LA Times Quotes SAFRR and Fire Experts

Although the community burn over risk by fast-moving fires is growing, many local jurisdictions do not have wildfire evacuation plans that meet State laws. Los Angeles is a case in point, as reported in the July 25, 2025 LA Times article, thoroughly researched by Noah Haggerty: (Source: PDF and LA Times Link)
Months after the Jan. 7 fires, L.A.’s evacuation plans remain untested. (PDF)

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-07-25/l-a-fire-evacuation-plans-remain-untested

Marylee Guinon — president of the State Alliance for Firesafe Road Regulations – states that Los Angeles is only one of many cities or counties that are putting lives at risk through ignoring State-mandated evacuation planning for existing and new communities. 

“For Guinon, the lack of follow-through from cities and counties across the state is indicative of a common trend in wildfire legislation.

Virtually every piece of legislation that I dig into, I find out it was the result of a tragic catastrophe,” she said. “This legislation comes out with really, really clear intent over and over, and then it gets forgoten.”

READ MORE: Excerpts and Quotes: 

“In a 2024 study, researchers from the University of Colorado in Boulder analyzed more than 60,000 fires documented by NASA satellites in the first two decades of the 21st century. By 2020, fires in California were growing, on average, four times faster than they were in 2001.”

Although the community burn over risk by fast-moving fires is growing, many local jurisdictions do not have wildfire evacuation plans that meet State laws. Los Angeles is a case in point, as reported in the July 25, 2025 LA Times article, thoroughly researched by Noah Haggerty: 

Marylee Guinon — president of the State Alliance for Firesafe Road Regulations (SAFRR) – states that Los Angeles is only one of many cities or counties that are putting lives at risk through ignoring State-mandated evacuation planning for existing and new communities. 

The lack of implementation by cities and counties across the state is indicative of a common trend in wildfire legislation. According to Guinon:

“Virtually every piece of legislation that I dig into, I find out it was the result of a tragic catastrophe,” she said. “This legislation comes out with really, really clear intent over and over, and then it gets forgotten.”

Alarmed by the lives lost in the Camp and Woolsey fires, State Legislator Marc Levine wrote Assembly Bill 747, “…requiring California cities and counties to analyze whether their roads could support a quick evacuation during emergencies such as fires, floods and tsunamis.” 

“AB 747 requires local governments to include their evacuation analyses in the safety element of their general plan — the long-term blueprint for future development of a city or county. Yet, to date, the city of Los Angeles has failed to publicly report such an analysis, while fire safety advocates say L.A. County’s evacuation analysis fails to meet the law’s requirements.”

Dr. Cova, an expert on “dire evacuation scenarios” -when the emergency lead time is shorter than the time required to evacuate - warns,

“The chaos of these worst-case scenario evacuations often looks nothing like the orderly phased evacuations cities often focus on… There’s no incentive to ever present an evacuation plan that isn’t very positive,” said Thomas Cova, a professor at the University of Utah who studies wildfire evacuation analysis. “Why would an emergency planner … ever want to present a plan to their colleagues that involves some people burning?”

“It’s why Marylee Guinon — president of the State Alliance for Firesafe RoadRegulations, an advocacy group aimed at protecting and expanding the state’s community fire safety requirements — suspects AB 747 is facing pushback from local governments.

“They don’t want data that would tell them that it’s going to be a nine-hour evacuation,” she said.

Both SAFRR and Tahoe Clean Air advocate for emergency traffic evacuation analyses that include roadway capacity analyses supported by fire behavior modeling. These Links are to additional expert resources on the SAFRR website, under Local Advocacy and Resources. The SAFRR website includes methodology and findings for public or privately-funded studies in Tahoe, Sonoma Valley and Ashland, Oregon.

“The Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, which provides guidance on state planning laws, recommended that local governments use traffic software to simulate different evacuations to estimate how long they might take.”

“When Flaherty, a Tahoe Basin resident, became frustrated with his area’s lack of movement on the issue, he commissioned an evacuation study through his nonprofit, TahoeCleanAir.org. Flaherty said his detailed Tahoe Basin study, a comprehensive analysis based on Ladris’ simulations, had a price tag just shy of $100,000 — roughly equivalent to the cost of installing one traffic light in town.”

“Historically, fire agencies put forth evacuation plans that are operationally driven,” said retired Fire Battalion Chief Doug Flaherty. “They talk about communications. They talk about unified command. … What is missing is an actual detailed, road-by-roadway capacity analysis of the time that it’s going to take for people to safely evacuate the area.”

Land Use Decisions Matter: “Guinon hopes the results of evacuation analyses can also help — or force — cities to make more responsible residential development plans in the first place. 

“It’s not rocket science,” she said. “Let’s just take on protection of our existing communities and let the chips fall where they may with new development: If it’s unsafe, don’t build it.”