Residents are encouraged to “Know Your Zone” and Subscribe to Alert Marin
The Marin County Sheriff’s Office, along with all Marin municipalities and the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority, are launching a new web-based evacuation mapping tool and “Know Your Zone” campaign to help county residents and businesses be better prepared for the next evacuation or emergency.
“The development of the county-wide evacuation map has been a unified effort by all of our local law and fire agencies,” said Undersheriff Jamie Scardina. “Community resilience starts with community planning, and we want all residents to know that we have a plan for safe and efficient evacuations.”
Working with all Marin County law, fire, and emergency agencies, was developed by Zonehaven, a private company that develops tools to help communities and first responders more effectively plan, communicate, and execute evacuations. The map shows all Marin County evacuation zones.
To be better informed and able to quickly map their best path to safety, residents should visit the emergency.marincounty.org, pull down the evacuation tab, enter their address in the “search” bar, and review zone details before the next emergency. Residents should also subscribe to Alert Marin to receive evacuation notices via call, text, email, or smartphone application. Zonehaven does not replace Alert Marin for notifications of evacuations or orders, but it does provide an intuitive tool for residents during the next evacuation or emergency.
A short video about this new tool is available online.
In the event of an emergency, first responders will use this mapping tool to plan and execute evacuations both large and small.
“The Zonehaven mapping tool allows access to real-time weather, traffic and fire information, and has the ability to model traffic and fire spread scenarios, which is a huge benefit during an emergency,” said Woody Baker-Cohn, Assistant Emergency Services Manager for Marin County. “It also allows us to use emergency scenarios to run drills and training exercises to help us plan.”
When an evacuation occurs, public safety officials will update the community with zone-specific information on the map including up-to-date evacuation status, live incident updates, and relevant resources such as shelter options.
A three-year subscription to the Zonehaven platform has been funded by Measure C funds through the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority as well as by the Town of Tiburon and the City of Belvedere who are not current MWPA members.
“Since the passage of Measure C last year, a major focus of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority is to provide critical tools to our residents so that they can be ready if and when they need to evacuate,” says Mark Brown, Executive Officer of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. “The new mapping tool is an innovative approach to ensure that residents have timely access to evacuation information, which can make all the difference during a fast-moving emergency event.”
The “Know Your Zone” campaign will use social media, a video, advertising and other outreach materials to help residents easily remember to visit the site.
