Evacuations

When an emergency poses a threat to life safety, such as a major fire, earthquake, flooding, or landslide, the Incident Command (usually Fire or Sheriff's Department) may issue an evacuation order for the threatened area. Information will include safe areas or emergency shelter locations where evacuated individuals and families may go for temporary shelter.

Evacuation Plan Update

An effective evacuation plan provides clear procedures and guidelines for residents and emergency personnel to follow during a crisis, minimizing confusion and panic, and enabling a quicker and safer exit from dangerous areas. In addition, evacuation plans must address the unique challenges faced by vulnerable groups such as the elderly, individuals with disabilities, and children, ensuring they receive the necessary assistance and support during evacuation. The City’s Evacuation Plan was last updated in 2019 and much has changed and many lessons have been learned since that time.

To assist with the update, the City contracted with Constant Associates, Inc. The project team is currently conducting interviews with key stakeholders, and a survey has been created to collect information from the community. Community members are strongly encouraged to take the short survey to provide needed information. In addition, a community meeting will be held early next year to obtain additional information.

Take the Evacuation Plan Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MalibuEvacPlan

Genasys Protect & New EVACUATION ZONES AND MAPS FOR MALIBU

Look up your zone & explore the Genasys Protect website

Los Angeles County adopted new official disaster response and evacuation zones in November 2022. Malibu’s zones are now numbered MAL-C111, MAL-C112, MAL-C113 and MAL-C114. The new zones for Malibu are the same as the City’s previous Evacuation Zones (11-14) which were adopted in February 2020 as part of the City’s official Mass Evacuation Plan.

Residents, businesses, students, employees, and other community members are encouraged to look up the new zones for their home, business or school, and familiarize themselves with Genasys Protect (formerly known as Zonehaven Aware). Genasys Protect will show valuable information specific to the location and any incident, emergency services, response, real-time status updates, shelter options, roadblocks, evacuation routes, and more. Remember your Zone – they will be referred to in alerts and public messaging during any large-scale emergency incidents in LA County.

Please note: during an evacuation, it may be necessary to split the zones into smaller sub-groups (ex: MAL-C111A and MAL-C111B). These will be incident driven, but will not change throughout an incident.

EVACUATION TERMINOLOGY

New California Standard Statewide Evacuation Terminology was developed by the California Office of Emergency Services in close partnership with public safety agencies throughout the state to communicate clearly and consistently in alerts and warnings. The standardized terminology was created in response to the catastrophic wildfires of 2017 and 2018. In the event of an evacuation in Malibu, the New California Standard Statewide Evacuation Terminology will be used.

Evacuation Order

There is an immediate threat to life. This is a lawful order to leave now. The area is lawfully closed to public access.

Evacuation Warning

There is a potential threat to life and/or property. Those who require additional time to evacuate and those with pets and livestock should leave now.

Shelter in Place

Go indoors. Shut and lock doors and windows. Prepare to self-sustain until further notice and/or contacted by emergency personnel for additional direction.

Evacuation Order(s) Lifted

The formal announcement of lifting evacuations in an area currently under evacuation.

Hard Closure

No one is permitted through hard closures except for emergency services personnel such as Law Enforcement or Fire. Hard closures are generally the result of an evacuation order or other threats to life safety.

Soft Closure

No one is permitted through soft closures except for emergency services personnel and critical incident resources (i.e. utility, Caltrans, City/County Roads, etc. or the needed to repair or restore infrastructure).

Resident only closure

Soft closure with the additional allowance of residents and local government agencies assisting with response and recovery. The Dolphin Decal will provide entry with potential further verification required.

Please be aware that all closures are operated at the discretion of law enforcement.