Steven Baird is the communications manager for Calabasas’s city manager’s office. He can be reached at sbaird@cityofcalabasas.com or (818) 224-1633.

Tucked inside Calabasas’ free emergency preparedness app is a short set of instructions for opening an electric garage door by hand. It reads like a minor detail — until the power is out, the internet is down, and you’re trying to evacuate your home.

And it is one of the problems Calabasas and Emergency Preparedness in Calabasas (a grassroots fire safe council known locally as EPIC) set out to solve. The city spent four years building a network of residents trained, equipped, and organized to help each other when emergencies strike.

For residents and the city, the work is not hypothetical. The community of 22,000 is wedged against the Santa Monica Mountains in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. In 2018, the Woolsey Fire forced the evacuation of the entire city, destroyed nine homes, and damaged hundreds more.

“The Woolsey Fire showed us how important it is for residents to be prepared before an emergency happens,” said Kindon Meik, Calabasas city manager. “Our first responders do an incredible job, but during a major disaster they simply cannot be everywhere at once.”

A plan for when the phones go dark

At the core of Calabasas’s plan is a simple assumption: Everyday communication will fail during an earthquake or wildfire. And even if it doesn’t, recent emergencies demonstrate that residents need reliable channels of communication for information. Free on every platform, the app stores emergency procedures and step-by-step instructions on the device itself.

Over 1,500 people have downloaded the app. According to Brian Cameron, EPIC’s president and co-founder, other cities can clone and customize the app based on their unique risks and needs.

But the app is just part of the solution. Using state funding, EPIC distributed over 800 Family Radio Service walkie-talkies that enable neighbors to reach one another when cell service and power are out. EPIC’s amateur radio operators will relay what they hear to the city’s emergency operations center, giving staff real-time reports.

The city is also taking steps to prevent wildfires from spreading. In November 2025, the city launched a home hardening rebate program. EPIC-trained specialists walk the property, flag the vulnerabilities most likely to let embers in, and send the owner a confidential report. The city then reimburses qualifying work up to $1,000 per residence. Specialists have completed more than 100 evaluations, and the city has issued about 10 checks.

Seventeen neighborhoods and counting

The partnership’s most visible result is the spread of Firewise USA. The free National Fire Protection Association program asks neighbors to assess wildfire risk on their own streets and take practical actions together to reduce it. In August 2024, Calabasas had one recognized Firewise community. It now has 17, with more neighborhoods working toward recognition.

Getting there meant stacking partners rather than staff. Cal Fire reviews each application before the National Fire Protection Association grants recognition. The Los Angeles County Fire Department guides applications regionally. The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains trains volunteers to conduct home ignition zone evaluations. EPIC does the neighborhood organizing.

In May 2026, the city and EPIC held their first Firewise Leaders Training, so the work does not depend on any one volunteer. “Preparedness works best when neighbors are part of the solution,” said Michael Dyer, director of public safety and emergency preparedness for the city. “When people understand the risks around their homes and have relationships with the people living around them, they are much better prepared when an emergency happens.”

None of this required a new department. EPIC’s volunteer hours augment the work of city staff, and the EPIC-Calabasas partnership has brought in more than $200,000 in grant funding.

For cities weighing something similar, the Calabasas experience offers four key takeaways. Formalize the relationship early, so the volunteer group is recognized by the city, has clear points of contact, and can coordinate effectively with city departments and partner agencies.  Second, start with one resident initiative — such as creating Firewise neighborhoods — and let neighbors recruit neighbors. Next, encourage the fledgling group, but assume some of the initiatives will fail. Be sure to put a low-tech backup in people’s hands before you need it. Finally, train the next round of leaders while the current ones are still around.

Calabasas cannot stop the next fire. What it can do is make sure that when the power drops, more of its residents already know where the radio is and how to get the car out.

The city of Calabasas received a 2026 Helen Putnam Award of Excellence in the Public Safety category. For more information about the award program, visit calcities.org/helen-putnam-award-for-excellence.