PARTICIPANT REGISTRATION

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OVERVIEW

On Saturday, April 9, Kensington Fire Protection District and Kensington Police Department will conduct an evacuation drill. Kensington’s Public Safety agencies will coordinate a test with the Contra Costa County Community Warning System with an alert targeted to Kensington Residents of a simulated incident.

 

DRILL OBJETIVES

Public Education

• Alerts & Notifications
• Emergency Preparedness
• Kensington Evacuation Routes

Test of the County Community Warning System (CWS)

• Obtain data through participation and registration rates.
• Provide first responders an opportunity to initiate an emergency alert in coordination with CWS, and to see the response rate in real-time in Kensington.

Evaluation of traffic flow on critical streets

• Beloit @ Cambridge
• Cambridge @Yale
• Yale@ Princeton
• Princeton @ Amherst
• Amherst @ Arlington (North or South)
• Kenyon @ Wellesley
• Wellesley / Oberlin @ Arlington
• Kenyon @ Westminster
• Westminster @ Arlington (North or South)
• Sunset @ Sunset View Cemetery

Resident Emergency “Readiness & Resiliency”

• Go Bag Preparation
• Home Preparedness
• Communication Tools

Zonehaven Awareness “Know My Zone”

• Debut Zonehaven platform
• Have residents learn their zone

 

DRILL SIMULATION

The Kensington Fire Protection District has identified high-priority areas within Kensington and will work with those areas to coordinate evacuation exercises. These high-priority areas face a higher threat due to several variables such as limited access and proximity to wildland areas (as noted in the Traffic Consultant's Report.) 
For this drill, the Kensington Evacuation Drill will be responding to a wildfire originating in Tilden Park with a westward projection toward Kensington.
Community members residing east of Arlington Avenue and South of Hilltop School are in the test zone. The fire department will be using Zonehaven to manage the evacuation drill. The zones targeted in this drill will be ECK-E007 and ECK-E008.

The Traffic Consultant's Report commissioned by the Kensington Fire Protection District remains a focal point in the district's initiatives to make Kensington more responsive in a community-wide emergency.

The complete Traffic Consultant’s Report  can be found here.

EVACUATION ROUTE

In 2021, Sunset Drive from Arlington Avenue through Sunset View Cemetery was established and marked as an evacuation route. During an emergency that requires this route, the gate of the cemetery at Sunset Drive and Franciscan Way will be unlocked, allowing traffic to flow through the cemetery alleviating congestion from upper Kensington. Many factors will determine the best route to evacuate; some residences may find taking Moeser is more appropriate for their household. For the purpose of this drill, Sunset Drive will be the route to the safety zone located at the El Cerrito Plaza BART Station parking lot located at 6699 Fairmont Ave. El Cerrito. Please remember that every incident will provide different conditions for available evacuation routes. Residents must know more than two ways out from their homes. Registering for alerts and notifications through CWS, Nixle will keep you informed of changing conditions during an emergency.  To learn more about communication tools available to Kensington residents, download the Kensington Fire Protection District Wildfire Preparedness Workbook.

WHAT IS ZONEHAVEN?

Zonehaven is a software company that develops tools to help communities and first responders plan, communicate and execute evacuations. Pre-established evacuation zones help fire, law, and emergency service agencies prepare for, streamline, and reduce confusion around the evacuation process so that roads are clear for those who need to evacuate quickly. By evacuating the most at-risk Zones first, emergency personnel are able to manage the traffic flow and more easily prevent the traffic jams that occur when an entire town or city tries to evacuate all at the same time. 

To find your zone, visit: community.zonehaven.com, and input your home address.

 

DRILL EXPERIENCE & EXPECTATIONS

What should Kensington residents expect to experience for this evacuation drill?

Kensington Fire Protection District and Kensington Police will publish a series of posts leading up to the evacuation Drill on April 9. These posts will help touch on several aspects of evacuation and emergency preparedness.  

At 9:00 AM on Saturday, April 9, residents of Kensington Zone ECK-E008 will receive a message from Contra Costa County Community Warning System ordering an immediate (safe and orderly) evacuation to the El Cerrito Plaza BART Station to check-in with site volunteers. When residents arrive at the BART station, they will provide volunteers with their street name, and the simulation will be complete.

At 9:15 AM on Saturday, April 9, residents of Kensington Zone ECK-E007 will receive a message from Contra Costa County Community Warning System to acknowledge receipt of the notification and shelter in place and provide feedback on a short survey. Residents in ECK-E007 will not participate in the evacuation portion to El Cerrito Plaza BART.

           Because Kensington is an unincorporated part of Contra Costa County, all residents are strongly encouraged to register for the County's Community Warning System (CWS). Before the drill begins, residents wishing to participate in the exercise must register for Contra Costa County Community Warning System (CWS). Additional information is available at the Kensington Fire Protection District website: www.kensingtonfire.org/drill.

As the Kensington Evacuation Drill targets specific district zones, these notifications may reach residents that do not live in these zones. Participation in this drill is voluntary, although participation is critical to planning for an emergency. We encourage every resident to be aware of the Kensington Evacuation Drill and the intent to increase preparedness and resiliency in the community.  

Please visit our library of preparedness resources.