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Council postpones action on community wildfire risk assessment survey to allow subcommittee and Fire Safe Council input
Summary
Councilmembers instructed staff and their subcommittee to work with Jensen Hughes and local Fire Safe Council volunteers to revise the draft community wildfire risk assessment survey. Councilmembers said the recent wildfire events and local feedback warrant further edits and outreach before the survey goes live.
The council on Jan. 22 decided not to finalize the online community survey tied to Agoura Hills’ Community Wildfire Risk Assessment (CWRA) and asked staff to return with a revised questionnaire after subcommittee review and consultations with local Fire Safe Council volunteers.
City staff and the consultant Jensen Hughes presented a draft online survey intended to gather local perceptions and preparedness information as one piece of a broader CWRA. Jensen Hughes had recommended the survey run for at least one month and supplement the online outreach with targeted stakeholder and HO A engagement.
Why the council held the item
Councilmembers and representatives of the Goodyear Hills Fire Safe Council urged more targeted questions and stronger prioritization of community needs. Fire Safe Council representatives and other attendees said the draft was “boilerplate” in places, risked survey fatigue and missed follow‑up questions Fire Safe volunteers consider crucial — for example: whether respondents have the capacity to evacuate large animals, who performs landscaping work that affects defensible space (homeowner vs. gardener vs. HOA), and whether residents know whether their home lies within a mapped fire‑hazard severity zone.
Council direction and next steps
The council asked staff and Jensen Hughes to rework the questionnaire with input from the city’s Land Use/Emergency‑Services subcommittee and representatives of the local Fire Safe Council. Staff confirmed that the survey will be posted via SurveyMonkey and promoted through social media, local outlets and stakeholder outreach after the edits are complete. The subcommittee will take up the revised draft at its next meeting, and staff will return the survey to council after that review.
Context
The survey is one element of a CWRA, which the city is producing with consultant support; the CWRA supports planning for fuels treatment, evacuation planning and related mitigation. Councilmembers said the recent spike in severe wildfire activity and nearby evacuations made it important to incorporate firsthand local experience into the outreach questions and to avoid wasting residents’ time on an overly long or unfocused survey.
What residents can expect
Staff said the final survey will be online and widely promoted; Jensen Hughes will also meet with stakeholder groups (HOAs, Fire Safe Council chapters, school district and county partners) to collect additional input. The council emphasized that the survey is only one of several planned public‑outreach steps for the CWRA and that community workshops and targeted focus groups will follow the survey.
