L.A. County Board of Supervisors Approves Barger-Horvath Motion for Swift, Transparent Review of Fire Report Findings Into Action
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today approved a motion by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey P. Horvath directing County Counsel to work with the Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management, Sheriff’s Department, and Department of Public Works and provide a comprehensive and expeditious written report on the newly released Southern California Fires Incident Analysis Report from UL Research Institutes’ Fire Safety Research Institute.
“The findings in this report are serious and Eaton Fire survivors deserve to know that our County is listening and will act on what we have learned,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “We cannot change what happened on January 7, but we have an obligation to learn from it, and I will keep pressing until those lessons become real improvements in how we prepare for and respond to disasters. Survivors’ voices are central to this work. Their experience should shape the reforms that make our emergency systems stronger before the next disaster strikes.”
“Every after-action report deepens our understanding of what happened during the January 2025 wildfires—and our responsibility to act on what we learn,” said Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath. “The State plays a critical role in emergency preparedness and response, and we must look across these findings to identify what worked, where gaps remain, and what more must be done. These reports cannot sit on a shelf—we owe it to the people we lost, the survivors rebuilding their lives, and every community facing the next emergency to turn these lessons into action.”
Released October 2, 2026, and commissioned by the Governor’s Office, the report presents 175 findings and 266 recommendations on emergency preparedness and management, utilities, weather and vegetation, evacuation, transportation, fire and law enforcement operations, fatalities, and the built environment.
Under the motion, County Counsel and the participating departments must first identify where the report’s recommendations overlap with Los Angeles County’s two After-Action Reviews by the McChrystal Group, which examined alert notification and evacuation as well as recovery and repopulation, and with the Citygate Associates investigation of the Eaton Fire’s critical overnight hours.
County Counsel must then outline the recommendations that are unique to the UL Research Institutes’ report. Finally, they must identify immediate and near-term actions that can be taken now, without duplicating work already underway, while longer-term recommendations are implemented.
The Board has already directed County departments to begin implementing recommendations from the McChrystal Group’s After-Action Reviews. Today’s motion ensures the County has a complete, coordinated picture of what the independent analyses found, where there is overlap, and where gaps remain.
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