Inside and Outside your Home During an Evacuation
Please evacuate immediately when asked by fire or law enforcement officials. If you are concerned, don’t wait to be asked to leave. If you have to evacuate, and there is time, consider using the checklist below to prepare the inside and outside of your home for evacuation.
Inside your home and outbuildings:
- Close all interior doors.
- Leave a light on in each room.
- Remove combustible curtains and other materials from around windows.
- Close windows, skylights and exterior doors (house, garage, shop and barn).
- Close fire-resistant drapes, shutters and blinds.
- Turn off all pilot lights.
- Move overstuffed furniture (couches and easy chairs) to the center of the room.
- Close fireplace damper.
- Turn off air conditioning.
- Place an EVACUATED sign in the front window.
Outside your home and outbuildings:
- Place combustible patio furniture and accessories inside or toss them away from the house.
- Remove barbeque propane tanks and place away from the house where they can safely vent.
- Shut off propane at the tank or natural gas at the meter (see page 15).
- Close or cover foundation, attic and eave vents with precut plywood covers or several layers of aluminum foil.
- Cover windows with plywood panels at least 1/2-inch thick.
- Prop a noncombustible ladder against the house.
- Connect garden hoses to faucets and attach nozzles set on spray.
- Remove excelsior pads from swamp coolers and toss them away from the house.
- Leave doors and gates unlocked.
- Turn on outside lights.
- Fill trash cans and buckets with water and place where firefighters can find them.
- If you have an emergency water source, post WATER SOURCE HERE sign in the predetermined spot clearly visible from the street.