On Saturday, September 19, more than 40 Oakland neighbors from 10 Firewise communities found out during the second annual Oakland Firewise Evacuation Drill.
Participating communities included CABSS, CastleGate, Crane Way, Estates Fountains, Grand View, LaMasNa Plus, Mid Canyon, Sayre/Saroni, Skyline/Moon Gate and Valley View.
The grassroots exercise brought together more neighborhoods, new tools and new City support, with one simple goal: practice BEFORE we need to evacuate for real.
Building a Grassroots Drill
Coordinating multiple neighborhoods, City partners and volunteers takes planning. To make the drill accessible to more Firewise communities, the Oakland Firesafe Council created a Firewise Evacuation Drill Toolkit with a drill plan, sample communications and resources that neighborhood leaders could customize for their own communities. The toolkit can also help neighborhoods that weren’t able to participate to coordinate their own individual evacuation drills.
Each neighborhood took ownership of its own evacuation, allowing residents to practice their routes and communication systems while working within the unique challenges of their neighborhood.
The City of Oakland’s Emergency Management Services Division (EMSD) and Oakland Fire Department were important partners this year. The City helped provide a gathering location with much-needed parking at the Oakland Fire Department’s Urban Search & Rescue facility and offered a test emergency alert for registered participants.
The drill also included a new radio communications element with GENOAK, giving residents an opportunity to practice using radios during an evacuation and hear simulated emergency updates.
What Did We Learn?
The drill wasn’t about creating a perfect evacuation. It was about creating an opportunity to practice, observe challenges and learn from the experience.
Participants reported that the exercise prompted them to review and update go-bags, create household checklists, think through pet evacuation and reconsider their evacuation routes. Several participants also noted challenges with narrow roads, traffic, construction, parked vehicles, vegetation and limited route options.
One of the most impactful parts of the day was hearing directly from each participating neighborhood.
After evacuating, Firewise leaders and residents gathered at the US&R facility to share what they experienced. Each neighborhood had different challenges, different routes and different lessons to share. Hearing those experiences helped everyone learn from one another and reinforced why practicing at the neighborhood level is so valuable.
Growing Together
Oakland’s Firewise communities have continued to grow each year, and so has this evacuation drill.
What began as a small neighborhood effort has grown into an opportunity for communities across Oakland to practice together, learn together and prepare together.
The Oakland Firesafe Council is especially grateful to Fire Chief Damon Covington, Jessica Feil with the City’s Emergency Management Services Division, and Fire Marshal Darin White for their support and partnership in making this year’s drill possible. Their time, expertise and willingness to work with our grassroots Firewise communities made a real difference.
We also extend our thanks to GENOAK, WUI-Go, Firewise leaders, volunteers and all of the residents who participated.
We also extend our thanks to GENOAK, WUI-Go, Firewise leaders, volunteers and all of the residents who participated.
Thank you for coming out on a Saturday, getting your households ready and taking the time to prepare for an emergency.
Preparedness starts before the emergency. The more we practice, the more we learn.
