WHAT

Safety & Evacuation

Evacuation and shelter-in-place preparedness, planning, and communication are crucial for all hazards. It is important to help your community understand how they will be notified in the event of a wildfire (or other hazard), know what actions they should take, and how prepare for evacuation. Work with your local Office of Emergency Management, Sheriff’s Office, Fire Department and others who may be involved during an evacuation to do exercises, planning and relationship building.

This page contains resources, tools and examples of safety and evacuation resources.

Considerations

1
Understandable, timely and accurate information are important.
2
Accessibility for all community members is key. Do you have a plan for translation of crucial messaging in to languages other than English? Do you have a plan for alerts and warnings that are accessible to all community members? It's critical to think about how people will get information, what methods and tools there are for communication, and how to make information accessible to all.
3
Planning and practice are key. Agencies and important community partners have roles to play in the evacuation, alert and warning, and sheltering components of disaster. Does everyone know their role and how they will communicate?

EXPLORE Safety & Evacuation RESOURCES

  • WHO

  • WHERE

  • FORMAT

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Found 31 Results

Prepare in a Year

Guide / Pamphlet / Handout
Washington State Emergency Management Division
This resource from the Washington State Emergency Management Division helps individuals, families and pets take one action every month for a year in order to be more prepared for disasters. Materials are available in English, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. While designed in Washington State, applicable to a significantly broader audience. Read More

Post Wildfire Flash Flood and Debris Flow Guide

Guide / Pamphlet / Handout
National Weather Service
“Post wildfire flash flooding and debris flows are a realistic threat in Southern California for homesand communities located within or along a wildland urban interface that has experienced a recentwildfire. It is crucial to plan and prepare for this type of hazard to prevent and reduce the loss of lifeand property, and to develop community... Read More

Planning Considerations: Evacuation and Shelter-in-Place

Guide / Pamphlet / Handout
Federal Emergency Management Agency
This document supports state, local, tribal, and territorial partners in planning for evacuation and/or shelter-in-place actions. It summarizes characteristics that jurisdictions should consider when planning for evacuation and/or shelter-in-place operations and contains job aids and checklists that jurisdictions can customize to meet their needs for all disasters (regardless of scale). Read More

Pet Safety in Emergencies

Guide / Pamphlet / Handout
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
This website contains resources and tips to help provide care for pets before, during, and after disasters. The pet disaster checklist is an excellent guide for helping prepare you and your pet for evacuation. Read More

Multilingual Alerting for the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts

Website / Interactive Map
Federal Communications Commission
Information, resources, and reports to support the accessibility of alert information. Read More

Multilingual Alerting

Video
Federal Communications Commission
The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau hosted this public workshop to promote the use of multilingual emergency alerting. The workshop included presentations related to the multilingual capabilities of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), alternative methods for delivering emergency information to the non-English speaking public, and real-world examples demonstrating the... Read More

Large Animals and Livestock in Disasters

Website / Interactive Map
American Veterinary Medical Association
This resource helps those with large animals prepare for a disaster. Contains information about livestock and equine identification, how to evacuate large animals, checklists for evacuation kits, and even information about evacuation of backyard poultry. Read More

Keeping Food Safe During and Emergency

Website / Interactive Map
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
Did you know that a flood, fire, national disaster, or the loss of power from high winds, snow, or ice could jeopardize the safety of your food? Knowing how to determine if food is safe and how to keep food safe will help minimize the potential loss of food and reduce the risk of foodborne... Read More

IPAWS Program Planning Toolkit

Agenda / Template / Tool
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Alerts, Warnings, and Notifications (AWN) Program Planning Toolkit is designed to aid alerting authorities and alert originators at federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels in the development of mature alerting programs using customized resources, best practices, and program templates. Read More

Information for Disaster Evacuation Centers

Guide / Pamphlet / Handout
Centers for Disease Control
Information on how to set up evacuation centers, a shelter assessment tool, guidelines for accessibility and how to deal with common health concerns at evacuation centers. Focused on public health professionals but applicable to other fields as well. Includes resources for pets in evacuation shelters for animal health and control of disease at animal shelters... Read More
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Photo Credit: Canva Creative Commons
Community Profile
Fire Adaptation in the Field
South Lake Tahoe, California

Evacuation impacts everyone in a community.  The Tahoe Resource Conservation District is part of a multi-partner and multi-jurisdictional effort to ensure everyone is prepared for wildfire.  The 2021 Caldor Fire saw these evacuation preparations (and others) put to use as the entire City of South Lake Tahoe was evacuated.

Photo Credit: Anya Obrez, Tahoe Resource Conservation District