Organizing Chaos: Initial Communications Lessons from the LA Fires

You’ve seen the tragic images: firefighters battling a wall of flames pushed by hurricane-force winds. Moments of heroism and of hopelessness as we mourned the loss of life and entire neighborhoods were reduced to ashes.

With strong technical skills, engineers will play a critical role during the recovery effort and eventual rebuilding process in affected areas of Los Angeles. Yet, when I found myself at the helm of WSP’s local office response to dozens of wildfire-related daily client, employee and executive questions, I gained newfound appreciation for just how vital soft skills are.

My professional training is in transportation and urban system engineering, yet as California Region Executive, I suddenly found myself managing a very different kind of traffic: a constant barrage of questions, information and updates about hundreds of staff members, partners and clients. From my perspective, the first imperative wasn’t technical, but human. I wanted to ensure that every one of them felt our concern and had the support they needed during a confusing, high-stress time. Delivering on that ambition would also draw on the systematic thinking and project management skills I’ve gained as an engineer.

In today’s uncertain world, there is a growing likelihood that you may find yourself suddenly thrust into managing a crisis of some kind. With the hope that my experience might benefit others in our sector, I’d like to share a few hard-won practical insights.

At the risk of taking some liberties, I think the NSPE Code of Ethics provides something of a framework for the principles and practices we used during that terrible time:

1. Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public – Health and safety was our first concern. We worked to immediately evaluate whether our people were in danger; whether they had somewhere to go when they evacuated; whether they could easily access supportive benefits; whether that meanthelp getting prescriptions refilled or accessing mental health support; the list goes on.
   
   We also assessed whether our ongoing work could put our team or partners in harm’s way, or conversely, inadvertently hinder emergency response. We held wellbeing paramount. That also meant we were proactive in considering other aspects of health and safety, too. We were fortunate to be able to tap internal experts, who could equip us with concise, actionable information about everything from air quality to what to do when some areas received boil water notices. By aligning around the first element of ethics, we were able to determine where to focus and what could wait.

2. Perform services only in areas of competence – In my mind, that doesn’t just apply to technical skills and client contracts. It applies to other aspects of leadership, too. That’s why the first call I made was to a colleague in Atlanta who had recently handled WSP’s response to a significant hurricane. I knew her advice on crisis management would prove invaluable, and it did.
   
   I also tapped the exceptional expertise of our local team, from a former fire chief who ran point on health and safety to an office administrator with a knack for getting things done. Our office administrator served as a conduit to our people, and a bridge to our crisis management team. The take-away is to leverage local resources balanced with support from your broader network, while empowering people to lead within their areas of expertise.

3. Issue truthful and objective public statements – There is no shortage of rumors in a crisis, and it was an ongoing effort to validate the facts. Our crisis management team set up a Microsoft Teams channel as our single source of truth to centralize and coordinate all communications. It minimized noise from countless telephone calls and text messages, enabling real-time updates while ensuring nobody was out of the loop.

During the height of the fires, 23 people were part of that channel. Together, we drove regular impact assessments involving people, facilities and projects – in that order. It enabled us to identify the resources we had available and any gaps. It also helped ensure we could issue truthful statements, both within the company and externally.

While I believe our statements were truthful and objective, they also were limited. People were overwhelmed, and we didn’t want to add to their confusion. So, my team and I limited our communications to essential, just-in-time updates for LA office employees only, and only via email, so our people knew where to look. Others in the firm handled broader engagement, allowing the crisis team to stay focused. This also meant we weren’t flooded with well-intended responses and suggestions that would have added “clutter” to the system, making communications harder to manage.

In a crisis, activity isn’t the same as results.

4. Act as faithful agents for employers and clients – There are very literal, transactional ways in which we must act as faithful agents, but I believe that goes beyond conflicts of interest to a deeper duty of care.
   
   Human connection matters and during a crisis, people turn to the familiar faces they see every day. So, we ensured our front desk staff — a crucial part of our crisis team — knew how to respond to inquiries and tell the rest of us what they were hearing.

In some ways, that was the hardest part, since I did receive honest and heartbreaking replies to my messages. Reading and appropriately sharing these human stories helped keep our role as faithful agents front and center.

We also tried to serve as trustees by monitoring the trajectory of events and maintaining focus. Rather than overwhelm people with reams of information about what might be coming next, we shared what they needed to know and do day by day, moment to moment.

5. Avoid deceptive acts – It may seem obvious to say that inappropriate influence and corruption are unacceptable. We went several steps further.
   
   While experts can play an important role in educating the public, for example, we turned down major media interviews on topics ranging from wildfire management to water systems. We have no shortage of expertise on those issues. Our concern was that even broad comments meant to illuminate how systems work could be taken out of context or seen as shallow and speculative, perhaps even deceptive.
6. Uphold honor, integrity and dignity of the profession – In my view, the honor, integrity and dignity of the profession requires us to be in service to others. When the time is right, we will be honored to play a role in helping Angelinos rebuild their city. First, we need to focus on recovery. In many ways, for many people, the disaster hasn’t ended.
   
   We also need to listen deeply and follow the lead of the community around how to rebuild. Recovery takes time. There will be opportunities to tell the broader story and help engineer the future. For now, it is truly a privilege to honor the dignity of people who are in an unthinkable situation and deliver something that can help.

I hope that by sharing an inside view of how we managed through this crisis, you will be better positioned to manage whatever the future may hold.  Assuming such responsibility will demand the best from you and forever shape you as a leader. 

Dr. Luis A. Porrello is the California Region Executive at WSP, where he is responsible for steering operations and growth for the company’s business in the Golden State.