.5.3: Fire Hydrants. Ventura County Fire Protection District ordinances, standards, and guidelines can be found on the Ventura County Fire Protection District website. The Ventura County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan on the https://www.ReadyVenturaCounty.org/ website also includes a recommended potential mitigation action pertaining to fuel modification plans for new development (Mitigation Action Numbers OA 20 in the 2015 Plan), and for elderly, disabled, and low-income property owners (Mitigation Action Numbers OA 19 in the 2015 Plan).
  • Fire protection standards regarding fire flow requirements in areas without adequate and reliable water supply systems can be found in Ventura County Fire Protection District Ordinance 31, Appendix B, which is posted on the Ventura County Fire Protection District website.
  • Vegetation hazard mitigation and maintenance measures can be found in the Ventura County Unit Strategic Fire Plan. This plan is available by request from the Ventura County Fire Protection District. The Ventura County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan also includes information pertaining to vegetation hazard mitigation and maintenance measures (Mitigation Action Number OA 21 in the 2015 Plan) on the ReadyVenturaCounty.org website.
  • Standards pertaining to vegetative clearance on public roadways can be found in Ventura County Fire Protection District Ordinance 31 Fire Code (Section W105.3 Clearance of Brush or Vegetative Growth from Roadways), which is posted on the Ventura County Fire Protection District website. The Ventura County Unit Strategic Fire Plan describes annual fuel bed maintenance activities by the Fire District for fire, utility, and ranch roads. This maintenance in includes assessment, repair, grading, and roadside brush removal. The Unit Plan is available by request from the Ventura County Fire Protection District.
  • Information pertaining to community fire breaks can be found in the Ventura County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (Mitigation Actions Numbers OA 20 and OA 21 in the 2015 Plan) on the https://www.ReadyVenturaCounty.org/ website.
  • Information pertaining to emergency response performance standards can be found in the Ventura County Fire Protection District Regional Fire Services Standards of Cover Analysis. This analysis is available by request from the Ventura County Fire Protection District.
  • Public education and outreach regarding defensible space and evacuation can be found in VCFD Ordinance 31 Fire Code and the Ventura County Fire Protection District Fire Hazard Reduction Program links on the Ventura County Fire Protection District website.

Goals, policies, and implementation programs concerning public safety service provision can be found in Chapter 5, Public Facilities, Services, and Infrastructure Element.

Goal: HAZ-12

To provide for the safe and efficient evacuation of residents in times of need. (Source: New Goal)

The County shall require new residential subdivisions to provide not less than two means of access for emergency vehicles and resident evacuation. A deviation from this policy is only allowed if a single proposed access road conforms to the County Road Standards, Ventura County Fire Department Access Standards, and when the County Fire Chief approves the proposed deviation.
RDR

The County shall continue to maintain and periodically update the Ventura County Emergency Operations Plan and the Ventura County Hazard Mitigation Plan covering hazards in the county.
IGC
MPSP
PI

The County should not site essential facilities, public safety or emergency service facilities, special occupancy structures, or hazardous materials storage facilities in areas subject to the following hazard areas, as defined in the County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services), unless the structure is designed to mitigate the hazard:  

  • in tsunami hazard areas, as defined in the Tsunami Operational Area Response Guide (Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services);  
  • geologic or seismic hazard areas;  
  • areas subject to liquefaction, landslide, or seiche hazards; and  
  • subsidence or hydroconsolidation.
RDR

The County shall determine best practices for water and sanitation and other measures for coping with emergencies of multiple days’ duration and shall provide guidance to the public based on the findings.
PI
SO

The County shall continue to maintain a comprehensive, coordinated and robust alert and warning program to communicate threats and hazards to residents before, during and after an emergency.
SO
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