Residents urged to be prepared to evacuate early and quickly as fire threat increases

The Valley Fire, which has grown to thousands of acres in just a few days, is a growing threat to communities in San Diego County with the Santa Ana wind event forecast for today. Residents, particularly those who live in communities around the fire perimeter, are asked to be ready to evacuate in 15 minutes or less.

Santa Ana winds are project­ed, at this point, to pick up in the evening hours, so it is im­portant that residents be ready to go before then. In some previ­ous fires, residents have been given less than 15 minutes to evacuate and were alerted in the overnight hours.

“We want to remind people to get prepared to evacuate in case it is needed and stay alert to the weather conditions, news and notifications from officials. This is an active fire and it can change directions and intensity depending on weather, so it’s important to take warnings and orders seri­ously,” said Jeff Toney, Direc­tor of the Office of Emergency Services. “We also want people to know that if they do not feel safe, they can evacuate early. People do not need to, and should not, wait for an official evacuation order.”

Be sure your cell phone is registered with AlertSanDi­ego, the county’s regional noti­fication system to receive the warnings directly to your mo­bile phone. People may also reg­ister their VoIP phone numbers or emails as well.

Residents may also download the ReadySanDiego SDEmer­gencyApp which also provides emergency information such as incident updates, shelter loca­tions, evacuation areas and haz­ard perimeters.

Tune in to local news cover­age on the fire. The main Emer­gency Alert System radio sta­tions for San Diego County are KOGO AM 600 and KLSD AM 1360.

Now is the time for house­holds to review, or create, a personal disaster plan in Eng­lish or in Spanish. The guide includes disaster preparedness and immediate safety tips that can be used in any emergency. Among the tips are what you need to know about evacua­tions and suggestions on what you can take with you. Resi­dents may also consider various routes to take to leave the com­munity, know more than one in case one is not safe to use due to the emergency.

Check on elderly or neigh­bors who might require assis­tance evacuating.

Have a plan to shelter large animals or livestock and if pos­sible, evacuate them early. If you need assistance evacuating call (619) 236-2341.

Take household pets with you whenever possible.

If you have a life-threatening emergency, call 9-1-1.