ASHLAND, Ore.– Preparing for the worst but hoping for the best, Ashland is planning an evacuation drill this Saturday to evaluate the response of emergency and city personnel.
The drill is an effort to improve upon the city’s emergency preparedness in the case of a disaster, like a wildfire. It also is a chance to prepare residents in the case of a real emergency.
Affected residents were notified by mail this week and given the opportunity to say if they would like to participate. Around 300 households were contacted and the city has heard back from 32 as of Tuesday.
City administrator Kelly Madding says that several alerts will be sent over Nixle, the city’s emergency alert system, starting Thursday and ending Saturday notifying residents about the drill.
“There have been fires that occurred last year and the year before that put people on alert and we definitely heard that message and the council heard that message,” said Madding. “So we want to try and be as prepared as possible.”
The drill is expected to start around 9 a.m Saturday and end around noon. Participants will be evacuated from their homes and sent to a shelter where they will answer questions about the drill. The location has not been released due to safety precautions for the homes of participants.
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