Preparing for Evacuation: Advice & Your Experiences

So I thought this would be a perfect time, in light of the conversation occurring in the Smoke on Foxton Rd./Lower North Fork Fire thread , to start a thread gathering in one place what those of you who have been evacuated, or had to prepare to evacuate, did to get ready, what you learned because of that process and wish you had done/grabbed and have now done since, and advice you'd offer for anyone living here now, or thinking of moving here.

One of my really good friends lives in Boulder and she had to evacuate during the Fourmile Canyon Fire. She was before, but is now really actively involved, in helping the fire department as a volunteer - she's a member of their Third Arm Volunteer Organization. It is her job to keep an updated list of any residents in her assigned area who are mobility challenged and would require assistance to evacuate in an emergency, and to start the phone tree that they have if they are called to action. She helps coordinate getting those who need assistance out of their homes, has photocopies of evacuation routes, and back-up evacuation routes if the primary one is blocked, and does much more. Residents who need assistance just fill out a form and send it to the fire department and can go off and on the list as they necessary based on their circumstances. I think it would be great if we established something like this in our area! If Mrs. Appel had registered with this sort of group, then maybe someone would've proactively gone and helped her out of her home because they knew she was impaired due to chemo treatments and would need assistance. We all have neighbors with pets who work far from home, do you have an evac plan shared with each other, phone numbers to contact one another, or designated meet-up place? There's so much we can start doing for ourselves. I think it's high time we coordinate. As Becky said:

A shout out to Janet Shown. Is it time to revisit or re-establishing MCVOAD?

www.bouldermountainfire.org/thirdarm-about

The BMFPD Third Arm was established in 2006. It is a neighborhood volunteer organization as are the other two “arms” of the BMFPD: Fire/Medical Responders and the Auxiliary.

The need for the Third Arm became clear during the March 2006 Sunshine Canyon Fire, when firefighters were utilized to direct traffic and conduct door-to-door evacuation notifications, rather than being deployed to fight fires.

The Third Arm was established to assist the BMFPD in the following activities (It should be noted that not all areas of activity are fully staffed and operational):

Phone Tree Support
Traffic Management
Database Collection and Management
Emergency Evacuation Assistance
Companion Animal Rescue Assistance
Help Coordination

All Third Arm volunteers are required to submit to a background check. Once volunteers agree to serve they receive classroom and field training, appropriate safety equipment, and access to broader training as appropriate.

Some of her notes for me:
Boulder Mtn Fire. Org special needs list for fire info
Who is special needs?
Any medical impairment
Difficulty driving
Difficulty rounding up your small pets for evacuation
Temporary visitors of residents who may have special needs
Surgery that causes need

Maps of evacuation routes - many of our roads are dead-ends, but some are not. Do you know all of the ways to vacate your neighborhood and larger area if you can't go the way you normally would?

Things to do before evacuating:
Turn on outside light(s) so emergency crew can drive by and see there's power
Disconnect propane grill tank move away from home, move any other flammable item away
Have well marked address sign at end of driveway

When an evac is ordered:
Form a "POD" - group of neighbors who agree to provide mutual assistance in case of evac or emergency

Good for when you aren't home, and can't get back, and someone else needs to evac pets/valuables from your home for you

Insurance:
Make sure that replacing septic system is included in current coverage
"Contents" coverage includes ALL home furnishings - built-ins, cabinets, bath fixtures, etc. Take video/pictures of every item in every room, include copies of purchase receipts documenting what you paid for them. Burn a CD of all that info and keep a copy in a safe deposit box, fire safe, with a relative, or other location not at home.
Contents coverage should be based on replacement cost


This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what to do/how to prepare. DSV has a ton of great info: www.disastersupportvolunteers.com/
I've got a bunch more links to other helpful resources, but I'd like to hear from those of you who have gone through this first-hand. What did you do to prepare, what didn't you do that you wish you had, what advice do you offer those moving here? I recall from the interview with Dawn Smith and Janet Shown on CPR that many people moving up here are more concerned about wildlife than fires - how do we impress upon them the seriousness of this issue?