Cal Fire San Benito-Monterey Unit Special Districts

Vegetation/fuel management and abatement are not receiving the attention nor funding needed from the Cotfnty of Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors, and therefore are not adhering to California Government Executive Order 1.8.19-EO­ N-05-19. AGREE .JL PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): No vegetation/fuel management or abatement projects were identified within the boundaries the Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District and County of Santa Cruz as per the Executive Order. Response Required by October 1, 2020 Page3 of33

Santa Cruz County residents are at increased risk of fire danger due to the lack of risk management for wildfire. Specific risks are not formally identified, tracked, assessed for impact, nor is progress reported by fire departments in the County. Therefore, leaders responsible for budgets and accountability are left unprepared to manage risk, impact, or performance. AGREE .X. PARTIALLY DISAGREE- explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE -explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District manages wildfire risk through public education, Fire Safe Councils and locally focused programs such as the Aromas Chipper Program. Efforts outside District boundaries are not monitored by the Board. CAL FIRE Units issue yearly Unit Fire Plans and via this document track all identified wildfire risk management projects. Response Required by October 1, 2020 of33

City and County officials have not collaborated with PG&E to identify the location of high ·risk PG&E electrical equipment, and so are left uninformed as to how to manage their responsibilities or how to instruct residents about potential danger due to proximity to this equipment. AGREE L PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District is aware of the location of PG&E electrical equipment within its jurisdiction. Efforts outside District boundaries are not monitored by the Board. Response Required by October 1, 2020 of33

Santa Cruz County would greatly benefit if steps were taken to implement the CAL FIRE, San Mateo - Santa Cruz Unit 2018 recommendation of developing detailed, site specific Community Wildfire Protection Plans for communities . throughout the County. AGREE i PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District is supportive of efforts to protect communities from the threat of wildfire; however the Board cannot make

Response time data for fire departments in Santa Cruz County is challenging to obtain. Santa Cruz Regional 9-1-1 previously reported response time data in their annual reports,. but did not do so in the 2018 or 2019 annual reports. AGREE _K. PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE -explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District has not attempted to acquire response times from Santa Cruz County and as such has not experienced any challenges. Response Required by October 1, 2020 of33

Roadside vegetation in rural areas of the County is not being cleared consistently which could potentially increase emergency response time, putting life and property in unnecessary danger. Furthermore, evacuations could be restricted as there is no rule or program that mandates that roads, even critical evacuation routes, be kept cleared meeting defensible space requirements. AGREE L PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District does not monitor roadside vegetation outside the boundaries of its District. Response Required by October 1, 2020 of33 Ready? Aim? Fire/ Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District Board of Directors

There are only approximately 17,000 accounts for the Santa Cruz County opt-in CodeR ED emergency system, which implies that a significant portion of TM the County may not receive emergency alert messages, which potentially reduces residents' opportunity to take action in a timely, life-saving manner. AGREE L PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): Emergency alert messaging is under the purview of the local law enforcement agency (police or sheriff) or emergency management agency (city or county OES). As such the Aromas Tri-County Fire District is not privy to the quoted statistics. The District provides internet links for sign-up to the Emergency Alert programs for all three of the Counties it serves. It is notable that Code-Red is not the only method for communities to receive emergency notifications. Response Required by October 1, 2020 of33

Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), have been deployed in other areas of the state and have proven effective tools in alerting residents in urban and rural areas to a wildfire. However, Santa Cruz County has no such devices, increasing the risk to County residents. AGREE _ll PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation ( required for a response other than Agree): Emergency evacuation messaging and delivery is under the purview of the local law enforcement agency (police or sheriff) and/or emergency management agency ( city or county OES). As such, the Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District is not privy to local efforts. The use of LRADS is not something our staff is aware of, but they have initial concerns about the noise affecting fire-ground face-face communications. Response Required by October 1, 2020 of33

High risk communities in the County are left unnecessarily vulnerable due to the lack of easily accessible, published information of refuge/assembly areas and structures. AGREE .X.. PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District is not in a position to judge High Risk communities outside its jurisdiction. Response Required by October 1, 2020 Ready? Aim? Fire/· Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District Board of Directors

Because the County does not publish a "shelter in place" plan, when a fire expands rapidly, residents cannot make informed decisions about whether to shelter in place or evacuate. AGREE .K_ PARTIALLY DISAGREE-explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree):\ The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District defers to the local emergency management agency (police, sheriff, or OES) for infonnation regarding evacuation warnings or orders. We encourage all individuals to follow those instructions when they are provided. Response Required by October 1, 2020

Unlike the City of Santa Cruz, the County does not publish emergency evacuation routes, purportedly to avoid having old or untimely information being followed in an emergency. The County therefore withholds revealing evacuation routes until an emergency is in progress, likely creating unnecessary risk and potential for chaos. AGREE ..X PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District does not monitor what the City of Santa Cruz publishes and defers to the local emergency management agency (police, sheriff, or OES) for their expertise on the release of evacuation route information. Response Required by October 1, 2020

In the Wildland Urban Interface zone, and in many town centers, traffic choke points exist, and in some instances have roadway obstacles to traffic flow such as overgrown vegetation, concrete medians, curbs, and lane reductions resulting in roads that are inadequate for mass evacuations. AGREE � PARTIALLY DISAGREE-explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE- explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire District has few, if any obstacles as described within its jurisdictional boundaries. Response Required by October 1, 2020

Wildfire preparedness informational materials are well done and public education is attempted by fire departments in the County, but fails to sufficiently reach and motivate residents to act. AGREE _L PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District is not in a position to judge educational efforts and successes outside its jurisdictional boundaries. Response Required by October 1, 2020 Ready? Aim? Fire/ Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District Board of Directors

The FireW ise institution provides a valuable fire prevention program and, as of March 2020, there were eight FireWise communities registered in the County. Marin County, by contrast, with a similar population, has sixty registered communities, highlighting the need for more FireWise promotion and participation in Santa Cruz County. AGREE _K. PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District is supportive of all fire prevention efforts; however when gauging community participation of programs such as FireWise, it is important to also look at the geographic size of each participating community and not just number of participating communities. Response Required by October 1, 2020

The County Office of Emergency Services and fire agencies in the County encourage residents to be prepared for an emergency, however the passive mechanisms such as web sites used to encourage preparedness are not proving to be sufficient. AGREE ,X_ PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District is not able to judge the sufficiency of the above stated efforts. However, locally the District has a robust and well visited website. Response Required by October 1, 2020

Property owners in the County are responsible for their own vegetation management, yet they are often not sufficiently educated about vegetation management practices, or do not have the capability, financial resources, or desire to create defensible space. AGREE L PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District is not in a position to judge educational efforts and successes outside its jurisdictional boundaries. The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District has an active Chipper Program and other community based vegetation management educational programs. We encourage all property owners and tenants to visit ReadyforWildfire.org for additional wildfire preparedness and defensible space information. Response Required by October 1, 2020

No single organization in the County is assuming a leadership role in Fire Hazard Mitigation. It is not clear whose responsibility it is to minimize this County wide risk. AGREE .K._ PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District, along with CAL FIRE, have taken a leadership role within its District boundaries for Fire Hazard Mitigation. Response Required by October 1 2020 s Ready? Aim? Fire/ Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District Board of Directors

The annual report to the County Board of Supervisors and the County Administrative Office by County Fire/CAL FIRE does not provide data or analysis of resources, response times, code enforcement, inspection, or education. This information is necessary to show what gaps exist between current performance and community needs in order for informed budget decisions to be made. Without adequate background information, the Board of Supervisors is unable to hold CAL FIRE accountable for the specific responsibilities specified in their contract. AGREE .x_ PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE -explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District does not monitor the above noted annual report to the County. Response Required by October 1, 2020 of33

Reporting data, statistics, and formats utilized by fire agencies throughout the County are highly inconsistent, uncoordinated, and therefore not readily evaluated and compared. The standard Insurance Services Office {ISO) rating system would be useful to adopt. Response time data are not well described or consistently reported by the jurisdictions, making accurate assessment difficult, especially by other agencies or by the public. AGREE _K_ PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District participates in reviews with the Insurance Services Office and is not aware how other agencies in the County track the above criteria. Response Required by October 1, 2020 Ready? Aim? Fire/ Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District Board of Directors

The 2015 County of Santa Cruz Emergency Operations Management plan does not adequately address evacuation, and references data too outdated to be useful, such as a population density map from the 2000 census. AGREE _K_ PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE -explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): Local law enforcement agencies (police or sheriff) or emergency management agencies ( city or county OES) are responsible for evacuation issues and this is not under the purview of this Board. Response Required by October 1, 2020 of33 Ready? Aini? Fire/ Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District Board of Directors

The Grand Jury finds that formally specified baseline and target performance statements, in alignment with the Center for Public Safety Excellence Assessment Process, neither currently exist nor are they reported by fire departments in the County as required by best practice standards. There are no goals set or measures made of progress for review by the Board of Supervisors regarding County Fire/CAL FIRE performance. Other fire districts in the County are similarly remiss in reporting to their governing bodies. Appropriate goals would include progress on response times, vegetation management, and code inspection progress, all of which are necessary to properly quantify the budget and resources required for full-time, volunteer, and prison inmate workforces, in appropriate, affordable proportions. AGREE .A_ PARTIALLY DISAGREE -explain the disputed portion _ DISAGREE - explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District does not monitor other Fire Agencies reporting to the above stated standards. The staff of the Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District reports to their Board much of the above identified information at the scheduled District Board meetings. Response Required by October 1, 2020