Atherton residents create their own wildfire escape plan

Both the Fire District and the government of the Town of Atherton were given the opportunity to participate in the preparation of this plan and to comment on the draft plan before it was finalized - neither identified any inaccurate information.

As an experienced wildland firefighter I know that emergency access to and from the Alameda end of Welsh Road could easily be cut off by a wildfire before the District could contain such a fire. Responding to a wildland fire and containing it are two very different matters. The Oakland hills fire was also served by a superb municipal fire department and look what happened. Denial is not a good preparedness strategy

It is important for the Town of Atherton and the Fire District to be pro-active with neighborhoods they consider at risk and approach those neighborhoods with communication and a plan first. With no plan we had to develop our own means of escape. Up-front communication is vital to save lives not after the fact.

The neighbors of Walsh Road and its ajoining streets are organizing ourselves, we are getting CERT and HAM radio training to help ourselves. As of today -- we do not have a plan from the Town or Fire District as to how or where to evacuate in a fire. So we will follow the map Peter Carpenter and his group developed. We hope that a plan is in the works and will be forth coming before the fire season is over.