Wildfire Preparedness & Planning

Fire cover pic
 
Living in the Western United States means living in Fire Country. As droughts and temperature conditions worsen, fire seasons keep getting more intense, and longer. Now is always the time to think about wildfire preparedness, and how to plan for and execute an evacuation quickly and safely should it be necessary.

Preparing for Wildfires

Have an evacuation plan and emergency supplies/bag ready to go: The City of South Lake Tahoe website has an excellent emergency/disaster information webpage that includes a Preparedness Guide, Neighborhood Evacuation Maps, and information about how to sign up for Reverse 911, which can send alerts to your phone in the event of an emergency evacuation.

At a minimum, you should have ready to go:

  • Plenty of bottled water and food for yourself and family
  • Clean clothes and hygiene products
  • Blanket/sleeping bag
  • Radio and flashlight with plenty of batteries for both
  • Any necessary cables, adaptors and power cords
  • Full tank of gas in your car, and parked facing the street for easiest escape
  • Prescription medicines
  • Important documents (licenses, U.S. passport, copies of wills, etc.)

Keep your cell phone fully charged when wildfire activity is nearby so you’ll receive alerts and be able to communicate. Visit the City’s webpage for more tips on how to prepare, plan, and pack for an emergency. This Evacuation Checklist from the Tahoe Fire & Fuels Team can also help you prepare.

There are a lot of websites with information about how to pack an emergency evacuation bag and prepare for a wildfire. Here are some more of them:

Staying In-The-Know During Wildfire Season

  • InciWeb is an interagency, all-risk incident management site that is constantly updated with information from a number of regional coordination centers. Some of the reporting organizations involved are the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, CalFire, and the U.S.

  • Perimeter Map is also a good resource for knowing locations of fires and evacuation zones.

Always limit your time outdoors when air quality is poor. The elderly and the very young are particularly vulnerable to smoke-filled air that is heavy with particulates and ash.

LTCC Fire-Related Campus Closure

In the event of a campus closure due to any kind of emergency, LTCC uses the LTCC Alert text/phone/email system to notify students and staff. All staff and faculty are automatically set to receive these alerts. Students are uploaded into a program to receive alerts based on their registration information submitted each quarter.

While this is a useful alert system, you are encouraged to use the above resources to be best informed about fast-moving wildfires in the Tahoe Basin area and beyond.