Wildfire Today



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TRAVIS COUNTY

OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

AFTER ACTION REPORT

LABOR DAY WEEKEND FIRES

SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. – Executive Summary

2.0 – After Action Report Development

3.0 – Acronyms and Definitions

4.0 – Communications

5.0 – Resources

6.0 – Public Information

7.0 – Conclusion

1.0

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Central Texas suffered through a record drought and heat wave during the summer of 2011. With numerous days of temperatures above 100 degrees and significantly lower amounts of rainfall, the fine fuels were dead and the larger fuels were at record low moisture content. The Exceptional Drought that Central Texas was experiencing had baked the ground and was taking its toll on live trees with numerous cedar trees having died and a large number of hardwood trees shedding their leaves to try and survive.

On September 4, 2011, a Red Flag Warning had been issued for Central Texas due to a dry front moving through the area from the north. Wind speeds were 25 – 30 miles per hour with wind gusts ranging above 40 miles per hour. The relative humidity was below 20 per cent and the temperatures were climbing through the high 90s by early afternoon.

At 11:00 AM on Sunday, September 4, 2011, Emergency Service District (ESD) 2 (Pflugerville) responded to a fire on Pfluger Street and at 12:10 PM they were dispatched to the Hodde Lane fire. At 2:15 PM, ESD 8 (Pedernales) was dispatched to what was to be named the Pedernales Fire. At 3:06 PM, ESD 2 was dispatched for the third time to the Pigeon Ford fire. At 3:58, ESD 6 (Lake Travis Fire Rescue) was dispatched to the Steiner Fire and at 5:12 PM, the Austin Fire Department was sent to the David Moore Fire in south Austin. Travis County experienced six large fires on September 4, 2011. In all, approximately 57 homes were destroyed in three of the fires with the final estimate of acreage burned standing at roughly 7,000 acres. All of these fires started on the same day that the Bastrop Complex Fire started which finally consumed 34,000 acres and destroyed 1,600 homes. It was the worst fire day in Travis County that any of the firefighters could remember. Several of the fires were contained within one operational period while others like the Pedernales and Steiner fires burned for several days. Evacuation Orders were given in the Pflugerville, Pedernales and Steiner fires. Three shelters were opened for displaced residents.

The Austin/Travis County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was opened at approximately 3:30 PM on Sunday, September 4, 2011, at the request of the County Resource Coordinator and Austin Fire Department. The EOC remained open until September 8, 2011, in support of the Incident Command Posts. The EOC supported the fire scenes with Logistic requests and Public Information. On Sunday evening, a joint press conference was held at the Combined Transportation, Emergency and Communications Center (CTECC) to address the fire situation in Travis County. The press conference was led by County Judge Samuel T. Biscoe and included representatives from the County fire departments and Austin Fire Department.

Due to the number of large fires burning throughout Texas, external resources were not available through the State. Travis County did receive some assistance from surrounding county fire departments but the only air support came from Travis County’s STAR Flight for fire suppression. The Austin Police Department’s and the Department of Public Safety’s aircraft did provide for some aerial observation.

On Monday, September 5, 2011, the Pedernales and Steiner fires were declared eligible for Fire Mitigation Assistance Grants (FMAG). The Hodde Lane fire was declared eligible for an FMAG several days later. Travis County was added to the Presidential Disaster Declaration (DIR-4029) on September 14, 2011, for Individual Assistance. Travis County was not included for Public Assistance but the three FMAGs remained in place which meant response expenses to the three fires would be eligible for reimbursement. The Applicant Briefing was held on October 20, 2011, in the EOC for representatives to receive information and ask questions regarding the reimbursement process for the three fires declared as eligible for an FMAG. Approximately 37 people attended.

Submitting Jurisdiction: Travis County Office of Emergency Management

Name of Person Submitting: Pete Baldwin, Emergency Management Coordinator

Address: P.O. Box 1748

Austin, TX 78767

Telephone Number: 512-974-0450

Fax Number: 512-974-0499

Email Address: pete.baldwin@co.travis.tx.us

2.0

After Action Report (AAR) Development

On October 7, 2011, an AAR meeting was held in the EOC. Approximately 70 people were in attendance. In preparing this AAR, it was important to solicit input from the various individuals, agencies and entities that had a role in the response to these fires. Although Travis County experienced numerous fires on the Labor Day weekend, the AAR was primarily aimed at the Pedernales, Steiner and Hodde Lane fire since these were the ones declared eligible for FMAGs and consumed most of the resources. Every effort was made to contact the individuals or agencies who were identified as responding to the fires. The omission of any individual or organization is purely unintentional. While this report is intended primarily for the use of the Travis County Office of Emergency Management, the information will be shared with all agencies involved in the response to the fires.

The AAR consisted of a high level review of the events as they unfolded chronologically. After the review of the event, the following three broad focus areas were presented to participants:

Communications Public Information

Pre-Event Joint Information Center

Activation Notifications Public Information/Notification

Event Notifications Media

Evacuation Notifications

Field Communications

Resources

Requests

Availability

Adequacy

Types

Shelters

As each focus area was addressed, participants were invited to post comments relative to each focus area under the headings of What Worked, Needs Improvement and/or What Didn’t Work. The participant’s comments were grouped together by similarity, and the meeting moderator then reviewed the comments, giving the participants the opportunity to discuss the matters more fully in an open forum. The comments received from this meeting are reiterated in the next section as they were received and make up the content of this AAR. Some re-wording was done to incorporate similar comments but for the most part the comments are verbatim as the participants wrote them down.

The Travis County Office of Emergency Management would like to take this opportunity to formally thank all of the participants for committing themselves to the continual improvement of our response efforts by participating in this process and sharing their observations and expertise. The Office would also like to thank Billy Atkins of the City’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for moderating the AAR so Travis County staff could participate in the process.

3.0

ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS

ADRN – Austin Disaster Relief Network

AFD – Austin Fire Department

A/TC EOC – Austin/Travis County Emergency Operations Center

A/TCHHSD – Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department

ATV – All Terrain Vehicle

AWACS – Austin Warning and Communications System

CAD – Computer Aided Dispatch

CAPCOG – Capital Area Council of Governments

CRC – County Resource Coordinator

CASHP – Capital Area Shelter Hub Plan

CTECC – Combined Transportation, Emergency, and Communications Center

CATRAC – Capital Area Trauma Regional Advisory Council

DOC – Department Operations Center

ENS – Emergency Notification System

EOC – Emergency Operations Center

FC – Fire Chief

FMAG – Fire Mitigation Assistance Grant

GATRRS – Greater Austin Travis County Regional Radio System

GIS – Geographic Information System

HSEM – Homeland Security and Emergency Management

ICP – Incident Command Post

IT – Information Technology

JIC – Joint Information Center

LCRA – Lower Colorado River Authority

MDC – Mobile Data Computer

PEC – Pedernales Electric Cooperative

PIO – Public Information Officer

RMC-1 – Regional Mobile Command Vehicle 1

TCSO – Travis County Sheriff’s Office

4.0

Labor Day Fires 2011

COMMUNICATIONS

WHAT WORKED

• A/TC EOC (Austin/Travis County Emergency Operations Center) Activation Notification via AWACS (Austin Warning and Communication System) worked.

• Having a PEC (Pedernales Electric Cooperative) employee in the Command Center at the Spicewood fire was beneficial.

• Both CRC (County Resource Coordinator) and AFD (Austin Fire Department) established a DOC (Department Operations Center) at the start of the ESD #2 fire.

• Having Travis County ESDs and AFD in the EOC was critical.

• Having a joint City/County EOC is great.

• County and City resource utilization worked well.

• Inter-agency cooperation was the best it’s ever been.

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

• EOC should have been activated earlier when fires broke out in Pflugerville.

• Some key people were not notified. This was especially true of the group of persons who support CTECC as an operating facility to support the public safety responders-meaning CTECC law enforcement, janitorial staff, IT (Information Technology), etc. These people must be included in a timely manner so that they are not in such a reactive and late stance.

• Event notifications for the fire service were too numerous, group paging occurred every time another resource was assigned in CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch).

• Better notification to local Incident Commanders that the EOC has been activated. A possible solution to this is to use the MDCs (Mobile Data Computer) in addition to the AWACS pagers.

• There seems to have been an AWACS pager notification preliminary to the activation but some did not receive one as an official notification.

• Calls/requests for disease/adverse health conditions (i.e. injuries) were not well coordinated regionally.

• Better communication needed among local health department, regional health department, and CATRAC (Capital Area Trauma Regional Advisory Council).

• Work on overall regional coordination for public health.

• Public Health was notified, but staff was not assigned to the EOC in a timely manner.

• Better communications needed within A/TCHHSD (Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department).

• Pick and use the same emergency management software. ICPs (Incident Command Posts) can then feed information in and the EOC can forward information out.

• Regional communications regarding situation and status updates.

• Creating a “single path” from each ICP to the EOC for more accurate information.

• Improvement on overall regional view when multiple areas are involved.

• Earlier updates to facilities for medical operations.

• Communication with regional partners for getting resources into logistics.

• Use Regional WebEOC board, not the local board.

• When reporting voice service issues, be sure to note the extension, the function of the phone and the priority of the outage.

• Need to have a phone tree to distribute calls to the appropriate disaster for their area.

• Confirmation that patches were made or were being worked on.

• Problems with phones initially and periodically. No radio communications as a backup.

• Reverse 911 worked, but some residents notified got a phone number to call and when they called the number, there was no pertinent information on the recording.

• Need better cell phone Reverse 911 coverage in Spicewood.

• Radio Interoperability for Burnet and Llano counties needs to be expedited.

• Cell phone registration on ENS (Emergency Notification System) needs to be better promoted.

• More frequencies need to be added to the 800 trunking system.

• Field communications between fire commanders and the EOC was difficult, but workable.

• Radio transmissions were not always answered.

• Cell phones were not always answered.

• Cell phone numbers were not always known.

• Dispatch needs better coordinates for Reverse 911. The suggestion to fix this is to get more specific information to dispatch.

• Internal communications needs to improve within TCSO (Travis County Sheriff’s Office) dispatch. The suggestion to fix this is for dispatch supervisor to have WebEOC access.

• Limited or no communications prior to EOC activation.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK

• Animal Services did not have contact information for TCOEM and Austin HSEM (Homeland Security and Emergency Management) staff.

• An evacuation location was called out at CTECC and no one knew where it was. It turned out that there was no such place and no one could say where it was near.

• No communications until EOC activation. Most of the received information was from the media group on AWACS.

• Travis County Fire Marshal’s Office was not notified of the fires in a timely manner by individual commands at the time of the incidents and did not receive an AWACS page when the EOC was activated.

• The EOC activation was too late.

• AWACS pagers do not have statewide coverage.

• Need an early staging area for response to small animal issues.

• Resource requests made at EOC through WebEOC were mostly unanswered and not tracked on WebEOC.

• Communication between operational staff and public official staff regarding status reporting.

• Communication between operational staff and outside resources agencies supporting the fire departments and residents needing help.

• EOC had a difficult time receiving status updates from Incident Command Posts.

• Process of generating and approving resource requests (213s) not clearly defined at the EOC.

• COML at the EOC was acting in a “reactive” mode as opposed to a “proactive” mode. Was not part of channel and communications planning with AFD.

• Communication between LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority) and Travis County regarding lake closures did not go through the EOC.

• Confusion on WebEOC as to items being posted due to different servers.

• It was not clear how to communicate with the EOC for information and coordination, there is a need to develop interface protocol.

• Long term planning was not communicated out of county, i.e. last minutes CRC calls for operational periods.

• Communications at the EOC was not efficient. Messaging on WebEOC was not monitored or tracked for status updates. This made it difficult to close out resources and update assignments. There was not an EOC controller assigned.

• No coordinated platform to communicate situational awareness.

• WebEOC still does not interface between CAPCOG (Capital Area Council of Governments), CTECC, and Williamson County.

• Radio communications between LCRA and GATRRS (Greater Austin Regional Radio System) fell out during operational period changes, not noted on the 205.

• Jammed cell tower caused lack of operable cell phone services.

• Burnet and Blanco counties did not have effective radio communications during the Spicewood event.

• Radio Interoperability with Burnet and Llano counties VHF radios was not operable, resorted to face-to-face communications.

• A significant number of citizens did not have land lines for Reverse 911.

• 800 trunking system was overloaded for some time.

• Changes to the 205 by field fire units without notification to the EOC caused radio interoperability issues for other responding agencies.

• Some Reverse 911 land lines were burned before the calls went out.

• Communications between Steiner Ranch and the EOC was difficult during the first 12 hours of the event.

• Cell phones were not reliable.

• There was a mixture of cell and radio communications. The solution to this is to attempt to formalize a communication plan as soon as possible. Support for Incident Commanders would enhance communications.

• LE communications between different agencies lacked with the Incident Commander and caused self-deployment.

5.0

LABOR DAY FIRES 2011

RESOURCES

WHAT WORKED

• Everyone was doing their best with the resources we had. (General Comment)

• Use of car placards for re-entry worked well. (Requests)

• A/TCEMS response was great. (Availability)

• GIS worked well with everyone but would like to see more hard copies posted in the EOC. (EOC)

• The Travis CRC did a great job but could have used support from the Incident Management Team. (EOC)

• Having a Communications Unit Leader was very helpful. (EOC)

• The A/TC EOC worked well for radio channel requests and assignment. (EOC)

• Austin Fire Department’s support was invaluable. (Availability)

• Resources that were responding to Steiner were known due to the fact that we knew what we ordered. (Requests)

• Pflugerville Police Department provided crisis counselors to the shelters. (Shelters)

• CASHP (Capital Area Shelter Hub Plan) footprint works well for other shelters. (Shelters)

• Animal control did a great job of supporting shelters. (Shelters)

• STAR Flight did an outstanding job.

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

• RMC-1 (Regional Mobile Command Vehicle) should have been requested at Spicewood on Sunday or Monday to resolve communication issues. (Requests)

• Resource requests from Spicewood came to the EOC late at night making it very difficult to order and coordinate resources. (Requests)

• Travis County requested resources at the last minute for late operational periods for several days for several fires. (Requests)

• Requests were often sent out after the operational period had started. (Requests)

• Timely release of resources (designate operational periods early on). (Requests)

• Additional resources may have been available from Burnet and Blanco County but there was no advanced planning to integrate them into the system. (Availability)

• Spicewood needs better access routes and available water. (Adequacy)

• Holiday weekend caused some personnel issues. (Availability)

• There were reports of resources sitting in staging with no assignment which caused problems in securing resources (proper check in procedures needed). (Adequacy)

• Self deployed law enforcement made it impossible to track personnel and vehicles. (Types)

• Red Cross did not want to run shelters under the CASHP. (Shelters)

• CASHP should be revised to use for all sheltering operations and not just for hurricanes. (Shelters)

• Law enforcement had no information from the Command Post for the shelter managers and evacuees such as status updates. (Shelters)

• Need quicker assistance with sheltering animals. (Shelters)

• Need better coordination of shelter operations with EOC for opening/closing, staffing, planning and support systems. (Shelters)

• Lack of presence at the EOC to know where to manage shelter people. (Shelters)

• Need to pre-stage supplies for small animals. (Shelters)

• Need more help with large animal evacuation. (Shelters)

• WebEOC did not coordinate with all events. (Shelters)

• A Multi Area Command should have set up and defined. (EOC)

• More training and drills on basic ICS plans and command posts is needed. (EOC)

• Must have the appropriate leadership running the EOC. (EOC)

• Better liaison support between the Command Posts and EOC is needed. There was zero situational awareness about each incident. (EOC)

• Need to improve EOC accountability of resources. (EOC)

• A Logistics Chief was needed. (EOC)

• Could have provided better status tracking to all agencies. (EOC)

• Need better method for map distribution to incident. (EOC)

• School districts are willing to help our communities, but we need CASHP and RC to provide proper support.

• School districts were willing to help communities, but the CASHP needs to be updated to provide better support.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK

• Requested resources from State or Federal partners were not received. (Availability)

• ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) firefighting vehicles were needed but none were available. (Availability)

• Follow up for demobilization or relocating resources was non-existent. (Shelters)

6.0

Labor Day Fires 2011

PUBLIC INFORMATION

WHAT WORKED

• The initial news conference held at the A/TC EOC which included the involved Fire Departments, Travis County Judge and the Red Cross went well. It was broadcasted before evening news on Sunday evening 9/4/11

• Travis County fires received international coverage with press interviews done over the telephone.

• Austin Fire Department helped organize and staff the Public Information Officer (PIO) component at both the Steiner Ranch and Spicewood fires.

• City of Austin’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) did a good job in pushing information to the public via their website.

• Austin Disaster Relief Network (ADRN) establishing a victim relief hotline (EOC)

• City of Austin’s Information Hotline updated on a regular basis (EOC)

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

• More news conferences from field. The sharing of information from the scene to the PIO for coordination was lacking.

• Not enough PIO’s representing the ESD’s.

• Received requests for Deaf Translators at news conferences.

• Better use of Social Media

• Provide a PIO for Shelters. Someone who is “linked in” to the command post and the EOC to assist with survivor/evacuee information requests, and is able to respond to inquires from non-governmental agencies.

• The telephone Hotline that was established by the City of Austin to provide up to date information was quickly overloaded. It was not anticipated that the hotline would become so heavily used. Also the recorded message wasn’t kept current with events as they changed. Perhaps utilizing additional phone lines and a push for people to check websites will help to mitigate such problems in the future.

WHAT DID NOT WORK

• Coordination of public messaging with LCRA about lake closures.

• Rumor mill at the shelter due to lack of information and conflicting media reports.

• Media who showed up at the Spicewood fire scene did not disseminate immediate, useful information to the residents who were threatened. Better coordination with the use of media is imperative.

• There was lack of PIO representation from the responding ESD’s therefore information was hard to obtain by the JIC (Joint Information Center) to pass along to media inquiries. Having one PIO for each fire scene would’ve helped greatly.

• Press Conferences should only be called by EOC or FC (Fire Chief) leadership and not at the whim of elected officials who can take away resources from the response.

• Social media network needs to established, especially for those who are not tuned in to their television sets, and do not have land line phones.

7.0

Conclusion

The 2011 Labor Day Weekend fires presented Travis County fire departments with a scenario that was unlike any that had been witnessed in the lives of many of the participants. With numerous fires burning in Travis County and throughout the State of Texas, fire departments were left with using what resources were available to them on a local basis. Many of the responses were directly related to the magnitude of the event and the lack of resources normally available. The AAR will provide Travis County an opportunity to look at the deficiencies noted in the report and take corrective actions. Some corrective actions are already in the planning stages such as Public Information Training for additional field PIOs and increased public awareness through the social media. Other opportunities will be looked at to determine what steps need to be taken in order to correct some of the issues noted in the AAR.

Even in the best of managed events there are always lessons to be learned and area where professionals can concentrate on improving their response capabilities. It is the intent of the Travis County Office of Emergency Management to work with all of the stakeholders in improving the preparedness, response and recovery activities for any disaster. Travis County is fortunate to have a large number of partner jurisdictions, agencies and organizations that routinely work and plan together on a wide variety of initiatives and hazards, resulting in the ability to come together and meet any type of emergency the area may encounter. Once again the Travis County Office of Emergency Management would like to thank all of the participants for their efforts during the Labor Day Fires and for taking the time to assist with this AAR.

* Front Cover photo is of a STAR Flight helicopter assisting with fire suppression on the Steiner Ranch fire.

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