We're doing a Mock Evacuation of NRG in Jan 2023

General
#1

In order to prepare for a catastrophic wildfire that requires ALL residents – even those who were told they could shelter in place in most scenarios - to evacuate their homes, we are organizing a massive MOCK EVACUATION in January 2023.

We’ll operate under the assumption that we have no power (PG&E), which means that we’ll be using our MURS radios to discuss where and when to evacuate so we don’t have a disastrous bottleneck and deaths on the road.

Please order your MURS radios (BaoFeng UV-82C) and have them shipped to Keith Trinity (130 Outlook Ridge, Soquel) and email him at keithtrinity@gmail.com (or Eric Swenson at 650 Hidden Valley Road, Soquel and email him at eric@swenson.org). They will program your MURS radios to the NRG channel and set you up to hear emergency channels so you can make smart decisions based on your unique situation.

If you haven’t joined your Micro Community, do that by going to our website at nrgfirewise.com. We will reach out through our forum, which you need to be a member of. If you have trouble joining the Micro Community or signing into the forum, check out my instructions here:
Instructions on how to join your Micro Community (for those who are reaching out to neighbors!)

Remember, we’ll be communicating through our MURS radios for the Mock Evacuation (and the real deal!). Join us on the 3rd Saturday at 9:00-9:30 am for our MURS test to show you how to talk to your neighbors on NRG during an emergency situation.

I’ll keep you updated on our plans for the Mock Evacuation here in this forum!

#2

Thank you Susan. I am to be honest terrified at the idea of mass evacuation (and grateful for the opportunity should this become necessary). Once we get out of the Rodeo Gulch area has consideration been given to traffic jams on our way out of town? Hwy 17, Hwy 1, 280, in other words won’t all these escape routes be clogged to the max?

#3

Good questions! Yes, I am working with Central Fire, Cal Fire, Sheriff, OR3, Public Works, and CERT to create a scenario that will most likely happen during a mass evacuation of NRG. If you would like to be part of the team that decides on the areas to be evacuated and the communication, that would be great. This is going to be a monumental effort and I’ll need lots of help. It’s good to be in the “know” about these things!

#4

I think if it was that widespread, I would go to the BEACH!

#5

The nice part about doing a MOCK evacuation is that we can create a systematic plan for various situations. Depending on where the fire(s) are and what the wind situation is, we can evacuate different areas so that we minimize bottlenecks. We all know our roads are ridiculous with one-lane roads, road construction, etc. but we need to make a plan NOW, before a real wildfire that causes panic…

I’ve met with the sheriff and OR3 to discuss traffic and we’ll be looking at keeping the flow of traffic open at the corner of Soquel Dr and NRG so we can efficiently move lots of cars. Please – this is something that we are discussing and this is not set in stone. I will be working with many agencies to determine what the fire scenario will look like and how we will evacuate everyone.

Again, everyone needs to do the following:

  1. get your MURS radio and learn how to use it

  2. create defensible space around your house – 100 feet

  3. update or put together your Go Bag

  4. I am putting together a list of things we all can do to prepare for a massive evacuation and I’ll post here in the forum.

I do like Keith’s idea of going to the beach! That’s my favorite safe zone! We are planning to evacuate people so they can move out quickly.