Preparing for Disaster in Escondido

North Escondido Home

Protect Your Escondido Home Against Wildfire.

Don’t want to start the new year off on a negative note, so thought I would slip these tips into the last part of ’09.  We have just past the highest risk time frame for wildfires in the Escondido real estate area, but it is never to late to get prepared  for next year.  Many of the things you can do to prepare for a wild fire disaster will also apply to other areas of disaster preparation.  So protect your Escondido home, other Escondido property, and protect yourself.

• Make sure you can communicate in case of a disaster.  Your electricity in your Escondido home will probably be the first thing  to go so have a back up plan.   Your cordless telephone needs power to work, so don’t rely on it.  You will need to have one or more cell phones.  Don’t waste your cell phone battery, it also needs electricity to recharge.  You might consider having a charger that will work off your car.   During the 2007 firestorm, over 80,000 SDG&E customers lost electrical power.
• Register you and your family with AlertSanDiego.  This is San Diego county’s emergency notification system.   Register all the cell phones in your Escondido home by going to www.ReadySanDiego.org.    Just click on the cell phone logo.  It is free to register anywhere in San Diego North County.  In case of an emergency, you will receive a reverse 911 call to let you know Escondido real estate area evacuation information and fire updates, even if you are away from your Escondido property.
• Also, to receive incoming communications and to just know what is happening, you should have a battery powered radio.  Make sure it always has good batteries.   It is best  to pack the batteries separate from the radio in a plastic bag to help keep them fresh.
• Take a look at the outside of your Escondido real estate.  Do you see anything you can do to reduce the chance of a fire reaching your  home?   Remove any fire hazards near your Escondido home.  Give your Escondido house a chance by creating a 100 foot defensible area around the home.  Remove piles of firewood and clean the dead leaves out of the gutter.   Keep the trees trimmed and  make  sure sure none tough your Escondido property.
• Have a disaster plan in place for yourself and your home.  Be ready to evacuate your Escondido home should you be told to do so.  I remember in the 2007 fires, when the pressure was on, I was a little confused on exactly what I wanted to take with me.  Make an evacuation list of things to take and keep it in a safe place.  Don’t forget your pets.  Practice evacuating a few times a year.
• Keep an emergency supply of food and water in your Escondido home.  You should have enough to last at least three days.  A minimum of a gallon of water for each person for each day should work.  You can get an idea of what to have in your emergency supply by contacting www.ReadySanDiego.org.
• Make sure you have adequate insurance on your Escondido real estate.  Don’t be wishing you could increase it at the last moment.

There are many more things that could be include in this disaster plan, but my goal is to just get you started on preparing your plan today.  If you need more information contact Gary Harmon, your top Escondido Realtor.