Fire Season Important Reminders

Make sure your house is easy to find. Install a reflective, non-combustible address # sign at your driveway entrance and mount it on a metal post. Not only does it help firefighters find your home, it helps law enforcement and medical first responders find you too. Reflective non-combustible address number signs can be purchased from the Fire Safe Council.

Know your Evacuation Zone and post it on your refrigerator and in your cell phone. Most of us are in NCO E061. Check for yourself and familiarize yourself with the features of the Evacuation Zone tool. You can see the status of pending and active evacuations happening anywhere in Nevada County and it shows you your location in the big picture, in real time. If you listen to the radio during an emergency, you will hear which Evacuation Zones are affected.

Signup for CodeRed to receive emergency alerts.

Refresh or create your go-bag and have a backup plan.

Plan ahead for pet and animal evacuation. Have pet carriers and leashes ready to go at a moment's notice, and trailers in working condition if you own large animals. If you have many or obstinate animals and a fire is threatening nearby, gather your animals early and evacuate early.

Stay informed with this list of vetted emergency alert resources. Put a hardcopy in each of your vehicles.

Try driving a few back roads out of town before an emergency occurs. Ready Nevada County Dashboard now includes an evacuation route pre-planner.

Keep vehicle gas tanks at least one-half full and electric cars charged throughout fire season. When power goes down, gas stations may not have electricity to pump gas. Without fuel, evacuation will be even more difficult and stressful.

Practice opening your garage door manually and if you don't know how, ask a neighbor or a FW committee member to show you. When power is out, your electric garage door opener may not work. Better to know how to do it yourself, just in case. Other things you can do are park your car outside your garage, leave your garage door open during fire season (if it's safe to do so) or install a battery backup retrofit for your garage door opener.

Maintain your roof clear of needles and leaves throughout fire season. This seems obvious but it is really important. We want our roof to protect our home, not give embers a place to ignite.

Make sure there is nothing flammable within 5 feet of your home. Make it a NO BURN ZONE. Remove objects such as rattan chairs, wooden tables, decorations, fabric cushions, umbrellas, all vegetation, flammable mulch, anything that can catch fire. Instead use gravel, stone, concrete & rocks within 5 feet of your home. If nothing else, before leaving on vacation during fire season, remove all the flammable cushions and furniture from your deck.

Stay informed and alert. Remember you don't need to be told to evacuate. It's OK AND sometimes wise to leave early especially if you are feeling uncomfortable or anxious.