1. Responses to the 2007 Firestorms of Southern California
Scott Jackson
Presented to the INCOSE 2008 Symposium

2. What is a Firestorm?
Firestorm - a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system.
Wind
Presented to the INCOSE 2008 Symposium

3. Where Were They?
Presented to the INCOSE 2008 Symposium

4. The Stats
~21 Fires from Summer through Fall of 2007 in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Diego, Santa Barbara and San Bernardino Counties
Over 500,000 Acres (2000 km2) Burned
At least 1500 Homes Lost
9 Fatalities
85 Injuries including 60 firefighters
Massive mandatory evacuations (500,000 in San Diego county alone)
Note: Numbers vary by source.
Sources: US Forest Service, Los Angeles Times, Wikipedia, Google Maps
Presented to the INCOSE 2008 Symposium

5. Root Causes and Contributing Factors
Negligible rain between April and November
Lengthening summer
Arson, cigarettes, children with matches, etc.
Poor fire codes
Topography
Preference for hilltop homes
Flammable undergrowth caused by fire policy
Frequent dry winds off the desert, called Santa Ana winds, similar to mistral winds in France. Gusts up to 85 mph (140 km/hr).
Presented to the INCOSE 2008 Symposium

6. Responses to Firestorms in a Resilience Context (p. 1)
Resilience attribute – capacity
The bad
Inadequate firefighting personnel and equipment
The good
High level of firefighting training
Presented to the INCOSE 2008 Symposium

7. Responses (p. 2) Resilience attribute – flexibility The good The bad
Firefighters from San Francisco, Tijuana and Mexicali
Some private community associations hired their own firefighters
National Guard provided 1500 troops
The bad
Procedural difficulty delayed use of Marine helicopters
Presented to the INCOSE 2008 Symposium

8. Responses (p. 3) Resilience attribute – tolerance
The bad
Poor fire codes
The good
Some individuals and communities increased fire protection (fireproof structures and roofs, sprinklers, brush removal, etc.)
Resilience attribute – cross-scale interaction
Poor communications and coordination among agencies resulted in some firefighters being in the wrong place
Presented to the INCOSE 2008 Symposium

9. Lessons
Lessons from past fires (e.g., Bel-Air fire of 1962 and Laguna fire of 1993) are generally ignored.
In spite of problems, humans are infinitely adaptable.
Presented to the INCOSE 2008 Symposium