Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Supervisors to Vote on Resolution Extending Eaton Fire Emergency

By André Coleman, Managing Editor

The County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on a resolution that would continue the local emergency declaration caused by the Eaton Fire and windstorm event that decimated Altadena in January.

“At this time, conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property caused by the January 2025 Windstorm and Critical Fire Events continue to exist; this warrants the local emergency being continued by the Board,” the resolution reads.

The proclaimed local emergency for the January 2025 Windstorm and Critical Fire Events has been in effect since January 7, 2025, and continued by the Board thereafter.

The declaration enables the County to access state and federal assistance and expedite resource procurements.

“The local emergency provides the County with the ability to continue its efforts to assess costs and damages and perform significant repairs to damaged property within the County,” according to the resolution. “By continuing the local emergency, the County may utilize emergency measures and resources to mitigate the impacts of the January 2025 Windstorm and Critical Fire Events.”

Seventeen people died in the Eaton Fire. The fire, one of the most destructive in the state’s history, destroyed 9,000 homes in Altadena and Pasadena and burned more than 14,000 acres.

After a local emergency has been proclaimed by the Board, state law requires that the Board: review the need for the local emergency to remain in effect at least once every 60 days, until it is terminated by the Board.

The Board is required to proclaim the local emergency terminated at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant.

According to the resolution the windstorm and critical fire Events are an ongoing local emergency in the County, whose conditions have included an ongoing response to a number of destructive and winddriven fires, which include, among others, the Palisades Fire, Hurst Fire, Creek Fire, Lidia Fire, and the Kenneth Fire, and post-fire hazards, such as the risk of flooding, debris flows, rock falls, and mudslides from the burn area.

“These catastrophic events have caused loss of life, widespread damage, and destruction to residential structures, businesses, and infrastructure, power outages, downed trees, road closures, rockslides, and significant debris.”

With the scale of these fires throughout the County, flooding could extend far into downstream communities. Within or below the burned area boundaries are facilities of the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, which provide critical flood and debris flow mitigation; water supply facilities of the Los Angeles County Waterworks Districts; sewer facilities of the Consolidated Sewer Maintenance District; County and State roads and appurtenant infrastructure; and numerous homes and businesses.

“These conditions are or are likely to be beyond the control of the resources of the County and require the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat,” the resolution reads. “The County’s efforts to respond to and mitigate the impacts of the January 2025 Windstorm and Critical Fire Events have included necessary repairs to damaged roads, bridges, flood control and water infrastructure, and other property, as well as other necessary responsive measures.”