How cities can plan for evacuations before a disaster happens

The Jefferson Exchange

One helicopter sweeps in to make a drop while another, near tree line, hovers over a brushfire just southwest of Exit 11 south of Ashland on September 4, 2024. (Photo by Bob Palermini / Ashland.news)

During natural disasters, quick evacuations can be the difference between life and death. The recent fires in Los Angeles highlighted the difficulty of effectively evacuating large numbers of people in a short period of time. Many residents of the Pacific Palisades area were forced to abandon their cars and flee on foot, and bulldozers had to be brought in to clear the roads for emergency vehicles.

But the city of Ashland is no stranger to evacuations. In 2020, much of the city was evacuated during the Almeda Fire. Numerous preventable issues delayed the process, including bottlenecks at highway exits and low signup rates for emergency texts from the city and county. Since the fire, the city has taken those lessons and learned from them. The JX spoke with the City of Ashland's Emergency Management Coordinator, Kelly Burns, about the plans Ashland has put in place to ensure more streamlined evacuations for future disasters.

Also joining the conversation is Randy Johnson from DKS Associates. He is a senior transportation engineer and expert in how communities can create effective evacuation preparedness plans.

Kelly Burns, City of Ashland Emergency Management Coordinator, with JPR host Mike Green(JPR Senior Producer, Natalie Golay)