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After-action review: Asheville officials say emergency plan held during Hurricane Helene but identify training, redundancy gaps
Summary
City staff and consultants told council that the emergency operations plan and new EOC were effective during Tropical Storm Helene, enabling thousands of rescues, water distributions and meal efforts; the after-action review identified 108 findings, training and redundancy needs, and next steps including broader exercises and EOC follow-ups.
City emergency-management staff presented an external after-action review of the city’s response to Tropical Storm Helene at the Sept. 9 City Council meeting and said the new emergency operations plan (EOP) and Emergency Operations Center (EOC) materially improved response coordination but revealed training, staffing and partner-integration shortfalls. Assistant Fire Chief Jeremy Knighton, who leads the city emergency-management program, briefed council on the process and findings. He said that the EOP—completed in 2023 and activated for the storm—translated into quicker decision-making and coordinated operations during a complex, multi-lifeline failure that included outages of power, water and communications. Knighton listed high-level response statistics: more than 200 rescues, more than 4 million water bottles distributed, approximately 250,000 meals provided and more than 1,000 miles searched along river banks. The city documented 450 response-related documents and the consultant team conducted 33 interviews and produced more than 300 pages of notes. The external after-action review compiled 108 findings, of which many described successes and many identified opportunities to improve. Areas for improvement included broader citywide literacy of the EOP among department personnel, bench depth for critical EOC roles (liaisons, finance/admin, public information), coordination with partner systems whose operational tempos did not always align with the city, and capacity/staffing stress. Communications—particularly the joint information center and one-pager briefings—were identified as an effective tool, but the review called for faster rumor control and clarity of roles when staff is thin. Knighton said the city used an external consultant and a structured AAR (after-action review) process with 53 participants in a strategy session to synthesize findings and that the city already has begun implementation: citywide training sessions, a September exercise with 52 staff participants and plans to broaden planning, rehearsals and codification of successful improvised practices into playbooks. Council members praised staff for the response, highlighted mutual-aid and nonprofit contributions, and asked about synchronization with county, hospital and other major partners. Knighton acknowledged those coordination challenges and said the city will pursue deeper liaison arrangements and improved planning with partners. He said a more detailed discussion of the AAR will appear at the City Council Public Safety Committee on Sept. 25. The presentation framed the report as a learning exercise: staff recommended strengthening training, building bench depth in key EOC positions, formalizing communications workflows, documenting improvisations that worked, and ramping up exercises to build muscle memory before the next extreme event.
