In the wake of wildfires here in Utah and in other states, the Division of Natural Resources (DNR) and Davis County Emergency Management are holding a series of wildfire town halls to educate those living in the high risk areas about how to protect their property and their evacuation zones. Meetings will be held in different cities through the end of August. 

“I sat down with (DNR Fire Warden for Davis County) August Forman and he said that Salt Lake County had mapped all of their wildfire evacuation zones and they’d like to continue it through Davis County,” said Davis County Emergency Manager, Ember Herrick at the Centerville meeting. “So we picked up where Salt Lake left off and we’ve done North Salt Lake through South Weber.”

There are eight cities along Davis County’s wildland urban interface that have been mapped with wildfire evacuation zones, she said. “These zones were created in collaboration with our local fire agencies and your city emergency managers and city officials. So we’re excited to be here and to show you the maps and educate you.”

About a year ago in Lahaina, Hawaii there were wildfires, said Herrick. “The number one complaint from the wildfires that decimated their community was that they didn't receive emergency alert notifications. So tonight we’re going to tell you how you can sign up to get those notifications.”

They will notify you when something’s going on in your area and what your community is already doing to make your homes wildfire safe, she said. “You can find out the resources that our friends at the DNR have available to home-harden your properties against wildfire risk and increase your ability to respond and evacuate faster and be safer when the wildfire comes down and is impacted by those winds.”

Maps of the evacuation zones are available on https://www.daviscountyutah.gov/emergency-management/hazards/wildfire. “This map will show you exactly what zone you’re in,” said Herrick. “It’s got a little box where you can type in your address so you don’t have to zoom in and try and find your tiny little neighborhood. You can just put in your address and it will immediately take you to your wildfire evacuation zone.”

It will also provide you with the link to sign up for emergency alert notifications through Code Red, she said. “We’ll also make this available to your city and they can share this with you.”

A lot of good information is out there, said Forman. “It makes our job a lot easier if you guys go through and do work prior to a fire coming through. If a big fire is coming down the hill and I have two homes that I can pick out of 15 that is one of the hardest decisions that we have to make as firefighter personnel.”

So everyone needs to come together as a community, he said. “We start preparing our homes now.”

“As you look at your zone, understand the zone next to you,” said South Davis Metro Fire Marshal Cole Fessler. “The fire can come through that zone and fuels and wind might impact your zone as well. So make sure that when you put your address into the web page that you’re also seeing your adjoining zones just in case.”

Fessler said there are steps residents can take to mitigate their risk of a wildfire on their property. “We’re not going to tell you to cut down your trees. I don’t want you to bulldoze everything and have concrete totally around your home. There are ways that we can fire-harden our properties and still maintain the beauty of nature that we all love to see.”

In the Snoqualmie fire back in the 2018 season there were a lot of people that didn’t want to leave, said Fessler. “If we ask you to leave please do. It’s very difficult for us to make sure that we get people out in a safe and timely manner. We pray and hope and beg that you will actually leave.”

“This got me thinking about our officers' actions that night during the gun range fire a few years back,” said Centerville Police Chief Allen Ackerson. “They actually went up into Bountiful to help with evacuations. So in the middle of the night they’re driving around, they start knocking on doors and they’re waking up people that are dead asleep.”

The fire is literally starting to burn the back of their houses and they had zero time to do anything but grab their kids and run out the door, he said. “So when we talk about preparing your house, that gives your family time to get out. It gives your house a fighting chance of surviving on its own if firefighters aren’t able to make it up into that area.”

Upcoming town halls and locations can also be found on the county emergency management website at https://www.daviscountyutah.gov/emergency-management/hazards/wildfire.