Marin Wildfire Agency Will Deploy Evacuation App Used in Recent Storms
The Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority will spend $108,000 initially and $72,000 annually to employ an app used during storms this week to evacuate 5,000 people in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The technology used to evacuate 5,000 people in the Santa Cruz Mountains during the heavy storm this week will soon be put to work in Marin.
A new cloud-based mapping application called Zonehaven, which provides police and fire officials with real-time data on emergency and fire risks as well as population and traffic, delivered evacuation instructions to the residents there as the threat of mudslides loomed in the burn-scarred areas of the CZU Lightning Complex fires.
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By 01/06/2021
Choke points would abound in an emergency evacuation of West Marin. In Inverness, the problem is Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. In Bolinas, it’s Mesa and Olema-Bolinas Roads. And for the entire coast, any of the over-the-hill routes through the San Geronimo Valley, past Nicasio or around Mount Tamalpais would become congested if thousands of people were trying to leave at once.
Despite this threat to public safety, nobody in Marin is taking responsibility to plan for evacuation, according to a Marin County Civil Grand Jury report issued last month. The 19-member watchdog group calls on the Transportation Authority of Marin to step up and include evacuation as one of its criteria when planning or funding projects. The grand jury also urges public works departments of cities, towns and the county to prioritize evacuation, and argues that these governing bodies should address evacuation infrastructure needs as they update their general pl