Ready Nevada County: OES urges residents to prepare, introduces ZoneHaven mapping

County emergency officials and residents opened the Dec. 10 meeting with a community preparedness segment focused on wildfire and other emergencies. Staff described the Ready, Set, Go campaign: "ready" actions to plan and harden homes, "set" as heightened vigilance, and "go" for evacuation orders when threats are imminent.

Staff explained CodeRED (an opt‑in alert system that sends phone calls, texts and emails from the county Office of Emergency Services) and introduced ZoneHaven as a supplemental mapping tool (community.zonehaven.com) residents can use to identify evacuation zones for their address. Presenters stressed that ZoneHaven should be used alongside, not in place of, Nixle/CodeRED notifications and suggested residents write down their zone and share it with family.

Residents described the real-world experience of evacuations, power shutoffs and the role of neighborhood networks. Ulysses Palencia of the 2‑1‑1 call center explained that 2‑1‑1 operates 24/7 in Nevada County and receives information directly from the Office of Emergency Services to help callers find resource centers and power‑restoration updates during PSPS events. Several residents described using generators, battery systems and go bags to maintain medical equipment during outages.

County staff urged residents to create 72‑hour kits with food, water and medication, assemble trusted neighbor networks (‘Find Your 5’), harden homes with ember‑resistant vents and mesh, and remove combustible materials from decks and eaves. They also encouraged residents to check their evacuation tags and place them visibly when leaving to help first responders track vacated homes.