Fire Evacuation? (insurance, houses, law)

[MaryleeII]

How would you know if you're under an evacuation order? Do police go door-to-door? Is it on local TV? Is there some sort of emergency website to contact?

[love roses]

They should have a number listed, but I hear they are going door to door and also doing reverse 911's.

[SVTRay]

Originally Posted by MaryleeII

How would you know if you're under an evacuation order? Do police go door-to-door? Is it on local TV? Is there some sort of emergency website to contact?

They went door to door in our neighbor hood last year when a wildfire ca e close to the house. Thankfully the winds finally died down and they was able to contain the fire before it did any structural damage.

[TX75007]

Door to door, text messages, and reverse 911.

Presence of fire crews, too. The fire crews will also be busy working firebreaks and putting buffer zones around the structures. If you see them, then you need to go ask them if you should leave. Sometimes houses get missed.

If you think you are in danger, Id be clearing the brush around your house and scraping the soil back to dirt so the crews can focus on other things.

[CptnRn]

I'm sure it's smart to evacuate children and pets. But... is it legal to force you to leave your home during a fire, if you would rather stay and fight it? Seems like it should be within your rights to stay and defend your property if you want to. I know many people did this during the wildfire in OakHill recently. Saw photos of people standing on their roofs with water hoses dousing anything that came close.

[Trainwreck20]

Interesting article:
The Challenge Of Mandatory Evacuation: Providing For And Deciding For

Governments have ample authority to order and enforce mandatory evacuation orders in a wide variety of disasters. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has noted: "Almost every state...has adopted statutes providing for the exercise of police powers in the event of an emergency or disaster (such as fire, flood, tornado, or hurricane)." But there is diversity among states in terms of who may declare an emergency and who may order an evacuation.

Case law provides a second unequivocal basis for taking forceful actions in response to an emergency.8 U.S. courts have upheld the authority of the government to force evacuations in life-threatening emergencies.

An interesting section, as well:

The Disaster Relief Act Amendments of 1974 [...] mandates that as a condition of receiving federal assistance, the governor must "direct execution of the State’s emergency plan"—which typically includes evacuation measures— [...]

[SVTRay]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I'm sure it's smart to evacuate children and pets. But... is it legal to force you to leave your home during a fire, if you would rather stay and fight it? Seems like it should be within your rights to stay and defend your property if you want to. I know many people did this during the wildfire in OakHill recently. Saw photos of people standing on their roofs with water hoses dousing anything that came close.

I understand the reasoning behind evacuations but I don't necessarily agree with forced evacuations. When the police told us to evacuate, I loaded up the trucks and took a quick video of the place for insurance reasons. Then I cut on the sprinkler systems and broke out a shovel and a rifle...just in case of looters. Thankfully the fire never reached our neighbor hood.

[catman]

SVTRay: Good for you!