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You are here: Home / Home Top List / Evacuation. As Wildfires Rage, First Responders Urge Local Residents to “Know Your Zone”

Evacuation. As Wildfires Rage, First Responders Urge Local Residents to “Know Your Zone”

July 15, 2021 by Michelle Leave a Comment

PRESS RELEASE. From San Mateo County on July 15th, 2021.

Get live updates on threats from fires, floods, earthquakes and other emergencies with a neighborhood-specific code

Zone Haven

 

Redwood City – As wildfires rage and the drought parches Northern California, first responders urge San Mateo County residents to learn a short code that can save lives in an emergency.

First responders will use the code to direct evacuations or issue shelter-in-place orders for specific zones across the Peninsula. With lessons learned from last year’s CZU Lightning Complex fire, local officials are promoting a “Know Your Zone” campaign as summer heat bakes the state.

Know Your Zone — Here’s how it works: 

Emergency managers have carved the Peninsula into more than 300 zones on an online, publicly available map supported by Zonehaven, a California-based company under contract with the County of San Mateo. Each zone is assigned a short code. All residents can enter an address to find their zone.

For example: “SMC-E001” is roughly the San Mateo Highlands, “MP-E008” is roughly Menlo Park’s Belle Haven and “DC-E004” is an area of Daly City snug with San Francisco.

Why roughly? The zones may not follow traditional neighborhood or even city borders. Instead, the zones areoptimized for best evacuation routes and other factors and eliminate confusion about arbitrary boundaries.

In an emergency, first responders will issue evacuation or other orders and advisories based on the zones. This information will be pushed out via the news media, social media such as Twitter, emergency alertnotifications and other platforms.

“When it comes to emergency response, every minute counts,” said San Mateo County Supervisor Don Horsley, whose District 3 includes the coast from Pacifica to the Santa Cruz County border. “Zonehaven gives emergency responders the ability to form hyperlocal evacuation plans quickly and collaboratively, which can be shared with the public immediately.”

The Zonehaven platform can also be updated quickly with the location of emergency shelters and other vital information in an emergency.

Emergency officials say last year’s CZU Lightning Complex fire – the largest and most damaging fire in the county’s recorded history – and the early start to the 2021 fire season highlight the need for all residents to“Know Your Zone.”

“Zonehaven was vital for quickly and accurately implementing and managing evacuations in San Mateo County during the CZU Lighting Complex,” said Jonathan Cox, CAL FIRE division chief for San Mateo County. “This online platform is a technological leap forward that allows us to instantaneously and directly communicate real-time evacuation information to the public, and in turn helps to get people to safety faster.”

What you can do today:

All San Mateo County residents are urged to look up their zone for their home, work and school and to write the zones down where the codes are easily found.

In the event of an emergency, the Zonehaven platform will be updated with real-time evacuation routesand other information. Fire departments and other first-responding agencies across the county will update the platform so evacuation routes and other information is timely and localized.

Relevant additional data is fed into the map, showing risks over zones, such as the incident location, wind speeds and directions. The Zonehaven platform is a digital application that can be accessed on a smartphone, computer or tablet, and interfaces with real-time GPS- guided traffic maps available through applicationssuch as Waze.

Residents are encouraged to follow their local emergency responders on real-time social media platforms andto sign up for SMC Alert (https://hsd.smcsheriff.com/smcalert), a free service that sends emergency and non-emergency text and voice messages to:

  • Email accounts
  • Cell phones, smartphones, tablets
  • Landline phones (home and work)

“Now is the time, before an emergency, to take a few minutes to look up your zone and sign up for emergency alert notifications,” said Charlie Crocker, Zonehaven’s chief executive officer. “We can provide the tool but it’s up to everyone to get prepared. Here in California we face the constant threat of wildfires, floods and earthquakes. So let’s all take a moment to get prepared the best we can.”


 

Save the Date: Sept. 18, 2021 is Disaster Preparedness Day

“Prepare, Survive and Recover” is the theme of this year’s Disaster Preparedness Day. This is a family-friendly event featuring expert speakers and demonstrations on first aid, school safety and more.

Go to https://smcdisasterprep.org/ for more information.

Learn more:

Zonehaven mapping tool

MEDIA CONTACT:

Michelle Durand, County of San Mateo Chief Communications Officer

mdurand@smcgov.org

###


More on Zone Haven on Coastside Buzz

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Filed Under: Coastside Disaster Preparedness, Home Top List, Podcasts, Public Agencies, San Mateo County

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Coastside CERT

We are an emergency preparedness volunteer organization focused on creating a ready and resilient community along the San Francisco Bay Area coast from the southern side of the Tom Lantos Tunnel (Devil’s Slide) to Tunitas Creek Road.

Emergency Prep Resources

The average Coastsider may not be aware of the many emergency preparation resources available to us! Here’s a list of many of those resources.

KHMB LOGO AM-FMKHMB AM 1710 and FM 100.9

KHMB Radio AM 1710 and FM 100.9 is our local Emergency Radio Station. You would still want to tune in to KCBS for Bay Area wide emergency news.  Make sure you have a radio!
Go to: KHMB or KHMBRadio.com to tune in.

CEC logo-jCEC – Coastside Emergency Corp

From Waddell Creek to Devil’s Slide and up to Skyline are 4 Branches of emergency prepared coastside citizens that are forming. They include many emergency disciplines.
Go to: CEC Portal

CERTCERT Teams – Community Emergency Response Team

Trainings are offered a couple of times per year up and down the coast CERT volunteers are forming Neighborhood Watches to help their neighbors get prepared.
Go to: FEMA page on CERT

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CEAP

Charise McHugh of the Half Moon bay Chamber of Commerce has worked for several years to organize businesses on the coastside in an emergency via the Coastside Emergency Action Plan). If you are a business and have not already participated, please contact the Chamber. In an emergency we need to know where our resources are and how to deploy materiel, and how to get refunded by FEMA.
Go to: HMB Chamber Page on CEAP

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SMC Alert

It is a free alert system that will come to your cell phone, your tablet or computer, or all three. There is no charge, although your carrier may charge for texts. This is the best way to stay on top of traffic accidents.
Go to: SMCAlert.info to sign up

mrcMRC – Medical Reserve Corps

Doctors and nurses work together to become the backbone of an emergency medical situation. Coastside Emergency Experts will tell you that the Coastside will be on its own in a major earthquake disaster for 5-7 days. And we no longer have a Medical Reserve Corps on the Coastside! Contact mdragony@coastsidebuzz.com if you are interested in creating a new chapter.

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ARES—Amateur Radio Emergency Service—of Half Moon Bay
Go to: their website

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We have several Red Cross trailers on the Coast. Take a Red Cross class so you can help in one the shelters during a disaster.
Go to: Sign up for a class or Contact Local Red Cross volunteer Jim Holley

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Have you signed up with Next Door? Next Door is a great social media tool that will help you stay up to date with what is going on in your neighborhood and other neighborhoods on the Coast.
Go to: NextDoor.com to sign up.


michelleMichelle Dragony, founder of CoastsideBUZZ.com, is also a civilian CERT trainer working with Dave Cosgrave, Cal Fire Battalion Chief of Half Moon Bay, and Ari Delay, Cal Fire Battalion Chief of La Honda. Email here at mdragony@coastsidebuzz.com if you have any questions.

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