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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: No Cost to <$50 (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.
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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. ArchivesCategories
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