Evacuation Notification – How you will be notified
- Reverse 9-1-1 (Phone calls made only to your landline at your home)
-
Sign-up for
Alert San Diego
(Notifications sent to your cellphone)
- Neighborhood Phone Tree
Prepare Your Home (Only if there is time to do so)
- Close all windows and doors.
- Shut off air conditioning & heating units.
- Close fireplace doors & damper, if possible.
- Move furniture & draperies away from windows.
- Move combustibles away from home’s exterior (i.e. patio furniture)
- Back your car into the garage, close garage door.
- Disconnect electricity to automatic garage door.
- Gates:Automatic gates: Disconnect motor.Manual gates: Leave open & unlocked.
- Take your family, pets, “Important Items”, and Emergency Supply Kit
- Evacuate as EARLY as possible!Leave before evacuation orders become mandatory (Roads will be less congested with cars and panicked drivers)You do not need to wait for the notification to evacuate. If at any time you feel threatened… GO!
When evacuating, use a route that takes you in the opposite direction of the fire. Try to avoid roads encased in dense vegetation and lined with trees; if the fire sweeps through this area while you are in your car, you may become trapped.
Trapped/Unable to Evacuate
At Home:
- Stay inside your house, away from perimeter walls.
- Shelter in rooms opposite the approaching fire.
- Stay as calm as you can, keep your family together.
- Fire-fronts can take 5 to 15 minutes to pass.
In Your Car:
- Find an area clear of vegetation.
- Close all windows and vents.
- Cover yourself with a blanket or jacket, lie on floor.
- Wait for the fire front to pass.
- Don’t attempt to out-run a wildfire!
Along a Road:
- If caught without shelter along a road, lie face down along the road cut or the ditch on the uphill side (less fuel and less convection heat). Cover yourself with anything that will shield you from the heat of the fire.
Danger Zones:
- While hiking out of an area where fire is in progress, avoid topographic features like "chimneys" or "saddles."
- Chimneys are narrow, steep canyons that collect heat and explosive gases, drawing them uphill at an alarming rate.
- Saddles are wide natural paths for fire winds. Vegetation in this area will normally ignite first.
Other Areas:
- When seeking shelter outdoors, look for areas with sparse ground fuels (i.e., soft chaparral like black sage or grassland instead of chamise chaparral), and a depression in the ground (if possible). While the fire is approaching, clear as much fuel as you can and lie face down in the depression, covering yourself with anything that will shield you from the intense heat and toxic smoke.
Source: Rancho Santa Fe Fire District Website
