Sheriff and emergency manager urge better communication after Eureka evacuation

The Job County emergency manager, Drake Kindlerwood, and the sheriff urged the Eureka City Council to conduct tabletop exercises and tighten communication protocols after the town-wide evacuation during recent fires.

"This is exactly why we do training and exercises on our emergency operations plans," Drake Kindlerwood told the work meeting, urging the council to practice and identify assets that council members and residents can make available during crises. The sheriff explained the chain of command for resource requests, including that National Guard deployments must be requested through emergency management and approved by the governor, and emphasized that local and county resources must be exhausted before escalation.

Council member Kimberly Clements told the meeting she first learned of evacuation instructions through Facebook posts and said the town's emergency response plan was not used as intended. "I got the information that we are going to evacuate ... off of Facebook posts by a family member," she said, pressing for clearer notification processes and proposing an executive session to resolve persistent issues. Business owner and council member Charles Davis also raised concerns that city assets he could have provided were not utilized and said he received no follow-up after offering help. Emergency officials said while some accommodations were made for residents and businesses, improving communication and exercising the plan will be critical going forward.