Be ready to flee fire, official warns

Fire officials said it was lucky for residents that a large-scale evacuation was not initiated Tuesday night when a fire on Salt Lake City's east bench broke out, because if it had been, they would not have been ready.

"It was very evident that people living up there weren't following good practices of keeping a barrier between them and the wildlands," said Salt Lake City Fire spokesman Scott Freitag.

Freitag said that in some circumstances, scrub oak was touching the sides of homes, making them highly susceptible to quickly catching fire from flames bounding up the hillside.

Every four years or so, fire officials make the rounds through what they call "interface areas" — homes in canyons and the eastern neighborhoods where wildlands are basically in the back yards — to provide information to homeowners about protecting their homes from natural disasters that may strike unexpectedly.

"You have to think about the risk of where you live and what you might have to do for where you live to protect your home," Freitag said.

Homeowners in such areas are encouraged to keep a minimum of a 15-foot barrier, containing vegetation other than the dry scrub oak that is so popular in Utah, to keep fires from reaching their homes and leaving little or no time to get out safely.

Firefighters Tuesday night soaked at least two homes, keeping them wet because they were so close to dry fuels that would serve as kindling for a house fire.

"We had so many people calling dispatch with questions and coming up to us on scene asking what they should take with them if they were to be asked to evacuate," Freitag said.

Residents also should have already thought through what basic essentials they would grab if asked to leave in the spur of a moment, he added.

Having a "jump kit," he said, containing items necessary when asked to vacate the premises would ease the confusion and make an evacuation run more smoothly for everyone involved. Insurance information is one of the key components of such a kit, because if a home were to be taken by a fire, or swept away in a flood, an agent would be one of the first people to call.

A lot of people were questioning whether to grab photographs, their computers or other things that Freitag doesn't consider "necessary" in an emergency situation. Medications and other emergency provisions, on the other hand, would be items to grab on the way out the door.

"And don't forget to grab the dog," he said.

Several UTA buses lined the streets of the St. Mary's neighborhood Tuesday night to provide quick transport for the residents of some 75 homes in the area, in case an evacuation was necessary.

"Nobody would have been able to drive out of there that night," Freitag said. "With so many people out in the streets and the time we had to prepare, it would have been a smooth operation, but it would have been inconvenient for a lot of people who were unprepared."

Information and videos produced by the fire department are available for homeowners to check out at all the libraries around canyon and eastern neighborhoods, Freitag said. Any questions can also be addressed at community meetings.

"People need to be ready for that when they know they are living in an area where something like this might happen," he said.

---

E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com