LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management has faced strong criticism over its handling of the January wildfires.
So what potential changes could the office be facing to better prepare for the next disaster?
7 On Your Side Investigates spoke with Kevin McGowan, the OEM director who led the team inside the Emergency Operations Center the night of the fires.
He admits that on January 7, his team was what he called “maxed out.”
A recent after-action review report said that the L.A. County OEM “faces substantial difficulties in fulfilling its emergency management responsibilities due to … critical resource deficiencies.”
New York City, which has a population of 8.5 million, has an emergency management staff of about 200 people. Cook County, Illinois, which covers the city of Chicago, has an OEM staff of 54.
Los Angeles County, which has a population of 10 million people, had an OEM staff of only 37 people when the fires broke out on January 7.
The after-action review report found L.A.’s OEM is short staffed and short on resources.
“People on my team had to drive their personal vehicles through evacuation areas into command posts, and they shouldn’t,” McGowan told 7 On Your Side Investigates.
McGowen has now been able to grow his staff size to 41 and is crafting a plan with L.A. County’s CEO to revamp his office to make it bigger.
The plan will be presented to the Board of Supervisors in about two months.
“We’ve learned a lot from this, and the community deserves us to improve so that the next disaster, which will happen, we don’t have those same challenges occur again,” said McGowen.
But the right size of the county’s OEM will also potentially cost millions of dollars during a time when the county is strapped for cash.
So do the supervisors support expanding the OEM?
Watch Eyewitness News at 5 p.m. for the full 7 On Your Side investigation.
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Kevin Ozebek
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