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Coconino County outlines plans for wildfire readiness, evacuation maps and public outreach
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Summary
Coconino County emergency management briefed supervisors on wildfire preparedness, highlighting a draft hazard-mitigation plan out for public review, interactive evacuation-zone maps, community outreach campaigns and mobile incident-command assets to support evacuations and sheltering.
Coconino County emergency management on Monday told the Board of Supervisors it is stepping up public outreach and operational planning ahead of a wildfire season that officials say now behaves more like a year-round threat.
Tim Carter, the countyemergency management director, said the countyhazard mitigation plan is being updated and will be released for public comment in May, with board consideration scheduled for June 23. "We really want the publicinput," Carter said, noting the plan is an all-hazards document that still identifies wildfire as the countytop risk.
Carter described several preparedness initiatives intended to speed evacuations and reduce confusion during incidents. The county launched interactive evacuation-zone maps in 2023; residents can enter their address to find their evacuation zone so officials can send zone-specific messages instead of ambiguous street-level instructions. The county also conducts regular exercises with partners, performs monthly drills of the RAVE notification vendor, and maintains mobile incident-command trailers and UAV technology for remote responses.
Carter urged residents to sign up for emergency notifications, know their evacuation zone and prepare a household evacuation plan and a 72-hour go kit: "This is your most effective way of receiving emergency notification quickly," he said.
The county is coordinating with utility and non-profit partners to prepare for Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events and to stand up shelters or cooling stations if outages or heat follow a shutoff. Carter noted Sedona siren installations funded through a Community Development grant are due in May to provide advanced notice for visitors in that area.
Sheriff Axland described law enforcementroles in an evacuation: conducting the evacuation, securing evacuated areas, managing traffic and making reentry decisions once conditions are safe. He walked through the Ready-Set-Go program used statewide to guide resident actions during escalating risk stages, and urged those with medical needs or large animals to consider early relocation during the SET phase.
Board members repeatedly stressed partnerships among county, federal and local agencies and thanked presenters for an update they said will help communities prepare and respond. The board was directed to share the available materials and public-comment links when the county issues press releases this month.
Next procedural steps: the county plans a May public-comment window on the hazard-mitigation update and expects to bring the final draft to the board on June 23 for possible adoption.
