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The City of Upland is preparing an update to its 2016 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP). This plan helps to create a safer community for residents, businesses, and visitors. The LHMP allows public safety officials and city staff, elected officials, and members of the public to understand the threats from natural and human-caused hazards in our community. The plan will also recommend specific actions to proactively decrease these threats before disasters occur. This plan will also re-open a five-year eligibility window for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants to assist in funding hazard mitigation projects within the City and financial assistance from the State once formerly adopted by the City Council. 

An LHMP will let Upland better plan for future emergencies. Usually, after a disaster occurs, communities take steps to recover from the emergency and rebuild. An LHMP is a way for the City to better prepare in advance for these disasters so that when they occur, less damage occurs, and recovery is easier. Our community can use LHMP strategies to reduce instances of property damage, injury, and loss of life from disasters. Besides protecting public health and safety, this approach can save money. Studies estimate that every dollar spent on mitigation saves an average of four dollars on response and recovery costs. An LHMP can also help strengthen the mission of public safety officers, such as police and fire department staff, providing them with clear roles and responsibilities to build a safer community. 

Besides helping protect Upland, our LHMP will make the City eligible for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that can further improve safety and preparedness in the community. Having an adopted LHMP can also make Upland eligible for more financial assistance from the State when disasters occur. 

The City of Upland LHMP includes four main sections: 

• A summary of the natural and human-caused hazards that pose a risk to our community. This will include descriptions of past disaster events and the chances of these disasters occurring in the future. 
• An assessment of the threat to Upland will describe how our community is vulnerable to future disasters. The plan will examine the threat to important buildings and infrastructure, such as police and fire stations, hospitals, roads, and utility lines. It will also examine the threat to community members, particularly vulnerable populations. 
• A hazard mitigation strategy will lay out specific policy recommendations for Upland to carry out over the next five years. These recommendations will help reduce our community's threat from hazard events. 
• A section on maintaining the plan will help ensure that our LHMP is kept up-to-date. This will make it easier for us to continue proactively protecting ourselves and keep the City eligible for additional funding. 

The City anticipates addressing the following potential natural hazards within the plan: 

• Seismic Hazards (Fault Rupture, Seismic Shaking) 
• Flood (Surface Flooding, Dam and Levee Failure) 
• Human-caused Hazards (Hazardous Materials Release, Landfill Subsidence, Transportation Incidents (Rail, Plane, Highway), Terrorism) 
• Infrastructure Failure (Energy Shortage, Power Outage) 
• Severe Weather (Extreme Heat, Drought, Severe Wind) 
• Fire (Wildland, Urban Fire) 
• Cyberattacks

Our LHMP will also look at how climate change may affect these hazards and may include other hazards that pose a threat to our community. 

The project team plans to release a first draft of the Upland LHMP for public review in Spring 2025. After members of the public provide comments and feedback, the City will revise the plan and send it to the California Office of Emergency Services and FEMA for review and approval. Once approved by these agencies, the Upland City Council will adopt the final LHMP. We hope to have the plan ready for adoption in Summer 2025, but it may be later depending on how long state and federal review takes. 

You can get involved in preparing our LHMP in different ways:

• The City will share information about our LHMP and obtain community feedback at upcoming District Community Meetings. 
• The City will release a draft of the completed LHMP for public review. Please review and provide comments on this document, either at in-person meetings or in writing.
• Share about past experiences with natural hazards and how our LHMP can be the most useful. Complete an anonymous survey at: https://tinyurl.com/2k9f6saj.

For any questions or for ways to stay involved, please contact: Tanya Garcia, Management Analyst at tgarcia@uplandca.gov or (909) 291-2967.