Outage Map
Trusted sources are key in emergency situations.
By Courtney Cobb
Whether it’s wildfire season or a winter storm event, it’s important to go to trusted sources for emergency information. September is National Preparedness Month, and emergency management officials want to ensure everyone gets the information they need to keep themselves, their families, and their businesses safe.
“In an emergency, trusted sources, such as the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page or other public safety agencies, have direct access to real-time data and verified ground-level information,” says Ashley Volz, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office emergency services coordinator. “We verify and ensure, to the very best of our ability, that the information we publish is accurate before we click ‘post.’”
Social media can be a great way to get a message out to many people rapidly, but unverified or inaccurate information can spread quickly.
“It takes a lot of time and resources to address rumors and get people verified and accurate information during emergencies,” Ashley says.
The Information You Need
Start with local law enforcement and fire jurisdictions. Jefferson County and Deschutes County sheriff’s offices maintain several social media pages and publish press releases to the FlashAlert website.
Check CentralOregonFire.org— a website led by land-management organizations—especially during wildfire season.
The Pendelton National Weather Service, which covers Central Oregon, provides timely and extensive emerging weatherrelated emergency information, such as red flag alerts and severe storm warnings.
Ashley also recommends the Deschutes County Health Services website.
“We reference (this site) frequently for information about heat- and cold-related emergencies, smoke information and other emergencies that can impact people’s health,” she says.
Understanding Evacuation Levels
Evacuation levels have been standardized throughout Oregon and can be used for any emergency where an evacuation is necessary.
“We might evacuate people for emergencies like a gas leak, a lava flow, an imminent landslide, a verified and imminent threat of violence, flooding, a dam breach or any number of other emergencies,” Ashley says.
- Level 1: Be ready. Monitor the situation and be prepared to leave.
- Level 2: Be set. Be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. This may be the only notice you receive.
- Level 3: Go now. Leave immediately without delay. Do not gather belongings or attempt to protect your home. The situation is life-threatening.
Evacuation levels do not always progress from 1 to 2 to 3.
“You may never receive a level 1 or 2 notice depending on the emergency,” Ashley says. “The incident may be so rapidly evolving that a Level 3 is all you receive. We make every effort to send out messages using Deschutes Alerts and/ or doing door-to-door notifications for emergencies, but there are worst-case rapidly evolving scenarios when we don’t have time to alert at all.”
Ashley stresses personal situational awareness is important in an emergency.
“You never need to wait for an evacuation notice of any level to leave,” she says. “If you feel unsafe, you can leave any time.”
Being Prepared Year-Round
A lot of messaging around preparedness happens during wildfire season or winter storms. Ashley reminds everyone emergencies can happen at any time.
“Geologic emergencies like earthquakes and volcanoes don’t correspond to a particular season,” she says. “Manmade emergencies, such as terrorism and hazardous materials releases, don’t follow a seasonal timeline, either.”
Ashley says a great way to test preparedness is to put it into practice. For example, experiment with a camp-in.
“Use your stored supplies like canned food, bottled water and a camp stove (in a well-ventilated area),” she says. “On the flip side, you can test how quickly you can leave your home in a pretend evacuation. Is everything you’d want and need easily accessible?”