County emergency manager shows off Genesys mapping to speed evacuations

Chaffee County’s emergency manager, William Plackner, told commissioners that recent mutual‑aid during the Willow Fire improved local readiness and tested county systems, then demonstrated a new Genesys evacuation mapping platform the county is piloting.

Plackner said Genesys breaks the county into prebuilt zones that can be selected by an incident commander and pushed to the public through a visual interface. “These zones will be preloaded into Everbridge, which will make notification of the public extremely fast, and more accurate as to what we need,” he said. The platform shows approximate population, vehicles and structures in each zone, and can preload critical evacuation facilities such as Busy Bees Preschool and Darren Patterson Christian Academy.

Plackner said Genesys offers a public side (protect.genesis.com) with QR codes so residents can view zone status on a phone and sign up for alerts for up to five locations. He described simulation tools that forecast movement of a fire or flood over 2–72 hours to help plan pre‑evacuation actions. Plackner said Genesys can send alerts directly but, for now, county staff are uploading shape files into Everbridge to coordinate both systems. “Genesys does have the ability to replace Everbridge,” he said, but added there is no decision to retire the county’s existing alert service yet.

Commissioners asked whether the Willow Fire revealed operational gaps; Plackner said coordination with the Red Cross, fairgrounds and extension office worked well, noting lessons around reentry cards and preplanning. He also said he is researching re‑starting a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and pursuing train‑the‑trainer opportunities to build local volunteer capacity.