Emergency management is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actually focus on the management of emergencies; emergencies can be understood as minor events with limited impacts and are managed through the day-to-day functions of a community. Instead, emergency management focuses on the management of disasters, which are events that produce more impacts than a community can handle on its own. The management of disasters tends to require some combination of activity from individuals and households, organizations, local, and/or higher levels of government. Although many different terminologies exist globally, the activities of emergency management can be generally categorized into preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery, although other terms such as disaster risk reduction and prevention are also common. The outcome of emergency management is to prevent disasters and where this is not possible, to reduce their harmful impacts.
Leo Carrillo State Park is a state park in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Situated along the Malibu coast, the park is a component of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. With 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of beach, the parkland stretches into the Santa Monica Mountains. The park has expanded into Ventura County and also includes management of County Line Beach. California State Route 1 runs through the park, where it intersects with the western terminus of the Mulholland Highway. The 2,513-acre (1,017 ha) park was established in 1953. It is named for actor and conservationist Leo Carrillo (1880–1961), who served on the State Parks commission.
The Cerro Grande Fire was a prescribed-burn forest fire in Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States of America, that occurred in May of 2000. The fire started as a controlled burn on May 4, 2000, and became uncontrolled owing to high winds and drought conditions. Over 400 families in the town of Los Alamos, New Mexico, lost their homes in the resulting 58,000 acre fire. Structures at Los Alamos National Laboratory were also destroyed or damaged, although without loss or destruction of any of the special nuclear material housed there. No loss of human life occurred. The US General Accounting Office estimated total damages at $1 billion.
The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS) was a bi-partisan initiative in the United States House of Representatives to require states seeking Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance to accommodate pets and service animals in their plans for evacuating residents facing disasters. Introduced by Congressmen Tom Lantos (D-California) and Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut) on September 22, 2005, the bill passed the House of Representatives on May 22, 2006, by a margin of 349 to 29. Technically an amendment to the Stafford Act, it was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 6, 2006. The bill is now Public Law 109-308.
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), formerly known as the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) and, prior to that, as the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN), is an alerting network in the United States designed to disseminate emergency alerts to cell phones using Cell Broadcast technology. Organizations are able to disseminate and coordinate emergency alerts and warning messages through WEA and other public systems by means of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.
The Wallow Fire was a wildfire that started in the White Mountains near Alpine, Arizona on May 29, 2011. It was named for the Bear Wallow Wilderness area where the fire originated, The fire eventually spread across the stateline into western New Mexico, United States. By the time the fire was contained on July 8, it had consumed 538,049 acres (2,177 km2) of land, 522,642 acres (2,115 km2) in Arizona and 15,407 acres (62 km2) in New Mexico. It was the largest wildfire in Arizona history.
The Las Conchas Fire was a large wildfire in the state of New Mexico, in the United States, in 2011. The fire started in Santa Fe National Forest and burned more than 150,000 acres, threatening Los Alamos National Laboratory and the town of Los Alamos. After five days of burning, it became the largest wildfire in New Mexico state history at the time. It was surpassed in 2012 by the much larger Whitewater-Baldy Complex Fire and in 2022 by the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire and the Black Fire making the Las Conchas Fire the fourth-largest fire in New Mexico's recorded history.
The Bastrop County Complex fire was a conflagration that engulfed parts of Bastrop County, Texas, in September and October 2011. The wildfire was the costliest and most destructive wildfire in Texas history and among the costliest in U.S. history, destroying 1,696 structures and causing an estimated $350 million in insured property damage. An exceptional drought, accompanied by record-high temperatures, affected Texas for much of 2011. Vegetation consequently became severely parched throughout the state, and over the year an unprecedented amount of land in the state was burned by numerous wildfires. In early September 2011, the presence of Tropical Storm Lee to the east produced strong northerly winds over the state, exacerbating the preexisting dry weather to produce critical fire conditions. On the afternoon of September 4, 2011, three separate fires ignited in the wildland–urban interface east of Bastrop, Texas, after strong winds caused by the nearby tropical storm snapped trees onto power lines. Within 48 hours, the fires merged into one blaze that quickly consumed parts of Bastrop State Park and parts of the Lost Pines Forest, as well as homes in nearby subdivisions. Most of the conflagration's spread and destruction occurred within a week of ignition, as the forward advance of the wildfire mostly stopped after September 7. The wildfire was largely contained in September, though the firebreak was briefly breached in early October. On October 10, the Bastrop County Complex was declared controlled, and the fire was declared extinguished on October 29 after 55 days of burning within the fire perimeter.
Wildfires are outdoor fires that occur in the wilderness or other vast spaces. Other common names associated with wildfires are brushfire and forest fire. Since wildfires can occur anywhere on the planet, except for Antarctica, they pose a threat to civilizations and wildlife alike. In terms of emergency management, wildfires can be particularly devastating. Given their ability to destroy large areas of entire ecosystems, there must be a contingency plan in effect to be as prepared as possible in case of a wildfire and to be adequately prepared to handle the aftermath of one as well.
The 2012 Oklahoma wildfires were a series of wildfires which impacted areas throughout the state of Oklahoma. Starting earlier in the year, a widespread drought caused many areas to be exposed to wildfires.
The Black Forest Fire was a forest fire that began near Highway 83 and Shoup Road in Black Forest, Colorado around 1:00 p.m. on June 11, 2013. As of June 20, 2013, the fire was 100 percent contained, 14,280 acres were burned, at least 509 homes were said to be destroyed, and two people had died. This was the most destructive fire in the state's history at the time, surpassing the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire which also began near Colorado Springs. It was surpassed in 2021, when the Marshall Fire destroyed over 1,000 homes in Boulder County, in Superior and Louisville.
The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by dry lightning on June 28, 2013. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of firefighters within the Prescott Fire Department. Just one of the hotshots on the crew survived —he was posted as a lookout on the fire and was not with the others when the fire overtook them. The Yarnell Hill Fire was one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires since the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which killed 25 people, and the deadliest wildland fire for U.S. firefighters since the 1933 Griffith Park fire, which killed 29 "impromptu" civilian firefighters drafted on short notice to help battle the Los Angeles area fire.
The 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California's Butte County was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history. The fire began on the morning of Thursday, November 8, 2018, when part of a poorly maintained Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) transmission line in the Feather River Canyon failed during strong katabatic winds. Those winds rapidly drove the Camp Fire through the communities of Concow, Magalia, Butte Creek Canyon, and Paradise, largely destroying them. The fire burned for another two weeks, and was contained on Sunday, November 25, after burning 153,336 acres (62,050 ha). The Camp Fire caused 85 fatalities, displaced more than 50,000 people, and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, causing an estimated US$16.5 billion in damage. It was the most expensive natural disaster by insured losses of 2018, and is a notable case of a utility-caused wildfire.
The North Complex Fire was a massive wildfire complex that burned in the Plumas National Forest in Northern California in the counties of Plumas and Butte. Twenty-one fires were started by lightning on August 17, 2020; by September 5, all the individual fires had been put out with the exception of the Claremont and Bear Fires, which merged on that date, and the Sheep Fire, which was then designated a separate incident. On September 8, strong winds caused the Bear/Claremont Fire to explode in size, rapidly spreading to the southwest. On September 8, 2020, the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls were immediately evacuated at 3:15 p.m. PDT with no prior warning. By September 9, 2020, the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls had been leveled, with few homes left standing. The fire threatened the city of Oroville, before its westward spread was stopped. The fire killed 16 people and injured more than 100. The complex burned an estimated 318,935 acres (129,068 ha), and was 100% contained on December 3. The fire was managed by the U.S. Forest Service in conjunction with Cal Fire, with the primary incident base in Quincy. The North Complex Fire is the eighth-largest in California's history, and was the deadliest fire in the 2020 California wildfire season.
The River Fire was a destructive 2021 wildfire that burned 2,619 acres (1,060 ha) near Colfax in Nevada County and Placer County, California. The fire broke out on August 4, 2021, and burned 2,619 acres (1,060 ha) before it was fully contained on August 13, 2021. The River Fire destroyed 142 structures, damaged 21 more, and resulted in four injuries to firefighters and civilians. It was the fifth most destructive fire of California's 2021 wildfire season. The exact cause of the fire is unknown, but it was determined to have been of human origin by investigators who traced the ignition to a campground by the Bear River west of Colfax.
The Marshall Fire was a destructive wildfire and urban conflagration that started on December 30, 2021, shortly after 11:00 a.m. MST, as a grass fire in Boulder County, Colorado. The fire caused the evacuation of 37,500 people, killed two people, and destroyed more than 991 structures to become the most destructive fire in Colorado history. It began in two places and was neither caused by criminal negligence nor arson.
The 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire was the largest and most destructive wildfire in the history of New Mexico. The fire burned 341,471 acres between early April and late June in the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in San Miguel, Mora, and Taos counties. It was the most significant fire of the record-breaking 2022 New Mexico wildfire season, as well as the largest wildfire of the year in the contiguous United States. The fire destroyed at least 903 structures, including several hundred homes, and damaged 85 more.
The Fawn Fire was a destructive wildfire in Northern California's Shasta County, near Redding, in late September and early October 2021. The fire, which was caused by an alleged act of arson, ignited on September 22 in mountains to the northeast of Redding. High winds the following day drove the fire south and west into neighborhoods in the wildland-urban interface, where it destroyed 185 buildings and damaged 26 more. At least three firefighters were injured. The Fawn Fire cost more than $25 million to suppress and burned 8,578 acres before being fully contained on October 2. A woman was arrested the day of the Fawn Fire's ignition and charged with starting the fire. As of 2024, legal proceedings remained ongoing.
The 1992 Fountain Fire was a large and destructive wildfire in Shasta County, California. The fire ignited on August 20 in an act of probable but unattributed arson, and was quickly driven northeast by strong winds. It outpaced firefighters for two days, exhibiting extreme behavior such as long-range spot fires, crown fire runs, and pyrocumulonimbus clouds with dry lightning. The fire was contained after burning for nine days, though work to strengthen and repair fire lines continued for more than two months.
view from Mecham Road
8 June 2012
