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The Woodside Fire Protection District hosted a large-scale evacuation drill on Sept. 11 as concerns over evacuation routes and wildfire risks continue to grow in Portola Valley. The drill began with a simulated vehicle fire on Bucks Meadows Drive.
The small town, notable for its open space and equestrian culture, also has challenges with narrow roadways, thick vegetation and limited egress points.
“It’s beautiful here, but there’s a lot of density, a lot of underbrush, dry, dead vegetation at different times of the year, and this is a challenge knowing that when something happens, (there are) threats that surround us,” said Woodside Fire Marshal Kim Giuliacci.
Woodside Fire was joined by multiple agencies to host the drill, including Redwood City Fire Department and Menlo Park Fire Protection District along with volunteers from the Woodside-Portola Valley Community Emergency Response Team. Dozens of first responders participated in the exercise.
Giuliacci said the data and feedback on the evacuation drill will be collected from all agencies and will be used to identify gaps and areas of improvement for communication and traffic control. She will also be reaching out to residents to gather information on their experience, she said. A report will be developed from collected data and released in the future.
The drill was conducted on Sept. 11 to commemorate Emergency Preparedness Month and the events of 9/11 by reminding the community of the importance of preparing themselves for emergencies.
In the exercise, a simulated 911 call reported an overheating vehicle that ignited dry vegetation and sparked a wildfire. Soon after, law enforcement responded and began evacuating people in the area. Woodside Fire also had a Hi-Lo siren playing, the universal sound used for emergency evacuation, said Giuliacci.
Evacuees were directed to drive down Alpine Road toward Interstate 280 to leave the area entirely. Participants were advised to react to the drill as if it were real.
“We want people to get out of Portola Valley, not stay here. We are too small of a district to stay in this place,” Giuliacci said.
In preparation for the evacuation drill, Woodside Fire also used Ladris Technologies, an artificial intelligence software modeled to assist emergency management. Ladris is able to create evacuation models using topography and data to predict clearance times, identify fire mitigation strategies and effective crisis response.
The model for the drill estimated that it would take 1 hour and 34 minutes to evacuate 272 addresses, 397 cars and 99 heavy vehicles, including large trucks and trailers.
“Communications are always the weakest link, especially here (where) we have challenges because of our topography,” Giuliacci said.
As residents began to gather at Portola Valley’s Town Center during the practice evacuation, the CERT team was holding its own drills across Russ Miller Field at its command center. Located at the edge of the field are two trailers powered by solar and batteries, equipped with medical supplies, emergency gear, radios and other technology.
During the drill, volunteers in green vests were taking simulated radio calls and inputting the information into an incident management system. Calls were coming in about stroke victims at The Sequoias and gas leaks. In a real-life scenario, these incidents woudl be recorded, organized by the team based on priority and CERT members would be dispatched to respond.
“We are volunteers, so we don’t replace first responders. We augment them and we’re the eyes and ears of the community,” said CERT volunteer Robert Seidl.
CERT teams are intended to support the community when 911 is overloaded with calls, Woodside Fire and mutual aid are busy responding to other incidents, he added.
“We’re supposed to catch the things that they don’t have time for,” Seidl said.
How residents can prepare
Woodside Fire recommended the community sign up for SMC Alerts, San Mateo County’s emergency notification system. Members of the public can sign up for the alerts on smcalert.info.
Residents of Portola Valley can also tune into the town’s emergency radio station at 1680 AM for essential information in the event of an emergency and sign up for breaking news alerts at almanacnews.com. Woodside Fire suggests keeping a battery-powered or hand-crank radio to tune in when cell networks are congested or down.
Downloading the Watch Duty app is also recommended by Woodside Fire to keep track of wildfire progressions in real-time.
WPV CERT also has a guide that community members can use to pack a go-bag, create defensible space around homes and create a plan to prepare households before an emergency. For more information visit wpv-ready.org.
Essential items that should be packed in a go-bag include 1 gallon of water per person for a 3-day supply, non-perishable foods for 3-days, flashlight, batteries, first aid kit, 7-day supply of prescription medications and more.
Residents interested in joining the WPV CERT can register for the fall training program which runs from Sept. 30- Nov. 11. Training sessions will take place on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-9:30 p.m. and will include one Saturday class from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. For more information visit tinyurl.com/WPVCERTtraining.
