What will you do, when a wildfire threatens your Town?

Be Prepared! Create a Family Disaster Plan that includes:

• Pre-evacuation meeting location and communication plans
• Plans for pets and livestock
• Escape routes – normal and alternate
• Safety zones – locations of areas with minimal vegetation where your family could escape a fire if there’s no time to evacuate
• Post-evacuation meeting location
• Assignments of responsibilities
• Assemble an emergency supply kit (visit the American Red Cross website (www.redcross.org) for suggested kit contents)

Prepare your house, before the fire nears your neighborhood

Evacuate any family members and pets not essential for preparing your home, especially anyone with medical or physical limitations

Inside:

• Close all windows and doors (including inside doors), but leave unlocked, in case fire fighters need entry to fight the fire
• Close all shutters and blinds
• Remove all flammable curtains and drapes
• Move flammable furniture to the center of the room
• Leave your lights on, inside and out, to make your home more visible in heavy smoke
• Turn off air conditioning
• Shut off gas at the meter or tank, turn off pilot lights

Outside:

• Move flammable items from around the house to either inside the home or outside your defensible space
• Connect garden hoses (but don’t leave the water running, the water pressure may be needed by firefighters)
• Disconnect automatic garage door openers, so doors can be opened if the power goes out
• Seal attic and ground vents with pre-cut plywood or commercial seals
• Place a ladder in a highly visible location
• Place valuables and pets not yet evacuated in the car, ready for quick departure

If You Are Trapped

Inside:

• Wear long sleeves and pants made of natural fibers (such as cotton)
• Stay away from outside walls
• Patrol the inside of your home for spot fires and put them out
• Make sure you can exit the house if it catches fire (remember that it’s much hotter outside)
• After the fire has passed, check your roof, attic and property for spot fires and extinguish if possible. Continue checking for several hours

Outside:

• Try to reach a sparse fuel area. Avoid canyons, natural “chimneys,” saddles
• If near a road, lie face down along the road or in the ditch on the uphill side. Cover yourself with anything that will shield you from the heat of the fire
• If in the back country, find a depression with sparse fuel. Clear fuel from the area before the fire reaches you, then lie face down in the depression and cover yourself.
• STAY DOWN until the fire has passed.

Material for this flyer was adapted from Colorado Division of Emergency Management and LA County Government publication

Download a pdf of the plan here: Family_Action_Plan_RevB