City and county review evacuation mapping and alert systems; public rollout of zone maps planned

San Jose and Santa Clara County officials described the county’s evacuation‑zone tools and the technical platforms used to plan and execute protective actions, saying staff training and a public outreach campaign will precede wider public access.

Deputy Chief Brian Class and county representatives explained the county’s use of the Genesis Protect platform, which features a public‑facing “protect” side where residents can learn assigned evacuation zones and an evac side used by incident commanders to place hyper‑local zones into warning, evacuation order or shelter‑in‑place protective actions. County staff said zones were developed in collaboration with local law enforcement, OEM and fire agencies and can be shared as shapefiles into commercial alert systems.

A county and nonprofit speaker said other tools complement Genesis: Genesys for contact center and messaging integration, and Ladros for evacuation forecasting and fire‑spread analysis. County staff noted that the city’s zones currently exist in the system but are masked from public view; unmasking is tied to staff training and the "Know Your Zone" public outreach campaign, which county and city representatives said will be rolled out in the coming weeks.

Council members asked about neighborhoods with single‑access roads and limited evacuation routes; staff said targeted outreach, door‑to‑door contact, CERT training and prioritization of these neighborhoods are part of the outreach plan. County staff reiterated that in an incident these tools are used in unified command with law enforcement, fire and OEM coordinating protective actions.

Officials advised residents to register for county alerts through alertscc.org and to learn their assigned evacuation zone ahead of any emergency.