91ÊÓƵ

Laguna Fire Follow-Up

Jan. 23, 2025 

Dear Campus Community,

I am so glad to write to you today knowing that our campus, our University Glen neighbors, and our community, are safe. This was a moment for action, and the swift response of our Ventura County Fire Department, Ventura Sheriff’s Department, and the California Highway Patrol together with our University Police Department (UPD) were able to control a fire that grew from two to 50 acres in an incredibly short amount of time, in high winds with heavy fuel.

As we process and reflect on the Laguna Fire and campus evacuation today and prepare for our return tomorrow, I want to share with you a summary of our campus response and actions taken, and invite your feedback as we prepare for future events. Before I do so, I want to recognize and acknowledge that we have been living in what seems like a constant state of hypervigilance, attributable to the devastating fires in our region, and exacerbated by recent CSU system-wide and national events. We know that these are uncertain times. I hope that everyone is being intentional about their self-care, which is absolutely necessary if we are going to provide the level of support our students and colleagues need at this time and moving forward.

With this context in mind, I have such gratitude for our campus partners, including our colleagues in the Ventura County Office of Emergency Services, who helped coordinate various community partners in support of our efforts. In these crisis situations, decisions must be made swiftly and with limited data. But I must thank most of all every campus member who contributed to a safe campus evacuation and provided assistance and support for our students and colleagues.

In the spirit of transparency, I want to acknowledge that this is not the first time our campus has faced such an emergency. Below is a brief summary of actions taken as part of our emergency response, as well as some of the pain points we will immediately be working to address for future emergency preparation:

  • The Laguna Fire began at approximately 8:38 a.m. and campus leadership was notified of its emergency status at 8:44 a.m. Our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was immediately mobilized. We coordinated our efforts with Ventura County, determined that a campus evacuation was necessary, and sent an evacuation order at 8:58 a.m. to the campus and to the University Glen and Anacapa Canyon communities. All communication to the campus was also included on a banner at the top of the website, on the University’s social media primary platforms, and on the campus’s information hotline to try and quickly reach as many people as possible.
  • Following the evacuation order, we activated emergency transportation and messaging was sent to all students and employees needing assistance to leave campus to meet near the Santa Rosa Residence Hall.
  • Relatedly, we secured off-campus shelters and transported people to the Camarillo Community Center where resources were made available to those who were evacuated to that location.
  • We enacted Housing & Residential Education protocols to sweep all residential buildings and evacuate students. We then checked academic spaces and offices to ensure students, faculty and staff were evacuated.
  • Carden Preschool staff connected with families and ensured that all children were evacuated, which occurred within 45 minutes of our communication with them. University Police stayed with Carden staff until the last child was picked up.
  • We set up contingency plans in case the fire could not be swiftly contained, including emergency accommodations with local hotels where rooms were put on hold to be available for those who might need them.
  • HVAC systems were already secured during yesterday’s campus response to the Hughes Fire smoke to ensure that indoor air quality was not compromised; as such, smoke was not pushed into HVAC air vents during the Laguna Fire. We will monitor air quality continuously and ventilation systems will remain off until outdoor air quality returns to normal levels.
  • We connected with the CSU International Program Office with the Chancellor’s Office, keeping them abreast of the situation, and conducted outreach to international students to ensure their safety.
  • HIPEE staff conducted outreach to Embedded Peer Mentors. All student employees who were scheduled to work today were asked to prioritize safety and leave or stay off campus. They will be paid accordingly.
  • UPD assisted with community evacuation orders, coordinating transportation for and providing assistance to senior residents in the Vintage Apartments at Anacapa Canyon.
  • Facilities staff completed a safety inspection of buildings and assets on the western perimeter of campus after the evacuation order was lifted.

In summary, the Laguna Fire prompted campus mobilization that included coordinated efforts involving emergency transportation, off-campus shelter arrangements, housing sweeps, faculty and student evacuations, preschool child safety, air quality management, and communication with internal and external stakeholders to ensure the safety of all campus community members and assets. In addition, we identified opportunities for continuous improvement, such as:

  • Due to the fire’s proximity to Potrero Road, one of the three campus exits was closed, and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and CHP managed traffic with one outbound lane available for egress. Our UPD were actively addressing identified priorities and critical needs, including coordination of the command center, ensuring the safety of Carden Preschool and Residence Halls, managing parking lot evacuations, and directing internal traffic flow. We recognize that while our location is one of our campus’s valued assets, our location and limited exits are challenging in situations like this. We have already improved communication between UPD and assisting partners to ensure that campus protocols for two-lane egress for evacuation are followed.
  • We identified a gap in communication between 91ÊÓƵ and the Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC) requiring an improvement that we have addressed regarding bus transportation. We have remedied this situation which will eliminate delayed direct communication in future.
  • Individuals attempting to drive onto campus and the University Glen during the emergency were not granted access, which understandably caused them significant distress. Some exited their cars and tried to make their way onto campus on foot. This created a life and safety concern that is complicated by official police orders during a mandatory evacuation, and requires consideration for future preparation.
  • The University follows the FEMA Incident Command Structure (ICS), which is used to support interagency cooperation in response to disasters like the one we experienced today. Public Safety will continue to run tabletop exercises and strengthen interagency protocols to ensure continuous improvement from experiences like those of today’s event.

I want to share campus support services that you may find of value in the coming days and weeks. I encourage you to share these widely:

Our people and our campus are safe as the day closes, in large part due to our coordinated emergency response. Please do your best to take good care of yourselves and each other. Some days demonstrate the importance of community more than others – clearly, this was one, and I am grateful to each of you whose work every day creates the resilient, caring, and inclusive campus that we are.

Sincerely,
Richard Yao, Ph.D.
President

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