OCFA tells Buena Park council it upstaffed before Jan. 7 fires and will remain on elevated staffing

Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Matt Sheets briefed the Buena Park City Council on Jan. 13 about regional wildfire operations and the agency’s local posture after the Jan. 7 fires in the Los Angeles area.

Sheets said OCFA monitored National Weather Service forecasts and implemented upstaffing on Jan. 6, deploying strike teams (five engines plus a battalion chief per strike team), water tenders, helicopters, additional hand crews and a DOC dispatch center to support neighboring jurisdictions while maintaining local coverage. “We actually knew that a red flag was coming through the National Weather Service…so we actually upstaffed,” he said.

OCFA’s measures included staffing every available engine or truck that could be safely operated and preparing surge resources for local and mutual-aid response. The division chief said the red-flag warnings were expected to last through the evening and that the agency planned to remain staffed up over the following days. He also gave residents practical advice — creating an evacuation plan, organizing important documents off-site and reducing flammable vegetation near homes — while cautioning that extreme wind-driven fires may leave limited options for property defense.

Council members thanked OCFA for rapid mutual-aid support during the Fullerton aircraft incident and for ongoing mutual-aid cooperation. The briefing provided situational context for the council’s later proclamations and community acknowledgments to first responders.