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Washoe County emergency management outlines regional alerting, perimeter mapping and evacuation planning
Summary
Kelly Echevarria, Washoe County emergency management administrator, told a special concurrent meeting of county and city officials that new tools and updated planning aim to close gaps in evacuation, alerting and mass‑care after recent wildfires.
Kelly Echevarria, Washoe County emergency management administrator, told the special concurrent meeting of Washoe County, the cities of Reno and Sparks and the Truckee Meadows Fire District that the office is seeking to strengthen regional preparedness with new tools and a sharper focus on evacuation planning.
“We are a twice accredited emergency management agency,” Echevarria said, noting the office is seeking a third accreditation in January 2026 and runs the regional Emergency Operations Center used by local jurisdictions and tribes.
Her presentation described the office’s organizing framework—five mission areas, 32 FEMA core capabilities and eight “community lifelines” such as safety and health, transportation and water—and spotlighted two operational tools introduced to the public this year: perimeter mapping and the Rave Smart 911 alert system. Echevarria said perimeter map provides a simple, low‑bandwidth public view of incident perimeters and evacuation zones, while Rave allows polygon alerts and extra notice for residents with access and functional needs.
The presentation stressed evacuation logistics, mass care and recovery as top priorities. Echevarria said evacuation coordination has been modernized: emergency managers now maintain a catalog of pre‑vetted temporary evacuation points and shelter options, and the office has expanded multilingual public messaging and created an English–Spanish–ASL evacuation video to set public expectations.
Echevarria described mitigation work already underway: a regional hazard mitigation plan covering 13 identified hazards (wildfire, flood, earthquake, volcanic hazards among them) is with the state for approval and will then go to FEMA; the plan includes specific action items and identified funding sources to speed future grant work. She also described fuels mitigation, chipping programs and educational efforts in the Lake Tahoe urban‑avalanche areas.
Public commenters told the boards that communication and traffic were critical gaps during the recent Davis fire. Hannah Hubier, who said she lost her home in the Davis fire, told the meeting she repeatedly asked whether evacuation was needed and was told “no” until she had only minutes to leave; she urged better evacuation messaging and crowd‑control at incident scenes. “There was a lot of communication issues,” Hubier said.
Sierra Club representative Olivia Tanager and THIRDAC Nevada facilitator Kathy Fulkerson urged officials to fold anticipated new industrial loads — data centers — into regional emergency planning, citing fire risk, heavy power demand and potential strain on utilities that could affect response.
Mayors and council members asked detailed operational questions about the new alerting technology and evacuation modeling. Councilwoman Durer asked how cell numbers get into the alerting system and whether residents who reported little evacuation time during the Davis fire should have received earlier messages; Echevarria responded that the region had recently deployed Rave and that the office uses every available technological channel (EMAS, Wireless Emergency Alerts, social media, voicemail, email and TV/radio) and continues to encourage multiple redundant means of receiving alerts.
Council members and commissioners pressed for an evacuation‑model study to identify chokepoints and inform roadway or egress improvements. Echevarria and other staff said the timeline for a study depends on funding and vendor selection; they noted comparable county studies took about a year when funded and staffed.
No formal action was taken on item B1; the presentation and questions were recorded as discussion only. Staff said they would continue to refine the perimeter map rollout, expand partner access and pursue mitigation plan approval with the state and FEMA.
The boards thanked the emergency management staff and many partnering agencies for the work and signaled continued support for the tools and studies Echevarria described. The session then moved to a separate agenda item on regional fire efforts.
