9 responses to findings and recommendations
F1
No evidence could be found that the County’s Disaster Council has met since the
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
Partially Agree The Disaster Council has met since the adoption of the county's Emergency Operations Plan. The last meeting took place on May 25, 2018. It should be noted that since the Disaster Council's last meeting, the County of Humboldt has experienced several emergency activations including, but not limited to, Power Safety Shutdown (PSPS) events, the COVID-19 pandemic, many fires, and most recently, the Dec. 20, 2022 earthquake and 2022-2023 winter storms. When an emergency is declared, it has been the practice of the county's Office of Emergency Services (OES) to form an incident polic...
F2
The Humboldt County Disaster Council does not have a process to identify how
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
Partially Agree Humboldt County Code 2210 et al does not explicitly state the personnel designated to serve as the Chair or Vice Chair of the Disaster Council, or the process by which those roles are selected. Meetings in the past have historically occurred at regular times of the year with materials for the meetings provided by OES staff. These meetings often reviewed drafts of plans in order to fulfill the Disaster Council's purpose of recommending policies to the Board. It should be noted that the Office of Emergency Services was established by the Board of Supervisors with the adoption of ...
F3
Without a selected Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Humboldt County Disaster
Response: Disagree
Score: -1
Disagree As the Director of Emergency Services, the Humboldt County Sheriff oversees the Humboldt County Emergency Operations Plan. Recommendations provided by the state regarding Disaster Councils are not obligatory. Humboldt County Code 2210-4, which establishes the local disaster council, follows many of the state's recommendations pertaining to the inclusion of members representing law enforcement, fire, medial, utilities and 3
volunteer agencies and organizations. When an active emergency occurs, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services (OES) partners regularly with suc...
F4
No evidence could be found that the existing 2015 Humboldt County Emergency
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
Partially Agree The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) did not review Humboldt County Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) in 2015, however, it should be noted that Cal OES did not require the state's review of 4
EOPs from local jurisdictions until 2021.
F5
The Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services is understaffed, which
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The county agrees with Finding 5.
F6
The existing Humboldt County Emergency Operations Plan has yet to be reviewed
Response: Agree
Score: +1
Agree Finding 6: The existing Humboldt County Emergency Operations Plan has yet to be reviewed or commented upon by the California Office of Emergency Services.
F8
There are no easily understood and readily available printed copies of Humboldt
Response: Disagree
Score: -1
Disagree In 2021, Humboldt County OES collaborated with local governments and public safety partners to establish over 300 emergency zones throughout Humboldt County utilizing the Genasys Project (formerly known as Zonehaven) evacuation management platform. This system allows for real time emergency mapping that members of the public and first responders can use during incidents requiring evacuation. Information for the public is posted on the county's website at https://humboldtgov.org/3219/Evacuation-Mapping and on county OES' social media pages. It should be noted that that evacuation route...
F9
The contact lists of the Humboldt Operations Area (Humboldt County) are
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
Partially Agree The Humboldt Operations Area contact lists need updating, and the Humboldt County OES is working on updating them. Contact lists for primary incident partners have been regularly maintained by Humboldt County OES, and there have been no reports of response delays related to active incidents in relation to the Humboldt Operations Area contact lists.
F10
Humboldt County officials take Pacific Gas & Electric’s assertions regarding the
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
Partially Agree 6
It is the responsibility of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to develop plans for incidents at PG&E's Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) site. The county agrees that there is no ISFSI component included in the county's current EOP because the County of Humboldt is not responsible for this site. Each year Humboldt County OES partners with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to review and update PG&E's Humboldt Bay Emergency Plan. This plan describes the county's role if an incident were to occur. In the event of an incident at PG&E's ISFSI site...
