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After-action report finds staffing, communications and logistics gaps; county sets 49 prioritized preparedness actions
Summary
Buncombe County presented an after-action report on Tropical Storm Helene that includes 49 recommended actions and 199 subtasks; county staff said high-priority items will begin this quarter, and that the preparedness action plan will align with recovery and strategic planning work.
Buncombe County staff presented a county after-action report on Tropical Storm Helene that analyzed internal emergency operations and external first-responder activities and identified 49 recommended actions and 199 subtasks to improve future preparedness and response.
"The preparedness action plan has 49 recommended actions and a 199 subtasks that roll up under those actions," said Heather Parkinson, who led the county—s after-action work in Strategy & Innovation. Parkinson said the report incorporated interviews with 144 stakeholders across 47 organizations and synthesized more than 3,000 data points.
The report grouped findings into nine categories, including Emergency Operations Center operations, logistics and staffing, public-safety communications, shelter operations, family assistance and reunification, warehouse and community resource support, the non-emergency call center and damage assessment. Stakeholders cited strengths — staff resiliency, joint information center work, warehouse and shelter operations and outside assistance — and reported gaps in staffing levels and training, backup communications, procurement/logistics and role clarity with community partners.
County staff said they had already assigned lead departments to every action and that high-priority items should begin this quarter, medium priorities in January 2026 and low priorities later in the following quarter. Commissioners asked for quarterly updates on implementation and staff said the plan is loaded into a project-management tool to track tasks and progress.
Why it matters: County officials framed the preparedness action plan as a prioritized road map to reduce future risk, strengthen staffing and training, and improve logistics and communications; commissioners and staff stressed that acting on those recommendations could save lives in future events.
What to watch: Quarterly updates on the preparedness action plan, completion of high-priority items, and coordination of the preparedness actions with the county—s recovery plan and 2030 strategic plan.
