Local Hazard Mitigation Plan

2024 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Development

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) defines hazard mitigation as, “any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to life and property from natural hazards.”   Another way to understand hazard mitigation is as the prevention component of the emergency management process. (see figure)

• Preparedness activities are the emergency plans, training, drills, and exercises that individuals, communities and first responders participate in on almost a daily basis.  These are things done to get ready for an emergency or disaster before it happens. 
• Response is the short-term, emergency actions taken to address the immediate impacts of a hazard event or disaster. 
• Recovery is the longer-term process of restoring the community back to normal or pre-disaster conditions. 
• Mitigation, or prevention, activities are actions that will prevent or eliminate losses, even if an incident does occur. Mitigation can reduce or eliminate the need for an emergency response and greatly reduce the recovery period.

To address Hazard Mitigation in the City of Placentia, the City began developing a Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) in 2023. 

Flood, earthquake, fire, and severe weather are just a few of the natural hazards of concern to the City of Placentia.  While natural hazards such as these cannot be prevented, an LHMP forms the foundation for a community's long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses by breaking the repeated cycle of disaster damage and reconstruction.   Communities with a FEMA- approved LHMP are eligible for FEMA pre- and post-disaster grant funding and are better positioned to respond and recover when disasters occur.  

The LHMP development process is as important as the plan itself.  It creates a framework for risk-based decision making to reduce damages to lives, property, and the economy from future disasters.

2024 LHMP 

On November 20,2023 The City of Placentia submitted its draft LHMP to Cal OES for review.  On May 23,2024 FEMA issued an approval pending adoption letter to the City.  On July 2, 2024 the City Council of the City of Placentia adopted resolution R-2024-50 adopting the draft LHMP as its official plan.  Finally, on July 18, 2024, FEMA officially approved of the City of Placentia's first ever Local Hazard Mitigation Plan.  

Click on link below to access the City of Placentia 2024 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan.

Click Here to see the Placentia LHMP

For more information on this project and how to be involved, contact Patrick Powers at (714) 993-8214 or email: ppowers@placentia.org