On March 18, the Board of Supervisors requested an after-action review of recovery and repopulation operations including multijurisdictional coordination across services and communication to the public; coordination and best practices on establishing disaster recovery centers, debris removal and assistance for people experiencing homelessness; strategic communications between first responders, law enforcement and municipal governments; donation intake and volunteer coordination; community repopulation notifications and procedures; evaluation and expansion of evacuation shelter locations and resources; and an evaluation of the Department of Public Health’s role, the impact of local health orders and the deployment of personal protective equipment following the fires.

Following the Eaton and Palisades Fires, multiple reviews of LA County’s fire response operations were initiated, including a congressional report on Kenneth Fire alerts, the McChrystal Group after-action review of alert notification systems and evacuation policies for the Eaton and Palisades Fires, Citygate Associates’ investigation report of the Eaton Fire evacuation alerts, and the Eaton Fire Investigation Report. The fires remain under review by the Governor’s Office and the State Auditor, and the State’s Attorney General has opened an investigation into the County’s response. All completed reviews are available at lacounty.gov/aar.

The first after-action review conducted by the McChrystal Group and released in September 2025 focused on alert notification systems and evacuation policies during the Eaton and Palisades Fires. This second after-action review focuses broadly on short-term recovery and repopulation operations, and other related issues. It does not address topics covered in other ongoing reviews, including fire cause and ignition, fire behavior, and immediate suppression operations.

The McChrystal Group was retained by and continued its engagement with County Counsel after consultation with LASD, Fire, Public Works, OEM, and other departments, based on its unique qualifications in the field of emergency management and disaster recovery, including its familiarity with the fire response based on its first review.

As directed by the Board of Supervisors, this after-action review comprehensively reviewed the County’s recovery, repopulation efforts and other related issues, in the aftermath of the Eaton and Palisades Fires. The report explores six critical focus areas, including:

• Communications
• Volunteer and Donations Management
• Recovery
• Repopulation
• Shelter, Housing and People at Higher Risk
• Public Health and Access and Functional Needs

Yes, the McChrystal Group is leading a second after-action review to evaluate recovery and repopulation efforts and related issues during the fires, including coordination of services, debris removal, strategic communications, repopulation notification and procedures, and to identify best practices for recovery and repopulation procedures. The projected timeline for that next report is nine months . There are also multiple after-action reviews underway from the state and federal government.

The second after-action review identified 26 substantive findings and 25 actionable recommendations. The list of findings and recommendations is available here: https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/lac/1217422_LACountyAARofRecoveryandRepopulationEfforts-FindingsandRecommendations.pdf

You can visit lacounty.gov/aar for updates on the implementation of adopted recommendations.

The report was commissioned by the Board of Supervisors to provide a comprehensive picture of actions taken to alert, warn, and evacuate the public during the January 2025 windstorm and wildfires and to make recommendations on how the County can improve processes, policies, and procedures in the future. That is the role of an after-action report—not to investigate or assign blame.

The review did not identify a “single point of failure” in the County’s efforts to warn and evacuate residents in the face of multiple simultaneous fires in areas across the County, fueled by hurricane force winds that grounded all firefighting aircraft, created power outages, and made nighttime aerial surveillance impossible on the critical night of January 7. The review found that a series of weaknesses, including “outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities,” hampered the effectiveness of LA County’s response.

The report was commissioned to provide a comprehensive picture of actions taken to alert, warn, and evacuate the public. The cause of the Eaton fire is still under investigation.

The After-Action Report includes multiple recommendations to improve communication, coordination and collaboration across departments, agencies and jurisdictions in five key areas. These recommendations include:

• Updating policies and County Code to ensure that first responders and emergency management clearly understand roles and responsibilities related to making decisions to issue evacuation warnings and orders.
• Restructuring the Office of Emergency Management and increasing staffing to a more robust level comparable to other large US city and county emergency management organizations.
• Standardizing and enhancing preparedness and evacuation-specific training for all County departments and partners.
• Updating obsolete systems and technology to enable all emergency response communications to leverage the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System known as LA-RICS. The report also suggests improvements such as implementing field-accessible mobile dashboards and notes that “access to reliable satellite data and internet connectivity would allow for more consistent communications and ability to share information in future responses.”
• Developing a robust and consistent public education campaign across the County to increase public awareness of zone-based evacuation protocols and alert systems.

To view a full list of the report’s findings and recommendations, click here.

Yes, the McChrystal Group is leading a second after-action review to evaluate recovery and repopulation efforts and related issues during the fires, including coordination of services, debris removal, strategic communications, repopulation notification and procedures, and to identify best practices for recovery and repopulation procedures. The projected timeline for that next report is nine months . There are also multiple after-action reviews underway from the state and federal government.

• August 3, 2026
• December 15, 2025