Citizens and the district are preparing for the fire season: alarm test will take place tomorrow | News

JACKSON COUNTY, Ore. – Many Jackson County residents will receive notifications from the Jackson County Citizen Alert System Tuesday morning.

The test is being conducted across the county in preparation for fire season. About 77,000 Jackson County residents participate in the citizen alert system, but Jackson County Emergency Manager Holly Powers says many more have not yet signed up for the program.

She says the alert system can provide the community with important information they need in the event of a wildfire near their home. Most importantly, the alert system can tell households what stage of evacuation their location is currently in, from “Get Ready” to “Leave Now.”

“Signing up for Citizen Alert… (can) increase your awareness of various (emergency) situations that could impact your home, residence, school or work,” Powers said.

The citizen alert is a way for the county to prepare for fire season, but the community is also preparing, especially in Jacksonville.

In Jacksonville, approximately ⅔ of neighborhoods are considered “fire safe,” meaning they are committed as a community to fireproofing their properties and those of their neighbors.

“Residents are taking it very seriously,” said Linda Davis, Jacksonville Firewise coordinator.

The group evaluates various homes in the community and makes recommendations on how to protect their homes from wildfires. This may mean changing the landscape to make it more fire resistant, replacing plants with less flammable plants, and making changes to your home to prevent vegetation from forming or leave no room for embers to enter.

“When we see people taking action, which a lot of people are doing, a lot of people start doing things pretty quickly,” said Jeffrey McFarland, Firewise deputy coordinator. “It’s rewarding because we know things are improving and we just want that. Stay tuned.”

Rocky Walker is a reporter/producer at NewsWatch 12. You can reach Rocky at [email protected].