What You Need to Know & Do to Be Prepared

May 26, 2021

by Theresa Drew, CERT | Co-Chair, Las Cumbres Disaster & Emergency Preparedness Committee, Emergency Operations Management Team Leader

As spring 2018 begins, draught predictions loom, so now is the time for each mountain property to prepare for the upcoming fire season. The 2017 Bear Fire, which threatened hundreds of homes in the South Skyline area and destroyed nearly 400 acres in the Bear Creek Canyon/Lost Valley area, taught us a lot about the value of creating defensible fire safe zones around our home and along roadsides. Equally important, it taught those of us who were evacuated the importance of being registered with emergency alert systems in the different counties that serve mountain communities. With the exception of our local fire fighters, those of us in the South Skyline area were not experienced or prepared for what to do when the call or door-knock to evacuate came without warning in the middle of the night.

Wildfire Evacuations are Different

Wildfire evacuations are ordered by CalFire and executed by the local sheriff’s department (Santa Cruz County Sheriff for the Bear Fire). This protocol is crucial for the safety of residents and responders because fire incidents are often immediate and life-threatening, as wine country residents experienced last fall, and South Skyline residents experienced with the Bear Fire. Firefighters want residents out of the way quickly, so they can focus on fighting the fire and easily move their equipment into and throughout the area.

Mountain residents are served by Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties Offices of Emergency Services depending upon where their property is located. This is important to understand BECAUSE:

  1. Multiple, overlapping alert methods are used within each County.
  2. Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and San Mateo Counties use different alert systems.
  3. No one system is perfect, or assures you will get an alert if the emergency is nearby, but you are not physically in the evacuation zone.
  4. Most alert systems require registration and updating by residents.

You will not get an evacuation or emergency alert via Reverse911 automatically, if you do not have a landline. If you have multiple lines, check with your carrier to know which line is listed in their system for emergency alert calls.

Register Cell & VoiP Phones for Alerts NOW!

Residents and businesses with landlines are automatically enrolled in the Reverse911 system. However, none of the alert systems call cell phones or VoIP landlines UNLESS the phone owner registers their number(s) with the County’s system.

Receive Emergency Calls if your Cell Phone is in Sleep or Do Not Disturb Mode:

Change settings to accept calls from the 911 emergency calling numbers:

Type 1 helicopters and fixed-wing planes, bulldozers, and ground crews totaling as many as 1100, including all of South Skyline Fire & Rescue, fought the Bear Fire in 2017 at a cost of over $30 million.

Additional Resources

FSCSC “Prepared, Not Scared”
SSFSC “Prepared, not Scared”