Category: Evacuation

Caring for the Evacuation Needs of Animals, Large and Small

In the 1990s, two Butte area residents passed away during a wildfire because they refused to evacuate without their animals. Determined to never see this happen again, former City of Chico firefighter John Maretti founded the non-profit known as North Valley Animal Disaster Group (NVADG).

Today, NVADG has played a part in rescuing thousands of animals, operating under the Butte County Animal Control to help ensure the safe and immediate evacuation of animals—large and small—in the event of a disaster.

“NVADG works within the established Incident Command System during disasters as one of many mutual aid groups,” says KeriLynn Anderson, Fundraising and Communications Manager for NVADG. “We have the experience, training, and equipment to seamlessly integrate into the overall disaster response.” The organization relies on its growing crew of over 250 volunteers to respond during emergencies, providing extensive training for new volunteers and required ongoing training throughout the year to keep skills fresh.

Images courtesy of North Valley Animal Disaster Group.

An Invaluable Resource for You and Your Animals

As we head into the driest fall months, it’s more important than ever to familiarize yourself with the resources available to you in the event of an emergency. NVADG is one organization providing residents of Butte County with lifesaving support for their animals.

During an emergency, NVADG supports the public in three primary ways:

• Sheltering large and small animals. If a family needs to evacuate but cannot bring their pets, horses, and livestock with them, there is a small animal shelter and large animal shelter they can bring their animals where they can be fed and cared for until they can be reunited. 
• Evacuation of animals. A trained Evacuation Team responds to telephone hotline calls if you need to evacuate but cannot locate your animals. 
• Shelter-in-place support: Volunteers care for animals in evacuated areas who are safe but need food and water.

Preparing Your Animals for Disaster Situations

Echoing our Be Ready, Butte rallying call—”You have to GET ready to BE ready!”—KeriLynn says, “Be ready to GO. Have an evacuation plan for your family that includes your pets!”

You can get your pets, horses, and livestock ready for wildfires and other disaster situations by doing the following:

• Prepare a “go bag” for each of your animals: non-perishable food, water, medications, collar/leash, carrier, vaccination records, and anything else they may need if you were to leave with a moment’s notice.
• Horses should be trained to load, and supplies should be packed for outdoor pets and livestock.
• Have a plan with friends and neighbors on what to do if you’re not at home when a disaster happens.
• Keep a key hidden outside so emergency personnel can get to your house pets.

NVADG is 100% donor-funded and receives no money from government agencies to do their life-saving work, yet they continue to provide our community with extensive training and education to protect our furry family members. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to NVADG or sign up for training as a volunteer to help them with their mission. And learn more about staying prepared for wildfires at Be Ready, Butte.

Which Local Authorities Are in Charge During a Wildfire Event?

During an active wildfire situation, a lot of people may be shouting what sound like commands and orders. If the shouting is coming from a well-meaning HOA president or the pushiest neighbor on your block, please ignore them and consult one of these three sources: Sheriff, Police, and Fire.

The role of the sheriff in during an emergency

The Sheriff’s Department works at the county level and operates with a broad view of the local geographical area. Due to their broad view, the Sheriff’s Department will determine when and where evacuation warnings or evacuation orders will be issued and coordinate the efforts to move people through the routes leading away from the fire during an actual evacuation.

The role of the police during an emergency

As local law enforcement entities, police departments handle communicating the Sheriff’s evacuation warnings and orders to residents in their respective jurisdictions, seeing to it that people understand the warnings and orders and comply appropriately. Police officers will also support the Sheriff’s Department’s efforts to move traffic as residents are in the process of evacuation.

The role of firefighters during an emergency

The primary role of the fire department during emergencies is to defend properties and structures. However, if residents ignore or cannot heed evacuation orders from the Sheriff’s Department and are threatened by fire, the firefighters will prioritize saving people first and property second. Firefighters have a better chance of extinguishing fires and defending structures when residents act on evacuation orders.

The best resources for up-to-date fire information

As we mentioned at the top of the blog, please only trust information from authorized sources. Here are a few places where you can get accurate general fire information:

CAL FIRE/Butte County Unit

Butte County Sheriff

CAL FIRE Communications Office

Phone: 916-653-5123 (Monday thru Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)

There are plenty of very positive and effective things you can do to be ready for a wildfire, such as home hardening and creating defensible space. Just keep in mind, there can come a time during a fire event when those precautions reach the limit of their effectiveness.

Sometimes a fire is just too strong, and the best thing to do is get out of its way by evacuating. 1) It gets you and yours out of danger, 2) It allows firefighters to focus their attention on the putting out the fire.

Evacuation starts with a plan.

Evacuating involves more than simply moving in the opposite direction of an oncoming fire. It’s a process requiring a series of preparations and in-the-moment actions that allow the evacuation to happen efficiently:

• Go to our Evacuation Plans by Community page.
• Download and print the Evacuation Plan and Evacuation Map for your community.
• Fill out the “Our household safety plan” section of the Evacuation Plan.
• Make sure every adult and child old enough to understand has a copy of the Evacuation Plan.
• Review the plan as a family, regularly, to be sure you all understand the plan in the same way.

Your plan leads to your evacuation route.

You may drive in and out of your community twelve times a day, but your normal route may not be the best option for evacuating during a fire. Professional planners have mapped out routes for each community in Butte County to help ensure an efficient, orderly evacuation process. 

To prepare for an emergency event, you should be prepared to do things differently than your normal driving or transportation routines:

• Study and memorize the Evacuation Map for your community.
• Drive the evacuation route(s) on a regular basis so you can be familiar with it.
• Take the time to practice walking and biking the route, as well, since conditions during an actual fire may render driving impossible.

Evacuation is traveling that requires packing.

In addition to having your Evacuation Plan memorized, have a Go Bag of essentials prepped for each person and pet in your household. It may be a while before you can return to your home. Be sure there’s a copy of your Evacuation Plan and Evacuation Map in each Go Bag (yes, even in the pet bags; you never know which one you’ll need to grab in a hurry when you need a copy).

Evacuation requires flexibility and cooperation.

Once on your evacuation route, be prepared for authorities monitoring the evacuation to adjust and coordinate the flow of traffic to compensate for congestion and/or changes to road conditions due to smoke, falling trees, etc. Follow their directions—even if they tell you to drive in a way that would get you a ticket under normal circumstances, such as driving on the shoulder.

Stay safe, Butte County.