Build your Evacuation Checklist

August in Sonoma can be a wonderful time of late-summer tourism, wine harvests, and—returning slowly and surely this year—outdoor events, concerts and celebrations.

But as we know, August is also the beginning of wildfire season. In 2020, the LNU Lightning Complex fire turned Bay Area skies an eerie orange. Last year, smoke from the Calder Fire, which burned in El Dorado, Amador and Alpine counties, cast a pall over most of Northern California and Nevada.

There’s many ways Sonoma can work with other regions and agencies toward a future where wildfires are less frequent and do less damage. But each of us can also take a moment and prepare a quick plan for evacuation, should that need arise.

Below is a checklist sent to us by the County. They’ve prepared it as a generalized list that you can adapt to your specific living situation. Personalize it by adding, subtracting, or changing items. Hang it in a plastic sleeve in your mudroom or an appropriate place with your other emergency contacts and supplies and inform all household members of its whereabouts.

Quick Evacuation:

Medications
Cash
Wallet
Keys (vehicle, property, work, etc)
Eye glasses & case
Phone & Chargers
Laptops & Chargers
Desktop Computer with hard drive
Pets-Plus their food, water, litter box, leashes, meds, and pet carrier
Toiletries (toothbrush & toothpaste & etc.)
Change of underwear, sox
Sweater/Jacket/long johns
Wool hat/ball caps
Sturdy Shoes/boots
Handheld Radios AM/FM, Tri-band or NOAA Radio, batteries
Knife/tools
Flashlights, check batteries
Umbrella/raincoat
Safe Deposit Box Key
Cell phone battery back-ups
Masks (Covid and N95 for smoke)
Sanitation supplies
Important documents (ID: passport, birth cert, SS card)
Drinking water
First Aid Kit

Actions:

Lower fridge/freezer temperatures
Dump some ice/Turn off ice makers
Dump some food?
Turn off main water valve
Turn off gas valve to water heater
Turn off propane
Dump trash and composting
Or put composting container in fridge
Flush the toilets
Turn off light switches
Close all windows and blinds
Close all doors inside the house to prevent drafts
Remove flammable drapes and curtains.
Open the damper on your fireplace, but close the fireplace screen
Place a ladder in clear view against the house
Move any propane tanks (from BBQ grill or…) away from the house
Blow out gutters, keeps flying embers from catching the roof on fire
Open wood fence gates to keep neighbors fire from spreading to your house along fence line
Remove flammable cushions from outdoor furniture near the house, remove umbrella too
Turn on outside lights and leave a light on in every room to make the house more visible in
heavy smoke
Disconnect any automatic garage door openers so that doors can still be opened by hand if the
power goes out
Close all garage doors