We're still in the midst of a very large fire in the Santa Cruz area, but here are some initial thoughts. Much of this has been discussed many times, but some points bear repetition:
Repeaters go down. Some of the most important repeaters in the region were in areas worst hit by fires. The repeaters burned and are inoperational. But those are the areas most in need of communication. Small groups fighting fires at their homes are asking for simplex communication on 146.52 (yes, the repeater output frequency on simplex is the preferred method. Just reporting what's happening).
Listening to horse rescues until 2 am, it became obvious that an HT is not adequate. In a mountainous area, signals are tenuous at best. Half an hour was wasted because a party with an HT could not reach the repeater. A backup simplex frequency would have allowed various parties to meet to transport horses, because they were only a few hundred yards apart. But a mobile rig would have made it a non-issue.
Having done 2 meter simplex ARES exercises in the past, I learned that my name brand HT was not adequate in this mountainous area. A mobile rig fixed the problem.
Know your area's ARES/emergency simplex frequencies. Almost every area has one or more emergency simplex frequencies. An HT cannot be depended on for emergency simplex communications. 2 meter VHF mobile rigs from Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom, etc. are not expensive, and can make the difference when the repeaters are down.