San Diego County leaders repeated complaints Thursday that state fire officials didn't do a good enough job of keeping emergency response coordinators informed during the recent firestorms.

Speaking to fire chiefs and emergency response officials from cities across the county at a quarterly meeting of the Unified Disaster Council, county officials said improving information flow from the field was the first improvement needed in the wake of the fires.

"Please don't get me wrong, we understand that during a fire -- especially a cataclysmic one, firefighters are going to be out in the field," said Deborah Steffen, director of the county's Office of Emergency Services. "That's their first responsibility, to fight the fires, and protect structures. It's not to sit around in the Emergency Operations Center. But somehow we have to figure out how to get more timely information."

Steffen's comments came during a review of how the county's emergency operations center performed during the recent wildfires. The county's emergency center in Kearny Mesa, where the meeting was held, is recognized by the state as the regional nerve center for coordinating response during countywide catastrophes.

The county review concluded that the center performed well, with staff and emergency officials working efficiently together -- without "turf wars" or panic.

However, the review stated that other things, such as the flow of information, needed improvement.

An estimated 70 officials -- representing dozens of county departments and emergency response officials from cities in the county --- worked 16-hour days to coordinate help for county residents during the fires from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1.

County officials say it was difficult for them to coordinate response and quell the fears of residents living in the unincorporated areas of the county because they didn't have up-to-date information about the fires.

Greg Cox, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, first aired the county's complaints nearly a month ago, saying that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection leaders didn't report to the county's emergency center until the second full day of the fires, leaving coordinators with 12- to 24-hour-old information about the condition of the blazes.

State fire officials have said since then that they are not required to be at the county's emergency operations center, and that they have their own command center in El Cajon.

At Thursday's meeting, Steffen said the county can't afford to send its own emergency response personnel out to gather information.

She said other problems that arose at the center included too many people showing up at the center -- prompting command center leaders to send some home. In addition, security at the center's front door was lax.

"We had people walking in that we didn't know who they were," she said. "That's something we're going to have to work on."

In an unrelated matter, the city of San Diego's representative to the disaster council asked that the group investigate if the council is allowed to hold closed-session meetings under its guidelines.

D.P. Lee, director of the city's Office of Homeland Security, said the group needs to be able to conduct closed-session meetings to review a "highly-sensitive" grant application to get up to $28 million in anti-terrorism funds from the federal government.

Lee said application details specific targets in the county for potential terrorist attacks with biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, the regional government's capability of dealing with them, and what it needs to "fill the gaps."

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.