Pierce County participates in regional evacuation warning system – Gig Harbor Now

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Ahead of a potentially severe wildfire season, Pierce and six other counties in the Puget Sound region are promoting a regional evacuation warning system.

The Ready, Set, Go program creates a standardized three-tier evacuation messaging system for most of the counties bordering Puget Sound, including Pierce, Kitsap, King, Skagit, Thurston, Snohomish and Whatcom. Emergency management officials hope the unified system will help better inform the public.

Pierce County experienced several wildfires last summer, including one that killed two people, said Jody Fuerguson, the county’s emergency management director. The Gig Harbor area experienced several significant wildfires, including two highly visible fires along Highway 16 in June 2023.

“As wildfires become more common near urban areas in Western Washington, it is critical for all of us to learn, understand and follow the ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ approach to evacuation when instructed to do so,” she said in a news release.

Standardized answer

The evacuation program was launched last year to standardize emergency evacuation in four counties. Kitsap, Skagit and Whatcom joined the partnership this year.

“Given the increasing threat (of wildfires), we wanted to use a standardized communications platform across the region that is easy to understand,” said David Rasmussen, a spokesman for the Kitsap County Emergency Management Agency.

Emergency managers can use the evacuation system for a variety of emergencies, Rasmussen said, but a joint response to wildfires is the catalyst for Puget Sound counties to participate.

Under this program, residents typically receive two warnings before an evacuation call is issued. An initial “Ready” notification alerts residents to potential hazards in the area and prompts them to begin preparing for an evacuation.

This could be followed by a “Set” notification telling residents that an evacuation is likely in the short term. Then the “Go” notification would tell residents to evacuate immediately.

Notifications will be sent through the county alert system, NOAA Weather Radios and social media. Residents can sign up for the Pierce County alert system here.

Above normal forest fire risk

The system is another consequence of the increasing risk of forest fires west of the Cascade Range.

The West Sound remains at low wildfire risk, but the Western Washington region is expected to have an “above average” wildfire risk for most of the summer, according to a June Outlook report from the National Interagency Coordination Center.

Meteorologists expect drier than normal conditions this summer. The Washington Department of Ecology a drought declared in April and justified this with the low snow cover and a dry spring.

Michele Laboda, a spokeswoman for North Kitsap Fire and Rescue, said wildfire risk is weather dependent and therefore difficult to predict. “However, we know there is already a lack of snow in the Olympic Mountains, and that is typical when we have drier conditions,” she said.

Conor Wilson is a Murrow News Fellow reporting for Gig Harbor Now and the Bremerton-based Kitsap Sun as part of a program administered by Washington State University.