Palos Verdes Peninsula Cities: United and Prepared for Wildfire Safety

January 14, 2025

We understand the recent wildfires in Los Angeles have caused concern, and we want to reassure you that the Palos Verdes Peninsula cities are united in their commitment to safety and well-being. Each Peninsula city has its own emergency preparedness plans but also coordinates efforts collaboratively with partner agencies, such as the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management.

Water Supply and Quality

The local water agency, California Water Service (Cal Water), confirms that water quality remains unaffected by ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles, with customers in the district experiencing no disruption to their water supply. Cal Water has implemented comprehensive emergency preparedness strategies.  In 2020, Cal Water, in collaboration with the Peninsula cities, completed the Palos Verdes Peninsula Water Reliability Project, which enhanced the dependability of the water infrastructure on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and will help ensure that all Peninsula residents and firefighters continue to have safe and available water service for their everyday and emergency needs.   The project replaced a portion of the existing water pipeline and added a second pipeline, including seven miles of new pipeline, to deliver water to homes and businesses. Additionally, the project added a second pump station on Crenshaw Boulevard on a separate electrical grid that will help guard against the risk of prolonged water service outages caused by disruptions such as natural disasters. Fire hydrants served by CalWater have been assessed and are fully operational. Additionally, Los Angeles County Fire Department annually inspects fire hydrants on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.  CalWater stands ready to support the community, maintaining safe and stable water service even under challenging wildfire conditions.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) is a regional water wholesaler with a primary role of providing adequate and reliable supplies of high-quality water to its member agencies. MWD has water supplies available to support firefighting efforts across its service area, including the Palos Verdes Peninsula. While the Palos Verdes Reservoir is out of service due to a planned shutdown, a new bypass pipeline has been installed to maintain reliable water supply to the Peninsula communities through West Basin Municipal Water District. This bypass line delivers the same flow and pressure as the reservoir had, ensuring continued service. MWD also has other water sources available to support firefighting efforts and closely coordinates with local fire agencies when there is the need. It is important to note that the PV Reservoir, when operational, is a treated water reservoir, covered to protect water quality, and is not accessible for firefighting by helicopters.  However, MWD has other reservoirs across its service area are available for firefighting, and they are coordinating closely with local fire agencies to support this effort. When needed, firefighters can also use specialized aircraft called "Super Scoopers" to combat wildfires using  ocean water.

Fire Prevention and Response

A HeloPod™ firefighting dip source and cistern was installed at the Ken Dyda Civic Center in Rancho Palos Verdes in 2023. This innovative system, funded by Cal Water's Firefighter Grant Program, allows helicopters to fill their water tanks faster, enhancing our local firefighting capabilities when there is a need.

Also, a network of wildfire detection cameras has been installed on the Palos Verdes Peninsula through Pano AI. These cameras provide early detection of wildfires through artificial intelligence technology, allowing first responders to act quickly. Pano is a 360-degree, ultra-high-definition camera system. When placed on a high vantage point, Pano scans the landscape to identify, evaluate, and warn of wildfire activity within a 15-mile radius. In the event of a fire, it provides fire-monitoring professionals auto-centered images with enhanced zoom, speeding confirmation, and triangulation of the exact fire location. Pano’s Rapid Detect wildfire detection solution has been successfully deployed in Napa, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma counties. This project, funded by a $1.5 million state budget allocation secured by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, enhances the Peninsula’s ability to prevent and respond to wildfires.   

Brush Clearance

Cities and the Los Angeles County Fire Department play a proactive role in wildfire prevention by conducting annual brush clearance, which complements residents' efforts in maintaining defensible space around properties. Brush clearance efforts focus on managing vegetation near structures while preserving the integrity of open spaces. The primary goal of brush clearance is fire mitigation, creating a defense against potential wildfires. A collaborative approach between cities and residents is crucial for comprehensive wildfire prevention as it helps protect lives, homes, and the environment by establishing clear zones around structures that can slow or stop fire spread. For information on defensible space guidelines review the Defensible Space Guideline Booklet here: Defensible-Space-booklet-2021WEB[68] copy.

What is the City of RPV Doing to Clear Brush?

Just as homeowners are responsible for clearing brush around their properties to protect them from wildfire, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes is required to perform brush clearance on City-owned properties. Every year, the City safely performs extensive brush clearance covering about 300 acres throughout our open space areas using goat grazing as well as hand-operated machinery. Brush is also cleared from the City’s medians as part of landscaping maintenance.

The City works with the Los Angeles County Department of Agricultural Commissioner/Weights and Measures to maintain a list of City-owned properties where brush clearance is performed, known as Fuel Modification Zones.

What does “fuel modification” mean? Simply put, fuel modification is creating and maintaining a defensible space around your property, by removing vegetation, to increase the odds that your property survives a wildfire. In RPV, “defensible space” is 200 feet of buffer around structures.

You can learn more about how to create and maintain defensible space around your property on the City website and by downloading the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s “Ready! Set Go!” Wildfire Personal Wildfire Action Plan at fire.lacounty.gov/rsg.

Learn how to use landscaping techniques to protect your home from wildfires and meet brush clearance requirements by watching a recording of a West Basin firescaping workshop on RPVtv’s YouTube channel and going to westbasin.org/firescaping.

Know Your Zone

The Palos Verdes Peninsula cities launched the "Know Your Zone" program to keep residents informed and prepared for potential evacuations. This platform includes evacuation zone maps and provides timely information during emergencies. Visit PVPReady.gov to find your specific evacuation zone and sign up for emergency notifications. Learn more: Know Your Zone - Palos Verdes Peninsula Emergency Readiness

Alert SouthBay

Alert South Bay is a mass notification system that keeps the community informed about disasters and major emergencies. Managed through Everbridge, this system allows residents to receive timely notifications via email, text message, and phone calls. Alert South Bay is an opt in system, meaning you must sign up to receive alerts. The Peninsula Cities use this system as the primary way of alerting the community of an emergency via phone. During extreme emergencies, Wireless Emergency Alerts (the same system used to push Amber-alerts), can be used as well. These alerts do not require you to sign up but will not provide you with emergency updates and will not be used for smaller, more localized emergencies. Sign up today to stay informed and prepared for information by texting “AlertSB” to 888-777.

Learn more: Alert SouthBay

The Palos Verdes Peninsula cities remain steadfast in their commitment to protect and support its residents through collaborative, forward-thinking emergency planning.

Download Your Residential Fire Insurance Advocacy Letter

In California, the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires have significantly impacted the residential fire insurance market. This has resulted in higher premiums, reduced coverage options, and, in some cases, policy cancellations. 

In RPV, these statewide challenges are evident, with many residents reporting increased premiums and difficulty in maintaining their fire insurance coverage. In response to these concerns, the City’s Emergency Preparedness Committee, in collaboration with City staff, has developed a comprehensive insurance resource letter.

This advocacy tool is tailored to help you, our residents and businesses, communicate effectively with your insurance providers to advocate for maintaining your current insurance policies and potentially negotiating lower premiums. We encourage you to utilize this resource to its full extent. 

To access this tool, please visit our dedicated Home Fire Insurance Information and Resources webpage at rpvca.gov/fireinsurance.

Get to Know the RPV Emergency Preparedness Committee

The Rancho Palos Verdes Emergency Preparedness Committee (EPC) is a group of local volunteers and residents with emergency management/response subject matter expertise who provide the City recommendations on matters pertaining to emergency preparedness to help ensure a high state of readiness to respond to a wide variety of emergencies and disasters. The EPC generally meets on a monthly basis, typically the third Thursday of the month. Meetings are open to the public and agendas are posted on the City website at rpvca.gov/agendas.  

The committee’s next meeting is this Thursday, January 16, 2025, at 6 p.m. in the Community Room at City Hall. To watch the meeting via Zoom, complete a form at rpvca.gov/participate.