Fire chief outlines Ready-Set-Go, Alert South Bay and Genesis for peninsula evacuations

Chief Brian Kane described Ready-Set-Go as a personal wildfire action plan with three stages — be ready, be set, then go — and said residents should rely on Alert South Bay and Genesis for real-time incident information and evacuation instructions.

Kane explained that Alert South Bay is a cellular alerting application residents can sign up for to receive warnings and orders for their area, while Genesis is a zone-based incident mapping and evacuation platform that displays changing zone status and incident details in real time. "Each of us in here that live on the peninsula have a zone assigned to your residence," he said, noting zones will change color in Genesis and users can click a zone (for example, RPV123) to see incident specifics.

The chief outlined the recommended evacuation sequencing — an initial warning, followed by an order as conditions worsen — and said that staged sequencing helps keep roads passable for emergency responders and reduces congestion. He referenced the Palisades incident as an example where a fast-moving fire overwhelmed road capacity and urged residents to "go early" to ease traffic on evacuation routes.

Kane also urged animal-evacuation planning. He said peninsula residents with large animals should have a trailer and preplanned destination and acknowledged a shortfall in horse trailers relative to the peninsula's horse population: "I don't want to reiterate those figures because I could be wrong, but I know that there is nowhere near enough horse trailers on the peninsula for the amount of horses that are on the peninsula." He recommended early notification for large-animal owners so they can begin loading before general evacuation warnings.

Kane closed by directing residents to departmental resources and demonstration maps, reminding attendees that well-practiced personal plans and knowledge of local evacuation zones increase the odds of a safe, orderly evacuation.