Be Prepared: Wildfire and Emergency Readiness Resources

Wildfires and other emergencies can happen quickly, and being prepared before an event occurs is one of the best ways to help protect yourself, your family, and your community. Taking a few simple steps now — such as signing up for emergency alerts, knowing your evacuation routes, creating an emergency plan, preparing a go-kit, and reducing wildfire risks around your home — can make a significant difference when every minute matters.

Eagle County provides a variety of resources to help residents stay informed and prepared. Please take time to review the following recommendations and make sure you are ready in the event of an emergency.

 

·  Subscribe to Emergency Alerts through ReachWell
Emergency alerts ensure that your residents are notified immediately of any emergency incident, and evacuation instructions will be issued through that alerting system when needed.

o Download the ReachWell App on our phone (Apple | Google)

o Allow notifications

o Add Eagle County Alerts

o Select your preferred language

·  Understand the primary routes in and out of your community
There are not a lot of options in many communities, but it is important for people to consider their primary, alternate, and emergency routes out of the areas where they live and work. Because fires can be unpredictable, specific evacuation instructions will sometimes be issued through the ReachWell app.

·  Make a plan
Discuss with your friends and family what you would do if you needed to evacuate. Consider where you would go, and how to support pets, children, and people with specialized care needs. What would you do if an evacuation was issued while you were not at home?

o FEMA has a great household emergency planning checklist here

o The Ready, Set, Go! program also provides a great wildfire-specific planning checklist here.

·  Make a kit
Prepare an emergency go-kit with items you will need to take with you if asked to leave quickly. Emergency kit planning resources and supplies lists here.

·  Take steps now to mitigate fire risk in your home and community
Reducing wildfire risks around homes will not only give firefighters an opportunity to stop fire before it burns your home, it will also slow fires down and buy invaluable time to evacuate everyone safely.

o Home Ignition Zone Guide | Checklist | En Español

o Sign up for a free home or community wildfire assessment here or call Katie Jenkins 970-328-8816 or email her at katie.jenkins@eaglecounty.us>

 

So many more resources available on ECEmergency.org, maps of pre-planned evacuation zones on Genasys Protect, and great real-time wildfire information on Watch Duty.