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OCFA describes January fire deployments, urges residents to use new Dana Point wildfire evacuation zones
Summary
Orange County Fire Authority briefed the council on January wildfires in Los Angeles and local preparedness steps; the city reminded residents to use newly mapped wildfire evacuation zones and OCFA offered free home assessments and preparedness resources.
Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Division Chief Shane Moll told the Dana Point City Council that OCFA sent multiple strike teams, hand crews and helicopters to January wildfires in Los Angeles and staged extra resources countywide to maintain local readiness during the wind-driven events.
Moll said OCFA deployed two type-1 strike teams (10 engines) plus multiple battalion chiefs, a 22-member hand crew, Black Hawk and CH-47-style helicopters and other mutual-aid resources to the Palisades and Eaton fires. Locally, OCFA pre-staged resources across Orange County so fire stations remained staffed and extra strike teams were available while many units were committed out of county.
"We had everyone come back to work and we staffed everything up in case something happened here in Orange County," Moll said. He described several quickly controlled brush fires in Lake Forest, Mission Viejo and San Clemente and credited pre-deployment and rapid local response for keeping those incidents small.
Moll gave quarterly statistics for Dana Point: approximately 980 calls in the October'December quarter, including 23 fire calls and 852 emergency medical calls; 3,520 calls total in 2024 with 98 fire calls and 3,054 EMS calls.
Moll and city staff emphasized household preparedness. OCFA's free home assessment program will send a fire marshal to evaluate defensible space and provide a checklist; Moll recommended residents use OCFA's Ready, Set, Go resources at ocfa.org/rsg and harden vulnerable attic and vent openings to reduce ember entry.
Earlier in the meeting, city staff announced new wildfire evacuation zone maps developed in partnership with OCFA and urged residents to find and print their evacuation route at the city website, register for AlertOC notifications and keep zone names handy for alerts.
Moll also asked the council to recognize the recent death of Fire Apparatus Engineer Kevin Skinner, who served at OCFA Station 30 and died January 5; OCFA ran a procession honoring him through Dana Point.
No council action was required; staff agreed to publish presentation materials and links to OCFA resources on the city website.
Lede provenance: OCFA briefing to council and staff announcements about city evacuation zones.
Nut graf provenance: description of OCFA mutual aid deployments to Los Angeles, local pre-staging and resident preparedness resources.
Ending: OCFA urged use of the free home assessment and Ready, Set, Go materials; staff to post links and presentation on the city website.
