If You Had to Evacuate from Your Hillside House Because of a Threatening Brush Fire ....  

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Many people find it difficult to think clearly when heat and smoke from an oncoming brushfire are threatening their home.  What to do....what to take if you have to evacuate....where are the kids.....where will you go if you have to evacuate?  

There are some easy answers to consider now.... so that if the time comes to react, you can make a good plan.

1.  Most importantly, keep the family together and stay out of the brush areas.

That can be difficult because kids want to see where the smoke is coming from or what the firefighters are doing.  People don't realize that fires can almost "explode" through dry brush and surprisingly outrun anyone.  Fires move 17 times faster uphill than on flat land.  And if you have to evacuate, you may need the help of everyone to get ready and you certainly don't want to have to search for family members.  It is time for everyone to stay together.

2.  Stay calm and cooperate with fire and police officials.

3.  Put pets inside the house or garage.

Animals react in strange ways when the air fills with smoke by either hiding in unusual places or jumping fences that seemed too tall before.  Put pets in the house or garage so that you can find them easily if you have to evacuate.

4.  Close all doors and windows in the house, garage and car.

The purpose is to reduce the chance that burning embers or super heated air could go inside.

5.  Close metal blinds or heavy drapes on windows.  Fully open or remove lace-type curtains.

The purpose of doing this is to reduce the possibility that radiant heat from the outside fire could ignite things inside the house through the window glass.  If the drapes are a sold, heavy-type, they are not likely to ignite themselves, so close those drapes so they shield other things inside the house.  If the drapes, themselves are light and lacy, they are more likely to catch fire and should probably be left open and out of line from the radiant heat that may come through the window.

6.  If you have a clear driveway from garage to the street, it is probably best to put the car in the garage, preferably headed out of the garage.  First, check to see if you know how to open an electric garage door even if the power fails. 

There is usually a red handle or pull rope located between the electric motor and the garage door itself.  If you pull on that handle, it will release the door from the opening mechanism and the door can be opened manually.

7.  Hook up the garden hose with a nozzle and leave it ready to use if you/someone needs it later.

A garden hose my be useful to put out small "spot" fires, but there is not enough water capacity to put out a large fire.  

8.  If available,  place a stepladder near the front of the house.

The stepladder could provide fast access to a low roof under the right conditions.  This is not a suggestion that homeowners should get on their roof and keep it damp using a garden hose.   Under the right conditions that may be helpful, but it is often ineffective and certainly, unnecessary if your roofing is non-combustible.  However, if you have a ladder, place it out near the front of your house.

9.  Move combustibles such as garden furniture, wood, etc. away from the house.

In short, the further away combustibles are from your house, the less likely that a fire will catch your house on fire.  It is especially important to move things that would burn slowly and give off a lot of heat directed at the exterior of the house.  For example, a burning piece of paper against the side of your house will not likely ignite the house, but a burning woodpile or juniper plant under the eves of the house, would be a real threat.  Unfortunately it would be a little late to remove hazardous plants at this time, but you could move garden furniture, etc.  (See "What you can do now to trim plants to prepare for the fire season")

10.  Remove leaves from the roof it there is time and you can safely do it.

For some people, getting up on the roof is dangerous.  In the excitement and wind, more than one person has fallen off his roof while trying to "water it down" or clear off the leaves.  Still, if you have the time, if the roof is easy to walk on and you can safely remove leaves and pine needles; do it.

If You Actually Have to Evacuate........

1. Taking pets and light personal things which are easy to pack and cannot be replaced..... such as pictures and important records.

Some people get pretty excited about this time and don't use common sense.  If your insurance will replace it, don't take it.

2.  Keep car windows up, drive slowly and carefully.  

There will likely be considerable smoke and falling embers which will makes driving difficult.  If you are evacuating from hills in La Verne, you will not have to travel far to safety and you shouldn't have a problem.   

If you were caught evacuating in a more mountainous location don't try to drive through "walls of flames".  Go a different route or wait till the fire burns past.   If you have to park,  park near a "point" where the road goes around a ridge on the hillside rather that in the canyons were the road goes toward the hill.  The canyons will sometimes "channel" the flame up hillsides like that so that is not a safe place to stay.  

The safest thing to do is to plan ahead, so that your evacuation is done before a fire burns so close that it threatens your way out.