Working to Uphold My Pledge to You - Wildfire Safety

Sep 27

2 min read

Wildfire Evacuation - Hope is not a Plan

At September's SANDAG Board of Directors meeting I spoke on behalf of the over 550,000 Unincorporated Area residents regarding the absence of an essential and cost-effective tool for our residents' wildfire evacuation safety.

If you live on the Coast you will see Tsunami Evacuation Route signs. If you live Inland there are no life-saving Wildfire Evacuation Route signs for people to follow.

The County's Office of Emergency Services has designated official wildfire evacuation routes, but these are not physically identified for drivers. The County's belief is that our residents would be confused by such evacuation route signs. Of course, fire, smoke, traffic jams, cell phone network failures also cause confusion.

Tsunami Evacuation Route signs basically direct the driver to head east - gaining elevation is the goal.

Wildfire Evacuation Route signs - should they be implemented - would need to include A, B, C, route options in order for emergency personnel to guide fleeing residents through changes in the wildfire's direction.

Currently, officials are depending on (hoping) the public will effectively use the Apps on their phones for such critical evacuation information. In past emergencies - the networks have failed. Hoping that networks are stable is not a viable plan. If you live or travel in a rural area you are acutely aware of the ongoing gaps in network mobile phone service. Add an overloaded network during an emergency and failure is more likely.

We can do better. And, we will do better. Here's how you can help.

Contact these officials and let them know we need this critical evacuation signage for wildfires and we need them immediately.

SANDAG

Send to Mario Orso, CEO and all Board of Director Members

email clerkoftheboard@sandag.org

County of San Diego

Office of Emergency Services

oes@sdcounty.ca.gov

and the Board of Supervisors

Supervisor Paloma Aguirre:

District1community@sdcounty.ca.gov

Supervisor Joel Anderson: