Aug 13, 2020 — Fire season is here, in the midst of a pandemic, and the members of Sherwood Firewise Communities are doing their best to prepare.
The Fire Safe Council includes Brooktrails, which is notorious for its vulnerability to fires due to limited access. At a meeting last night that focused on evacuations, Sheriff Matt Kendall and Office of Emergency Services coordinator Brentt Blaser emphasized the importance of personal responsibility and keeping up with notifications.
Keith Rutledge, a Sherwood Firewise Volunteer who hosted the meeting, added that it would be wise for evacuees to plan to camp out for a few days, since evacuation centers will not be able to host hundreds of people in the midst of a pandemic. He advised including extra masks and hygiene supplies in go bags. And it’s a good idea to plan now for where you will go if you need to leave your home in a hurry.
For his part, Blaser advised that residents of a community that’s under threat from fire might not always get an evacuation warning before they’re ordered to leave. And, between people who register to receive alerts and those who have top of the line cell phones and access to solid communications infrastructure, there’s a pretty good chance that word will get out about a disaster. But he offered a detailed technical explanation about why it’s a good idea not to rely solely on communications technology to keep up with what’s going on in the neighborhood.
As far as escape routes go, Supervisor John Haschak reported that last spring, he drove the road behind the KOA in a Ford Escort rental car, and the route appeared to be in pretty good shape. Sherwood Road is the thoroughfare, but Kendall and Rutledge had ideas for other routes, too.
Rutledge added that roads on private property, including the FirCo Road, will only be available for escape on the say so of law enforcement. A lot of work has gone into crafting MOUs with private landowners, and he’s so intent on preventing trespassing, maps for the routes are not available to the public.
Kendall concluded by advising everyone to get to know their neighbors.