Wildfire season is underway here in Oregon. Oftentimes information about active wildfires includes evacuation levels. In order to get a better understanding of what those levels mean and how you can be prepared, KLCC’s Love Cross sat down with Lane County Emergency Manager Tiffany Brown.
She began by asking about the challenges that Lane County faces when it comes to wildfires.
Tiffany Brown: Lane County certainly has seen an uptick in wildfire activity over the last few years. The weather and predictability forecast for the season certainly indicate we're gonna have a hot wildfire season, so people should just be prepared. Challenges in wildfire are inherent to wildfire, not just Lane County, and that's the unpredictability of it. How, how will it occur? Where will it Occur, what will the wind be like? So just being generally ready at all times is good advice for anyone living in a wildfire prone environment.
Love Cross: How are you in communication with local agencies kind of on the regular? Do you check in with agencies on a regular basis to kind of gauge specific risks? We're talking about being prepared and being ready and I'm guessing that your office has to be prepared and ready at different levels based on communication you get from other agencies.
Brown: You bet. My office stays in touch with whom we work most closely during wildfire season. We're leaning in, every day with a group chat, a group text, anything that happens gets shared immediately with that group. In terms of the broader agencies, my agency sends out a communication every Friday, a wildfire watch. To get information for that, we check in with our fire stakeholder partners, ODF, the local fire defense board, we check in with the National Weather Service, just let people know what to expect for the upcoming week.
Cross: How is the decision made to issue an evacuation order? Is it a collaborative process between agencies?
Brown: The decision to evacuate neighborhoods is taken very seriously and in a unified fashion. Police in the form of the sheriff's office, search and rescue, and the fire service partners that are managing the incident. Oftentimes, that's a local fire service, but you know, during these times in summer when things get busy, we may have visiting teams. It's always law enforcement and the fire service making the decision.
Cross: OK, so let's talk about evacuation orders. We often hear about Level 1, 2, and 3. So can you walk us through what each level means and really what people should be doing at those stages?
Brown: Absolutely. Level 1 is where we'll start, and it is “Be Ready,” and that means prepare to evacuate. Be aware of danger that's in your area, stay informed, have a plan or a go kit ready, and to act early, especially if you or your loved ones can't move quickly. Level 2 is when the danger has increased. Level 2 is “Be Set.” Be set to evacuate at a moment's notice, significant danger is in the area, and to follow an evacuation plan, grab your kit, check the news and radio for updates. The conditions can change really quickly in this circumstance. Level 3 is the final level: “Go Now.” It means leave immediately. At this point, you don't have time to grab anything. You need to leave without delay and not to return until you've been told to do so.
Cross: I noticed that the Level 1 “Be Ready” used to be “Get Ready.” That's only a change of one word, but maybe that's an intentionally big difference?
Brown: Absolutely, good catch! So the old protective action was “Get Ready,” and I think it suggested that you needed to get ready now. But by the time the Level 1 has been issued for your area, you need to be ready. So for whatever that means, do you have a kit ready? Do you have a kit ready for everyone in your house? Have you talked to your people that live in your environment about what those plans are? Do you have animals that you need to plan for? It may happen that people are home and other people are away from the area, so “Be Ready” is the new standard because the time to get ready is before Level 1 is ever issued.
Cross: Planning ahead does take many forms, as you've mentioned, it's different for every person. So what advice do you have on that?
Brown: That's such a great point. I think most of our heads go to packing a kit, but planning ahead really takes a few very important forms. The first piece is psychological planning, and that's as simple as having a plan and knowing that the people you care about have a plan. The second piece is a little more tangible, but it's planning for the future. What if your home is destroyed?
Do you have your valuables and documents accounted for? That could be as simple as copying down some insurance policy numbers, taking pictures of things, and making sure they're in your go kit, or walking around your house and taking a video.
Cross: I'm curious about the triggers or criteria that lead to each level being issued. I'm sure that's not based solely on fire behavior, that there are multiple factors because each fire situation is unique.
Brown: Absolutely. And this is back to that unified decision between fire and law enforcement. Yes, fire behavior, also the vulnerability of neighborhoods. What's the wind direction? What might happen? What is that advanced planning consideration?
Cross: And when Level 3 “Go Now” orders are given, usually that's the sheriff that's in charge of getting that communication out to people door to door, that type of thing?
Brown: When we're Level 3, it's all hands on deck. Yes, the sheriff often takes the lead, but anyone that we have available to ensure evacuation happens in a timely fashion is our priority.
Cross: How does your office keep the public informed when things change so rapidly?
Brown: We use the alert system in Lane County, we call that Lane Alerts. It's powered by Everbridge, and that is a system that relies on folks who have opted in with their cell phone numbers, but it's also tied to the federal system. Wire emergency alerts, WEA and Emergency Alert System, EAS, you know that as Amber Alerts and the fire alerts. We use that system in our own local system along with the website, advertisements to notify the public about evacuation.
Cross: What do you wish more people knew or did ahead of fire season to make evacuation smoother?
Brown: Two things. I wish they understood how quickly things could move once a wildfire is under way, and I wish they understood how important it was to plan ahead. Planning ahead really makes a difference and will ensure that your evacuation goes more smoothly and like you wanted it to.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
