Sheltering in place during a wildfire a dicey strategy
Does this mean people should just shelter?in place?
Absolutely not, except as a last-ditch resort, according to wildfire experts.
In many cases, only luck determines whether a temporary refuge ends up being scorched by a fast-moving, powerful and unpredictable wildfire. The safest alternative? Evacuate and do it early, experts say.
"I would never want to delude someone into thinking that they can ride out a fire and live to tell about it,"?said
"We should be teaching the public to get out of harm's way," said Wright.?Several of his own relatives were living in
Even information distributed to residents of
Despite all that, Hunter said, "we recommend evacuation because we don't know how that homeowner will react when that wildland fire comes there."
Wildfires?"are very noisy, very loud. Things are hitting your windows. It gets pretty scary and it gets difficult to breathe. If (people) don't know how to function in that kind of environment, they panic" and may abandon their home after it's too late, fleeing into the worst of the fire, he said.
Still, relatively defensible places can become lifesavers when the better options are gone.
'WHAT WORKS IN ONE CASE DOESN'T WORK IN OTHERS'
The increasing frequency of wildfires means "we'll need more shelter because there'll be more intense fires burning closer to communities and offering less time" to evacuate, said Tom?Cova, a professor of geography at the
When evacuation is deemed too dangerous, that?"shelter will become more important, as a backup plan," Cova said. "Or maybe, if you don't have your mobility, shelter is your first choice."
"Almost every outcome has happened, which is why we can't ever come up with the ultimate protective action. We can't say, 'just do this,' because the scenarios vary so much that what works in one case doesn't work in others."
In recent years, there have been several instances?where?fire officials said?advance planning and quick decision-making led to shelter-in-place efforts gone right:
— With thousands of patrons inside, just one road out and the 2003 Cedar Fire advancing fast in the middle of the night,
— Howling winds during the 2008 Tea Fire pushed that blaze to the campus of
— Hundreds of students sought temporary refuge at
A CENTRAL GATHERING SPOT AS LAST RESORT
During the
Some people fled to
A firetruck protected the sanctuary?as the wind-driven blaze whipped and raged just beyond the building's doors.?The church, along with the residents who sought refuge there, survived.
The other designated disaster gathering spot was a large?parking lot?between the 765-seat
The concert venue still stands. The senior center?was destroyed, although no deaths were reported there.
During the height of the
After several harrowing hours amid the smoke, heat and ashes, the wildfire passed, leaving everyone in the parking lot alive.
NEW PROPOSALS RAISE QUESTIONS
Still, the bias for early evacuation prevails nearly everywhere. That makes a proposal in
Like many others, resident
But an alternative proposed by the
"We've seen how these fires can grow so quickly," said Schweitzer. He fears chaos could ensue if authorities tried to direct thousands of panicked people to the designated shelter-in-place spot.
And, he asked, once residents reached that parking lot, would they really be safe?
"Am I going to stay in the parking lot ... while the fires burn around?me?and propane tanks explode and embers are flying and cars catch fire?" said Schweitzer. "I just don't know. I think I'd try to get out."
While that scenario has never occurred in
In
"In the real world," Hazard said, members of the public may have waited too long to evacuate, must retreat due to wildfire, or can't evacuate because their exit?road is?blocked.
His department is now devising alternatives for people whose evacuation routes are dicey because they?live in?remote locations along winding mountain roads.
Hazard said the department?has scouted out large, undeveloped meadows on private land that could serve as a temporary refuge from high-intensity wildfires that often pass through quickly. "We could put 50 people in here in their cars and they could probably ride it out," he said.
Information from: Record Searchlight, http://redding.com
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