Timeline of an Incident

Historic 2019 Fire Weather with 5-day PSPS & nearby Kincade Fire

 How Does a Disaster Unfold?

The timeline above shows how a weather-related incident unfolded in our community over eleven days during the historic 2019 fire season. Extreme fire weather prompted PG&E to implement a massive 5-day planned power outage (PSPS) across Northern California, while the nearby Kincade Fire led to evacuations throughout Sonoma County.

On October 22, two days before evacuations and four days before the PSPS began, TERN issued warnings via our mailing list, Post Office flyers, and the radio network. By October 26, with power out in Tomales and across Sonoma and Marin counties, evacuees started to arrive. Without power, our village has no running water, which left us unable to provide services to evacuees and in compromised circumstances ourselves.

When the PSPS went into effect, TERN initiated twice-daily “Info Alerts” through text messaging threads with updates on conditions. On October 27, limited local services became available: a local restaurant provided meals and water, and TERN set up a small device recharging station and began door-to-door wellness checks, while continuing to send Info Alerts and to attempt to reach and coordinate with the county.

County help did not arrive until October 30.

Communications and coordination with county emergency services have improved since then. But the reality is that, in our remote location, we are likely to be on our own for several during emergencies and need to rely on our ourselves and one another.