David Parigan didn’t plan on missing his first day of class at USC. But two days into his first graduate course in emergency management, the Los Angeles County Fire Department fire captain was called in to fight the most destructive fire of his career.
The first 36 hours of the Eaton Fire were non-stop for firefighters on the ground. Over the next three weeks, Parigan worked 24-hour shifts on the fire line, fighting to save homes, and attempting to keep the catastrophic Eaton Fire from spreading. The time between firefighting shifts was scheduled for rest and recovery; instead, Parigan barely rested, choosing to catch up on the additional duties he conducts in his role as a fire captain and study for classes.
Luckily, his classmates and professor understood what Parigan was facing. Many of them were tackling the crisis in their roles, too.
“[My professor] was completely understanding,” Parigan said. “He was busy working in the emergency operations center, as well.”
In fact, Parigan’s professor, Mitch Saruwatari, was working around the clock to make sure patients and employees in the Kaiser Permanente health care system were safe. Saruwatari, a professor with USC Bovard College’s Master of Science in Emergency Management online program, is also the director of national emergency management for Kaiser Permanente.
“We spend a little bit of time at the beginning of each of our live sessions talking about some of the concepts we reviewed … and how those … are being applied to the entire [emergency management] community,” Saruwatari said. “We’re getting firsthand experience.”
Preparing for the Worst
The Palisades and Eaton wildfires caused record amounts of damage, razing nearly 40,000 acres, taking dozens of lives and destroying over 16,000 buildings, many of which were homes, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. But even before the fires broke out, emergency management professionals were monitoring the situation to ensure the safety of their communities.
Emergency management is a rapidly growing and professionalizing field, spanning the public and private sectors and encompassing everything from public health to disaster recovery. A key aspect of the profession is staying informed and keeping a close watch for potential issues — exactly what Parigan and Saruwatari were doing before the fires erupted.
“Even before the Palisades fire broke out, we were all on standby, watching closely,” Saruwatari said. “Because we knew, with the red flag warnings, the Santa Ana winds, the low humidity, [that] it was just a recipe for a wildfire.”
Knowing this “recipe” is part of a larger preparation strategy — one that involves conducting risk assessments, building plans and then testing those plans in real life. But, although emergency managers work hard to prepare for any eventuality, no one can know exactly when disaster will strike.
“I immediately started listening to and tracking [the] Palisades [fire] as soon as it broke out. I instantly began building situational awareness on the location of the fire by looking at the current weather inputs and reviewing structure defense maps of the area,” Parigan recalled. “Our department engaged in heightened pre-planning and pre-positioning in the days leading up to the fires to ensure all personnel were prepared. Operationally, I was fully prepared, ready to go, and sure enough, that’s how it played out … I got launched to the Eaton Fire the night it broke out.”
This preparation is an essential part of working in emergency management.
“You have to be prepared to go to work at any time, day or night, to protect the folks in the hospitals and provide help to the community,” Saruwatari said.
Saving Lives and Mitigating Impact
Parigan said firefighters’ priorities on a wildland incident are the protection of life, incident stabilization, and the protection and conservation of property and the environment. But beyond these core tenets, the scale and swiftness of the Eaton Fire challenged other methods Parigan and his crew use when fighting “normal” fires.
“It was a blowtorch effect, is what it was,” Parigan said. “Just unprecedented … nothing that you could prepare for in the sense of how fast the fire was moving.”
In the face of this uncertainty, Parigan needed to make frequent hazard assessments using the risk management process on the ground to provide reconnaissance, implement hazard controls, determine how to allocate resources like equipment and personnel, and establish decision points on what could be saved.
“We talk about [being proactive versus reactive] … a lot in emergency management,” Parigan said. “I was proud of our firefighters and the relentless work that was put in. We remained proactive in ensuring our priorities, strategies and tactics stayed aligned throughout the incident.”
While Parigan was on the front line of the Eaton Fire, Saruwatari was dealing with the wildfires from a bird’s-eye view. Disasters like wildfires can cause ripple effects: health care employees might lose their homes, need to evacuate or suddenly be left without childcare when schools are closed. It was also essential that Saruwatari monitor hospitals and patients in home health care in case they lost power, needed supplies like masks or fell under an evacuation order.
Dealing with the Aftermath
In the wake of the wildfires, thousands of Angelinos found themselves without homes or possessions. To deal with this immense impact, Saruwatari exercised the number one skill he teaches in USC Bovard classes: collaborating with existing connections fostered over years of experience.
“[The most important skill is] hav[ing] a broad knowledge base and … the ability to collaborate with other agencies before a disaster happens,” Saruwatari said.
For Saruwatari, that meant supporting internal leaders who partnered with NGOs to provide community support, putting together benefit packages for impacted staff, sending mobile clinics to Red Cross shelters and setting up a clinic to serve people in one of LA’s main evacuation centers. With smoke and debris contaminating the air even after the fires were contained, it was also important to set up air filters in all of Kaiser Permanente’s facilities.
“In a disaster, nobody can work in a silo,” Saruwatari said. “There’s a lot of overlap. So, it’s important to have those relationships way before the disaster happens.”
Learning Alongside Other Professionals
Collaboration is just as important inside the classroom, where emergency management professionals exchange experience and knowledge. Saruwatari said his introductory class includes students from many different industries and backgrounds.
“Even if you look at the makeup of the cohort right now, there’s such diversity that when we talk about response activities, we’re looking at it through so many different lenses,” Saruwatari said. “So, it really opens our eyes to the complexity and the comprehensiveness of the needs out there.”
Parigan said throughout the ordeal of fighting the Eaton Fire there were opportunities to discuss the crisis with classmates in the emergency management program.
“[Our] professor did a great job opening things up at the beginning of the lecture to [say], ‘Hey, let’s give an update,’ and we were able to tie this into the emergency management aspects of the course and a real-world incident like the Eaton Fire. Hearing his perspective as an emergency manager in the Emergency Operations Center and what I was dealing with put things into perspective,” Parigan said.
“During the recent wildfires, USC Bovard College students and faculty played critical roles in protecting Los Angeles communities,” said Anthony Bailey, dean of Bovard College. “We are proud of their accomplishments and applaud their dedication to advancing the field of emergency management.”
Parigan plans to use the program to enhance his experience as a fire captain and give him a broader perspective on managing crises.
“Every day, without exception, I prioritize personal growth and consistently push myself to improve in every way I can,” Parigan said. “In the fire service, the framework for effective incident mitigation requires alignment of operational priorities, strategic objectives and tactical decision-making, and these components mirror the core elements of emergency management that continue to shape my mindset and approach.”
Although emergency management professionals often deal with harrowing situations, Saruwatari said the career is incredibly fulfilling.
“The thing about emergency management is that the people who go into it as a profession are fantastic,” Saruwatari said. “They all want to be part of the greater good, and they want to protect people [and] … resources. So, it’s a really small community of really committed people.”