Evacuation Forum Postscript — What do we do now?

Based upon recent community polls and the attendance at the recent evacuation forum conducted by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, nerves of Ramona residents remain frayed as to the issue of the evacuation of the town during a wildfire or other disaster. It is believed that even in the face of a so-called "mandatory" evacuation (which is not in reality mandatory but rather strong suggestion), the majority of Ramona residents will not evacuate the town.

Faced with this, the Sheriff’s Department and the County of San Diego must implement a Ramona Disaster Plan which anticipates this inevitability rather than continuing in their singularly focused plan to get everyone out of town.

I am not for a moment suggesting that any resident should not heed the knowledgeable advice of the authorities when advised to evacuate. But for those many Ramonans who elect not to heed the sound advice to evacuate when given by authorities, the plan for this town to address future disasters must accommodate their decisions and their needs. Additionally, with only four routes leaving Ramona, there is no way that congestion will not impede evacuation progress and create potential dangers for those leaving. So what’s a County to do?

It is imperative that the Ramona Disaster Preparedness Plan incorporate provisions to educate residents as to the consequences and guidelines for "shelter-in-place" — remaining in their residence during a fire or disaster. Additionally, the plan needs to establish universally guaranteed evacuation "safe zones" should residents choose to remain in the community but do not feel safe in their residence. Possible locations include the Wellfield Park, Mt. Woodson and San Vicente golf courses, the several schools in the community and Golden Eagle Ranch, amongst others.

With the development of such a three-pronged preparedness plan, Ramonans would be free to elect their own response to the disaster, as prepared as possible, whether they remain at home, at the pre-staged evacuation centers or leave the town. By providing this multi-pronged response option, pressure is relieved to a certain extent upon the evacuation routes out of town for those who exercise their right to leave the town during a wildfire or other disaster.