Alpine Fire Protection District gets defensive as hot weather approaches

Alpine Fire Protection District is taking steps to prevent fires from starting as outside temperatures heat up, as well as providing infor­mation to area residents on being prepared for evacuation in the event that a large scale fire does begin in Alpine or spread from surrounding areas.

Alpine Fire Marshal Jason McB­room said firefighters are actively encouraging residents in the area to register with their landlines, cel­lular devices and email addresses at the following address so they will be notified of impending evacuations: www.readysandiego.org/content/oesready/en-us/alertsandiego.html.

“Be prepared. Of the 3 million residents in San Diego County, only 300,000 are registered. We need to get the word out,” McBroom said.

He said he is also encouraging Al­pine residents to like and follow the fire district’s Facebook page where he has posted a local map to help residents plan for possible evacua­tion in the event of a major fire.

Alpine residents should plan for four possible evacuation routes, says the marshal: a primary, an al­ternate, a contingency and an emer­gency escape route.

He also issued a reminder that residents should be prepared to leave immediately upon notice of evacuation, with cars kept at the ready with no less than half a tank of gas in the system at all times.

The County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services offers a guide available at readysandiego.org/make-a-plan that includes free printable checklists for residents to utilize when creating a “go bag” to have on standby for each member of the household, including pets.

Additionally, the guide includes information on making your home fire resistant and creating defen­sible space.

The fire marshal is also post­ing information about defen­sible space on the fire district’s Facebook page.

“It is so important to create and maintain proper defensible space around your home, along fire department access roads and driveways.

Within the last few weeks I have been pushing some great information out on our facebook page to help people identify what plants to keep and which ones to remove,” McBroom said.

McBroom said the district has begun issuing weed abatement notices to area homeowners that have allowed their defensible space to shrink down to within 100 feet of their house.