Salt Lake City Fire Department preparing now for potential wildfires in the future

SALT LAKE CITY — With recent snow in Salt Lake City, wildfires are not something many residents have to worry about right now.

However, Salt Lake City firefighters have been.

"Realistically, we are always thinking about wildfire," said Capt. Tom Simons, with the Salt Lake City Fire Department. "How to prepare for it. How to mitigate the risk. What we can do better to keep people safe."

For the past year, Simons and his emergency management team have been mapping neighborhoods along Salt Lake City's benches, the wildland urban interface areas, for when the next big wildfire comes toward the city.

"We recognize that in a fast-moving wildfire, we needed to have maybe a more efficient process to make sure we can notify the public. Get them evacuated in case of a wildfire," Simons said. "So, we have built pre-identified evacuation zones along the wildland urban interface here in Salt Lake City."

The fire department recently put those zones and neighborhoods into an interactive map on the department's website.

Finding the zone you live in

Anyone living in these zones can put in their address and find the name of the zone they are in.

Should the day come of a fast-moving wildfire heading to those areas, the information will be constantly updated.

"You will get a message on your phone that says what the incident is, where it's affecting, what you need to do, so whether that's evacuate, shelter in place, or whatever the case may be, you will get one of those messages on your phone and then you will know what your next action should be," said Hannah Youell, public information officer with the department.

Residents should make sure their cellphones are set up to receive emergency alerts, but they will not have to "opt in" for these evacuation notices.

The department will also put out messaging on their social media pages and websites, along with television and radio alerts.

Reverse 911 calls are also an option.

"This has been a lot of work to put it all together and it was a collaborative effort with a lot of agencies we brought in to help," Simons said.

He is also asking for people to get on the website to get a feel for it, and to know what zone they live in if an evacuation order comes in the future.

"These wildfires move so quickly. Seconds matter. If a wildfire is coming, we need to get people out of its path long before it gets there," Simons said. "This gives us a better tool to help our citizens get out of the way faster. To get them notified faster so we can keep them safe and then we can do our jobs to protect their property once their lives are safe."

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