Case Study: Ventura County achieves 97% emergency message delivery and rapid wildfire response with Everbridge

Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services uses Everbridge for Wildfire Response

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services, which serves more than 850,000 residents across coastal, agricultural, and forested terrain, faced the massive Thomas Fire in December 2017 — an incident that burned approximately 281,893 acres and prompted 31 evacuation orders affecting over 90,000 people. The scale and speed of the fire tested the county’s emergency preparedness and required rapid, reliable public notification across diverse communities.

Ventura County’s VC Alert program, powered by Everbridge, was used extensively between December 4–15 to issue 64 emergency notifications and to deliver two Wireless Emergency Alerts and two Emergency Alert System messages linking residents to up‑to‑date guidance. The platform’s ease of use and delivery reliability — a 97% message delivery success rate to landlines, cellphones, and email during the event — enabled timely communications about mandatory and voluntary evacuations, repopulation, boil‑water orders, and advisories.

Ventura County

Gil Zavlodaver

Progam Administrator