Emergency Action Plan
Evacuation Plan
Develop a plan that will ensure the safety of your family, designed by wildland firefighters for quick escape and tactical survival skills necessary for evacuating your home. Post your plan near the exits of your home, discuss plans with your family and practice evacuations. Large fires are difficult to escape from without escape routes identified which has led to many avoidable civilian fatalities such as the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California.
Escape Routes
Improve escape routes by removing vegetation around roads and driveways to ensure quick and safe escape in the event of a wildfire. Build contingency escape routes that are to be used when primary escape routes are compromised. This will also provide another entrance/exit for firefighters to get in and defend your structures. Escape routes should be well lit for low visibilty conditions and labeled on your emergency action plan.
Defense Strategies
Defending your home from wildfire may go beyond defensible space and fuel mitigation in your forest. Implementing advanced strategies such as rooftop sprinklers may be used to protect your home long after you've evacuated the area. Many high end structures in Colorado have exterior sprinkler installed for this reason. Wheeled sprinklers may also be used to saturate the forest near structures to decrease fire intensity.
