Redwood City – On the heels of the CZU Lightning Complex wildfires, the County of San Mateo and its public safety partners are launching a “Know Your Zone” campaign to help county residents and businesses be better prepared for the next evacuation or emergency.
Residents simply enter their address into an interactive map (https://community.zonehaven.com) developed by Zonehaven showing all 300+ San Mateo County evacuation zones. Residents should record their zone number and review zone details before the next emergency to be better informed and able to quickly map their best path to safety.
In the event of an emergency, first responders will use Zonehaven to plan and execute evacuations both large and small. They have access to real-time weather, traffic and fire information, and the ability model traffic and fire spread scenarios. From Zonehaven, public safety officials will update the community with zone-specific information on the map including up-to-date evacuation status, live incident updates, and relevant resources such as shelter options.
“Community resilience starts with community planning, and I’m proud that the County and our partners are able to provide this critical tool to our residents so that they can be ready if and when they need to evacuate,” said County Manager Mike Callagy. “This is a big undertaking by the County’s Office of Emergency Services and our local law and fire agencies, and they should all be very proud of their enormous effort.”
“The ‘Know Your Zone’ campaign is the culmination of months of collaboration for law, fire, and emergency managers across the county,” said Charlie Crocker, CEO of Zonehaven. “At the CZU Complex fire we saw firsthand how pre-planned zones and a common operating picture streamlined communication and sped up evacuation decisions. But most of all, the community was able to clearly understand the areas that were under evacuation and could follow the incident progress for their zone.”
The “Know Your Zone” campaign will use social media, advertising and other outreach materials to help residents easily remember to visit the site.
Learn more about Zonehaven and the “Know Your Zone” campaign at myzone.zonehaven.com