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May is Wildfire Awareness Month and, since Saturday May 3rd was Wildfire Community Preparedness Day (#WildfirePrepDay2025), what better way to keep the activities going than to learn what to do around your property just prior to an evacuation (the pre-evacuation stage)? These are the steps that will hopefully help reduce damage to your structure but, very importantly, will also support the responding firefighters.
Days-to-Hours Before Evacuation: If you anticipate an evacuation alert, or if you choose to evacuate on your own and there is time after you’ve packed everything in your vehicle:
Hours-to-Minutes Before Evacuation: If you only have a little time to do a few things after the vehicle is packed, here is what is recommended:
Cost: $0 - $$$$ (Depending on the supplies you need to buy now, such as hoses, a ladder, buckets, and materials to cover vents) Frequency: Check your supplies annually, but you’ll only need to take the listed steps if you prepare to evacuate. Even though this isn’t a particularly long list, this is a lot to remember if you’re experiencing a great deal of stress due to the potential threat of wildfire. What tips do you have to remember what to do when it officially becomes pre-evacuation time? For example, will you create a checklist and tape it to a door or include it in your “In Case of Emergency” binder? Do you have a mnemonic or a song that helps you remember the important steps? Let me know in the Comments. References:
Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.
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I’ll address a “Go” Bag in a future #FirePrepFriday but, this week, I want to share what I call my “Get Home” Bag. In my mind, a Go Bag is what I have packed and stored in my house – it includes emergency essentials and is among the things I would quickly grab after receiving an evacuation alert. A Get Home Bag, on the other hand, is always stored in my vehicle. That way, if an emergency occurs while I’m away from home and out in town or in the wilderness… whether it’s a wildfire, a blizzard, or just a flat tire… I have supplies I can use to get back to the house.
Here are the items in my Get Home Bag:
Here are the additional items I keep in my vehicle:
Cost: No Cost - $$$$ (depending on what you already have and what you need to add to your supplies) Frequency: Check your Get Home Bag at least semi-annually. If you have items like mine, you need to ensure the batteries aren’t dead, the medical supplies aren’t expired, and you have weather-appropriate clothing (for example, in your location, you may not need several blankets, gloves, or the warmest jacket you have). What’s in your Get Home Bag? What do you recommend I add to mine? Share your thoughts in the Comments. Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.
We addressed Zone 0 last week, and your neighbors undoubtedly saw you checking the distances between your home and vegetation, patio furniture, and any other potentially flammable objects. Now is a great time to get them involved in #FirePrepFriday, too!
For Week 6, I encourage you to tell your neighbors what you’ve discovered about wildfire preparedness and how it affects your geographic location. Share why it’s important to work as a community to mitigate and prepare before a disaster and reassure them that, when you take care of a task one week at a time, fire preparedness doesn’t have to feel so daunting. As a visual learner, I greatly appreciate the Colorado Springs Fire Department’s (CSFD) Wildfire Mitigation Booklet. I attended a City of Colorado Springs event a couple months ago and took CSFD up on their offer to grab a stack of the booklets to share with my neighbors. It succinctly walks community members through the Ready, Set, and Go steps. If each of us shares a similar booklet or online resource with our neighbors, and then they share with their neighbors, and so on, just imagine how prepared a whole neighborhood will be. At the next block party, be sure to bring one of these booklets in addition to the cheese plate, veggie tray, and sparkling beverages. Cost: $0 Frequency: Acquire the latest version of your area’s documentation annually. Are your neighbors aware of the fire risk in your area? Do your local fire department, city, or county services offer a handy booklet or online resource you can share with your community? If so, paste the link in the Comments. Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.
It’s Week 4 of #FirePrepFriday, and this week I was inspired by the news stories I’m seeing about creating defensible space around the structures where we spend most of our time.
This San Francisco Chronicle article, written by reporter Julie Johnson and originally published on April 10th, is one such example of the reports coming out about Berkeley, CA. The Berkeley City Council met last Tuesday to discuss a proposal to pursue the creation of defensible space around homes in neighborhoods near Tilden Regional Park, an area considered to have high fire danger (Johnson, 2025). The City Council proposal is similar to one being developed by the State of California and, in addition to sharing a lot of good information, writes “Best practice requires removing flammable materials and maintaining vegetation to minimize wildfire exposure, particularly within the critical Ember Resistant Zone (Zone 0) and surrounding Home Ignition Zones 1 and 2. These measures require elimination of all combustible materials from within 5 feet of a structure, including vegetation and accessories” (Berkeley City Council, 2025). What is Zone 0? Zone 0, the space between 0 and 5 feet from a structure, is not a new concept. To learn more, I recommend reading through CAL FIRE’s Defensible Space webpage. They write that “The intensity of wildfire fuel management varies within the 100-foot perimeter of the home, with more intense fuels’ reduction occurring closer to your home. Start at the home and work your way out to 100 feet on your property line, whichever is closer. … The first five feet from your home is the most important. Keeping the area closest to buildings, structures, and decks clear will prevent embers from igniting materials that can spread the fire to your home. Why? The majority of homes lost to wildfire are ignited by flying embers. Embers can travel miles ahead of the active fire front of wildfires” (CAL FIRE). If you’re wondering if the concept of Zone 0 is just a fad or if 5 feet was a random decision, the answer is no. It’s supported by science. Three scientists I greatly admire – Drs. Alexandra Syphard, Teresa Brennan, and Jon Keeley – published the results of their 2014 work and found “Structures were more likely to survive a fire with defensible space immediately adjacent to them. The most effective treatment distance varied between 5 and 20 m (16-58 ft) from the structure, but distances larger than 30 m (100 ft) did not provide additional protection, even for structures located on steep slopes. The most effective actions were reducing woody cover up to 40% immediately adjacent to structures and ensuring that vegetation does not overhang or touch the structure” (Syphard, Brennan, and Keeley, 2014). Several studies have been published by these and other top wildfire science researchers in the field – definitely check out the work being shared by places like the Berkeley Fire Research Lab and the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, too. There are many organizations doing incredible work. What Can You Do in Your Zone 0? Have I convinced you to inspect Zone 0 and make some changes? Great! Here are just a few things you can do to get started (this is not an exhaustive list):
The 0-to-5-foot buffer from your home isn’t that big of a space, but it’s a critical zone. If you love plants and greenery, your yard will still be beautiful even when it starts 5 feet away. The creation of defensible space is extremely important in the event of wildfire, it’s better for the integrity of the structure (particularly in the case of vines), and it prevents unwanted critters from gaining easy access to your home. “Adequate defensible space acts as a barrier to slow or halt the progress of fire that would otherwise engulf your property. It also helps ensure the safety of firefighters defending your home. Defensible space is the first line of defense for your home against wildfire” (CAL FIRE). Cost: $0 - $$$$$ (depending on whether anything needs to be removed from Zone 0) Frequency: Ideally, this is a one-time update to a property. Of course, it's always important to remove any encroaching vegetation or new objects that get added over time. As this week’s task is focused on Zone 0, you may be wondering about home hardening steps. Don’t worry, we’ll get to those in a future #FirePrepFriday. What does Zone 0 look like around your home or workplace? What changes can you make today to create a defensible space? Let me know in the Comments. References
Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.
For Week 1 of #FirePrepFriday, I encouraged everyone to follow the social media accounts of local first responders, as well as register for city-, county-, and/or state-level emergency alerts. But do you know what to do when you actually receive an alert urging you to evacuate? Do you know where to go and how to get there? For Week 3, set aside some time to plan what you'll do if you get an evacuation alert.
Before the Evacuation Alert: Know Where to Go This week, pick at least two routes that get you away from your neighborhood, work, or school and to a safe place. Because it's so dependent on current and local weather conditions (including temperature, humidity, and wind), topography, the state of fuels (for example, dry and dead vegetation versus happy, green plants in super saturated soil), etc., it's not an exact science to predict where a fire will ignite and how it will spread. This means we need to identify a few places where we can evacuate to. I include links at the bottom of this post to help you with this step and identify locations in your area, but examples of questions you'll want to ask yourself include:
Once you've identified possible shelter locations and routes, I highly recommend you make paper and digital notes and then practice evacuating.
How Do You Know When to Go? When you signed up to receive alerts, hopefully you were prompted to enter an address (home, work, or school). If so, the alerting system will use that address to assign you to a pre-established zone and send notifications to only those community members who are most immediately impacted by a particular emergency event. Each area and alerting system are likely different but, as one example, Colorado's El Paso and Teller Counties offer Peak Alerts. Public safety officials working an emergency incident determine the location that will require an alert, then the 9-1-1 Dispatch Center generates a map to identify who to send alerts to. The City of Colorado Springs has a "Know Your Zone" feature. Emergency managers divided the city into zones, and this helps the Fire and Police Departments better identify affected areas and determine who needs to be evacuated or shelter-in-place. If your area does not offer alerts, and if you live in a Western U.S. state, you can set up alerts in the Watch Duty app (even with the free version). If you're registered with any of these alerting options, you should receive a text or phone call alerting you of the status of a current emergency incident when it occurs near you. I've seen a number of communities adopt the Ready, Set, Go! (RSG) Program terminology. The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC)-managed RSG Program provides actions to prepare homes and families to be ready for emergencies, illustrates how to be set for wildfire (by being aware of developing conditions and situations that demand immediate action), and offers an action plan that lists key steps that are necessary when it's time to go. The downloadable IAFC Wildland Fire Action Guide includes all of the steps we'll address over time with #FirePrepFriday, to include this week's task of identifying evacuation routes and shelters (for Action Guides in languages besides English, use this link) and writing them down (page 11). If your alerts include these key terms, you'll have a better idea of what you need to do. Your alerts may also include the words watch versus warning which, at a very basic level, differentiate between "be prepared" versus "take action," respectively. The National Weather Service (NWS) provides more detailed definitions. Cost: $0 - $$ (depending on the price of purchased paper maps) Frequency: You should double-check and update evacuation routes, as needed. For example, if a road on your route is shut down because of construction for three months, you definitely want to have another available option. It is also important to check that shelters are still accepting evacuees at least annually. Are you prepared to go? Let me know in the Comments. Additional Resources
Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.
If you're like me, your pet is your child, and you'll do anything to make sure they're safe. For Week 2, I want to ensure the fur, feather, scale, and hoof babies are ready to go. There are a number of "need to have" and "nice to have" items, so build your emergency evacuation supplies in such a way that they fit the needs of you and your pet(s). I'll share what I did for my dog, Abby, and then I'll list additional resources.
Items in Abby's Go Bag
How to Prepare If You're Not At Home When Your Neighborhood Must Evacuate This is a huge concern of mine, so I've done what I can in case this is ever the scenario we experience.
I understand the whole "put your oxygen mask on first" metaphor but, for me, it was really important to get Abby ready for wildfire early on in our preparation journey. Cost: $0 - $$$ (depending on what you already have and what you need to add) Frequency: Check the Go Bag frequently enough to ensure that food and medications aren't expired. Depending on the seasons, have water in the car or near the door (for example, I don't keep water in the car when outside temperatures are freezing). Also depending on seasons, swap out lighter clothing for something thicker. What do you have in your pet(s)' Go Bags? Or what did you have, but removed when you realized it wasn't necessary in an emergency situation? What other resources are useful? Let me know in the Comments. Additional Resources To Help You Get Started
Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.
For Week 1, let’s all check that we’re following the trustworthy social media accounts, registered for the official alerts, and using the reputable apps that will provide us with the information we need in case of emergency.
Social Media Whether you're using Facebook, Threads, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, or Bluesky, there's a really good chance that your local fire and police departments, as well as city and county officials are posting from their verified accounts pretty regularly. Go to the app's search bar and try phrases like these -- [Your City Name] Fire Department, City of [Your City Name], and National Weather Service (NWS) [Your City Name], etc. Alerts It’s also important to look into whether your city or county offers some sort of emergency alert system. I’m signed up to receive all emergency notifications through a county-level service. I'm also aware that our city is working hard to improve their communications during emergencies. Apps If you’ve followed me on social media for a bit, you’ve probably figured out that the Watch Duty app is one of my favorite resources for real-time wildfire information. I appreciate that, even with the free version of the app, I can go to Settings > Notifications and set up alerts for fire incidents in close proximity to my home and where I work. In a few instances, I received a Watch Duty notification before I heard anything from another source of alerts -- the team is quick to verify ignitions, double-check data with local sources, provide evacuation messaging, maps, etc. However, Watch Duty is currently only providing information for states in the Western U.S. The Red Cross mobile app lets you customize weather-related notifications for your location. Like Watch Duty, it also provides information about local shelters and has an interactive map. Although this was a simple task to get us started, I think it’s critical that we are connected to the first responders and local officials who share the information we need. Cost: $0 Frequency: Account follows and alert registration should only need to occur once. However, verified organizations occasionally change their usernames so, over time, you should double-check that you're still following the current account. Apps will require occasional updates. What social media accounts do you follow for important information? Are you signed up to receive alerts? Which apps do you trust most? Let me know in the Comments. Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.
In March 2024, I watched a fast-moving, wind- and dry grass-fueled fire from my bedroom window. At the time, I was working to finish my Ph.D. and my research was focused on using satellite imagery to identify and quantify landscapes at risk of wildfires due to the presence of grassy vegetation. I'd spent years reading articles and publications about grass fires, I'd spoken with firefighters about the dangers associated with being near quickly moving fires in dead and dry (highly flammable) grasses, and I had even observed a prescribed fire and saw how flames burned in shrubs versus grassy environments. All that to say I wasn't a total novice when it came to the concept of what happens when you mix Red Flag conditions, dry vegetation, and at least one ignition. Fast forward to March 2025 and I received a Watch Duty app alert about a fire in almost the same location. Like last year, we had low humidity and high wind conditions, and the snow that had blanketed the area not long before had already melted, leaving the soil and vegetation dry. I walked my dog and watched the smoke spread across the sky, and then a question popped into my head: If this fire were to spread to our neighborhood, how confident am I that we could quickly evacuate with the essentials and, ideally, that we would have a home to return to? I'm signed up for emergency alerts. I always make sure my car's gas tank is over half full. I pay attention to potential evacuation routes around town. I have a Go Bag with the basics (and even an additional Go Box, if there's time to grab it). The yard is xeriscaped. The siding on the house is cement. I must be ready for wildfire... right? But, like all of you, I've been heartbroken watching the loss of life and homes due to natural disasters. Recent fire events like the October 2017 Tubbs Fire in Sonoma and Napa Counties, CA; the December 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County, CO; the August 2023 Lahaina Fire in Maui, HI; and the January 2025 Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County, CA showed the world what can happen when extremely high wind conditions mix with fire and blowing embers. And those fires devastated neighborhoods that would be considered more urban areas as opposed to wildland-urban interface areas. Video footage has supplied those of us who weren't caught in those fires with just the tiniest glimpse of what the environment is like when attempting to evacuate -- it is the opposite of calm and slow-paced, but is extraordinarily hectic, difficult to navigate, dark, and terrifying. I understand there is no simple solution to getting ready for and getting through such a harrowing situation. But I also believe that the least we, as community members, can do is to be prepared. When emergency responders come to our neighborhoods, we should make sure they're as safe as they can be as they work so hard to protect us and our properties. And the best way we can get prepared -- for ourselves, our families, our neighbors, and first responders -- is to start on those preparation tasks we've been putting off... and start today. Thank you for joining me on this wildfire prep journey. Many of the tips (and lessons learned) that I share here will be most applicable to the states in the Western U.S. but, with a little flexibility and imagination, I'm confident that anything shared here can be adjusted and useful for everyone. And just because I've been studying wildfires for a while, I will never claim to be an expert -- what I share as part of #FirePrepFriday should be considered researched opinions. I'll always do my best to work from verified and reputable sources but, as every emergency situation is unique, I encourage all of you to make sure you tailor the preparation steps to your lives. I think if we all commit to checking one task off the To Do list each week, we’re going to be as ready for wildfire as we can be in no time. |
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Krista West has been at the intersection of the remote sensing, wildland fire, and science communication communities since 2016. One of her main goals is to help emergency responders and the community members they serve. Archives
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