Lane County emergency management briefed the Board of County Commissioners on July 9 about the 2025 wildfire outlook, new evacuation notification tools, and efforts to strengthen mass‑care planning and language access for emergency alerts.

Tiffany Brown, Lane County’s emergency manager coordinator, said outlooks for July through September and into October are “above normal” for fire potential and cited a drying trend since April. She described recent operational improvements, including integration between the county’s evacuation‑mapping software and the county alert system, which she said “is gonna cut about 20 minutes of time from the time we've established what the evacuation area is and the time we're able to send the alert out because the 2 systems talk to 1 another.”

Brown told commissioners the county has declared backyard burning restrictions and the fire season, is coordinating Red Cross sheltering capacity and has run recent drills to test new tools. She said the county has implemented a duty officer program, issues a weekly wildfire watch email and prepositions some air and ground assets with fire partners. The county also ran a two‑day sheltering training with 26 attendees and said a new regional Red Cross director is in place.

On alerting and accessibility, Brown said the county’s registration system allows residents to identify access or functional needs, and noted the current translation tool in the county’s alert platform is an automated translator with limitations. “You don't wanna use that if possible,” she said, adding that staff have met with public‑health and community partners to develop a bench of human translators and a potential dedicated position to coordinate language access for emergency communications.

Brown described a $160,000 grant the county received to perform a countywide mass care assessment — a project she said will define who needs help during large incidents, where they are located, what resources are available and what gaps exist. She said the project will include a FEMA kickoff and would inform sheltering, resilience hub planning and partner coordination.

Commissioners asked about training and roles. Several members urged practical, local tabletop exercises and recommended elected‑official orientation on incident roles and basic ICS/NIMS concepts. Brown suggested the FEMA course for elected and senior officials and the ICS awareness courses (ICS 100, 200, 700, 800) as baseline training and said staff can arrange tailored briefings.

Finance and policy items were also discussed. Brown and staff described the LIFE Fund (Local Incident Fund for Emergencies), established in last year’s budget to give the county a small, agile source for immediate incident expenses. County counsel and administration have developed guidelines for use during response. Brown also reviewed the role of declarations and legal authorities, listing the Stafford Act, hazard mitigation plans tied to FEMA BRIC funding, Presidential Policy Directive‑8 and Oregon Revised Statutes 401 as the legal framework the county uses when activating state or federal assistance.

Ending: Commissioners asked staff to follow up on a short list of items — renewing some local mutual aid agreements (including an ODF contract to cover certain county parks), finalizing language‑access resourcing, and continuing the mass‑care assessment kickoff with FEMA. Brown said she will return with updates and additional coordination materials for elected officials.