The city is ramping up emergency preparedness efforts as peak wildfire season approaches, urging residents and businesses to begin preparations now through coordinated outreach and planning with emergency agencies.
"The devastating Woolsey, Franklin and Palisades Fires taught us that every person, household, business and organization in Malibu needs to be prepared so that together, we can protect lives and properties and be more resilient when the next wildfire strikes," said Marianne Riggins. "The good news is, we know when the fire conditions are coming, and we have time to prepare. Now is the time to make your emergency plans and gather supplies so you can be ready."
The city emphasizes that community-wide wildfire preparedness requires shared responsibility between municipal government, residents and emergency agencies.
City initiatives include updating evacuation plans and conducting Emergency Operations Center training. Officials are conducting preparedness outreach through public safety fairs, fire season outlooks with Assistant Fire Chief Drew Smith, mailers, social media messaging and advertising.
The city is providing free home wildfire assessments and helping neighborhoods achieve Firewise Community status while coordinating with LA County Fire and Sheriff's Departments. Municipal crews are conducting brush clearance on city property and preparing for Public Safety Power Shutoffs and communications outages. Officials are also exploring additional emergency alerting tools, including indoor alerting technology.
Residents can take several preparedness steps, starting with reviewing and updating emergency and evacuation plans and supplies. The LA County Fire Department's wildfire preparedness guide is available at www.Fire.LACounty.gov/rsg.
Officials recommend preparing "go bags" with prescription medications, essential documents and pet supplies. Residents should monitor news and weather forecasts for fire weather conditions and use monitoring tools including Watch Duty at https://app.watchduty.org/ and Protect Genasys at https://protect.genasys.com/search.
Home protection measures include brush clearance and home hardening. Free home wildfire assessments from the city's Fire Safety Liaisons are available at www.MalibuCity.org/FireSafety. Residents can check their evacuation zones at www.MalibuCity.org/Evac.
Community preparedness includes talking with neighbors and checking on elderly or disabled neighbors to ensure they can evacuate safely.
For Public Safety Power Shutoff preparation, residents should sign up for Southern California Edison alerts and monitor outage status at www.SCE.com/PSPS. Additional power outage information is available at www.Ready.LACounty.gov/power-outage.
Edited by SMDP Staff