Dear City Council,
I'm forwarding an important message from Portola Valley related to evacuations. Earlier, I sent this to a few of you. Upon reflection, I think the importance of this topic warrants a broader mailing.
An evacuation study would be a good idea for Menlo Park with different scenarios analyzed, including following a major earthquake and also wildfires. Even day to day, the ability of emergency vehicles to arrive when the roads are congested would also be important to study.The "traffic congestion studies" that I've seen do not typically include an analysis of the ability of emergency vehicles to arrive following an incident.
Portola Valley also has a well-functioning Emergency Preparedness Committee and Woodside also has one. I recommend something similar for Menlo Park.
Lynne
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Town of Portola Valley, CA >
Date: Tue, Aug 10, 2021 at 12:32 PM
Subject: Message from Woodside Fire, Sheriff's Office, and Town Representatives regarding Town-Wide Evacuations
To: >
Message from Woodside Fire, Sheriff's Office, and Town Representatives regarding Town-Wide Evacuations
Post Date: 08/10/2021 12:09 PM
Because of on-going community comments, we are sharing our current thinking on town-wide evacuation drills. The Woodside Fire Protection District and Sheriff’s Office, with Town support, have previously conducted smaller-scale evacuation drills from which an improved suite of communications tools and procedures were developed and deployed. The Town, with its partners, regularly practices such drills, and is planning to participate in a County exercise in November. As a reminder, Portola Valley has the highest level of participation in SMCAlert, which is the primary tool for declaring evacuations. SMCAlert does not rely exclusively on cell phone service, as it will call landlines, as well as cell phones and send emails.
In our conversations regarding the usefulness of a town-wide drill, we have reflected on the following experiences/information:
1. Will a drill garner a critical mass of participants to provide valuable information that would affect existing policies and procedures for actual evacuations?
2. Can such a drill replicate a multitude of variables that might exist during an actual evacuation (e.g., smoke, embers, etc.)?
3. Can information to support policy changes be gleaned in other ways, including but not limited to simulations and internal communications?
Our collective conclusion is that a town-wide evacuation drill is unnecessary at this time, and would not offer practical data or experience relative to the Town’s current evacuation plans based on the following:
1. Past evacuation drills have not generated significant participation. Just three weeks ago, San Carlos attempted such a drill for an area of their city with approximately 2,200 residents – only 183 participated. This participation level is typical for such drills, and in the case of Portola Valley, would be smaller during the summer months.
2. Even with higher participation, the drill could not replicate or anticipate the host of variables related to an actual evacuation. For instance, when an evacuation is called, every resident does not leave at the same time (if they leave at all); a recent study in Ashland, Oregon estimated that for those residents who wished to evacuate, it would take 195 minutes for 100% of those interested to actually leave.
3. The Town Council has authorized an evacuation study that should be underway in September. This study will account for and analyze different scenarios that may affect evacuations, as well as suggest whether improvements to the Town’s physical infrastructure may be beneficial to a future evacuation.
We hope this statement is informative to you.
Chief Rob Lindner, Woodside Fire Protection District
Lt. Mark Myers, San Mateo County Sheriff's Office
Jeremy Dennis, Town Manager
Dale Pfau, Chair of Portola Valley Emergency Preparedness Committee and Chair of Wildfire Preparedness Committee Evacuation Subcommittee
Michael Tomars, Chair of Wildfire Preparedness Committee
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