An independent review of Santa Monica's response to the 2025 Palisades Fire produced 36 recommendations for city departments. A separate study of whether the city's streets can handle a mass evacuation still has no contract or budget.

The City Council received the after-action report at its Tuesday, Sept. 22, meeting but took no formal vote. Mayor Caroline Torosis said the report was received and filed, the Santa Monica Daily Press first reported.

Consultant Jacob Green & Associates prepared the review, which touches nearly every city department. Six of the 36 recommendations have been completed. The remaining 30 are either in progress or still being evaluated for need and funding, according to city officials, who did not break down how many fall into each category, Patch reported.

The Palisades Fire burned from Jan. 7 through Jan. 31, 2025, killing 12 people, destroying more than 6,000 structures and burning 23,448 acres. The fire came within 0.4 miles of Santa Monica's northern boundary but caused no wildfire damage in the city. Mandatory evacuation orders affected about 5,550 Santa Monica households and businesses.

What the city has done

Chief Resilience Officer Lindsay Call told the council the city has increased its Emergency Operations Center staffing by 76 percent. The fire department adopted an upstaffing and tiered recall policy. Eleven police leaders completed a weeklong all-hazards training. Staff produced a disaster handbook for council members, paired with online training.

The city also renamed its evacuation zones, dropping what Call described as confusing numbers and letters.

An emergency-services position that was vacant during the fire has since been filled. But Call acknowledged the team remains thin. The city has about 1.5 emergency management positions, she said, because her additional responsibility for 911 dispatch reduces the effective staffing level.

"If one person goes on vacation, it's still at one person," Call said at the Sept. 22 meeting.

Evacuation study stalled

A proposed evacuation-capacity study examining whether Santa Monica's transportation network can handle demand during a major evacuation could cost more than $150,000. No money has been budgeted. No contract has been awarded.

Call told the council that the community development department has identified potential funding for the study but that no contract exists yet.

Sunset Park resident Eve Lopez wrote to the council that any evacuation plan must start with a basic question: how many people can the city's evacuation routes actually move, and how quickly? The North of Montana Association asked that the study account for how increased housing density could affect evacuation capacity.

A multi-departmental working group is developing a separate citywide evacuation response plan focused on roles, responsibilities and alert procedures. Call described that plan as centered on response tactics, while the capacity study would examine longer-term transportation issues.

Council members reflect

Councilmember Dan Hall, one of the officials who requested the review, apologized for incorrectly reporting during the fire that it had crossed into Santa Monica. Hall said he was acting on information from the acting city manager at the time.

Councilmember Lana Negrete said council members were largely kept in the dark about the emergency process. The report found that council members, many of them new to their roles, needed more training in emergency operations and in how public communications are verified.

Hall asked for regular updates on the recommendations and suggested the council might send them to the audit subcommittee or eventually broaden the Public Safety Reform and Oversight Commission into a wider public safety body.

Call warned that a busy El Niño season could delay some wildfire-focused work, and that technology improvements may require additional funding. The full report is posted on the city's wildfire preparedness website.