Potential Shelters Identified in Ramona for Next Big Fire

One surprise that came out of Monday's public evacuation forum in Ramona is that the Red Cross may have selected potential shelter sites in the area for people in the event of an emergency. County Animal Services also has a list of evacuation sites for animals. However, none of these locations are common knowledge among Ramona residents.

"It was clear to me that no one in the room knew where these sites are," said County Supervisor Dianne Jacob. "It's up to the Red Cross ... to identify these locations ... in the plan."

No one provided more information at the forum regarding any potential shelters that might have been identified by outside agencies or organizations.

Jacob was referring to the evacuation plan for Ramona, which "is like a phone book," according to the head of one local group, the Committee for a Better Ramona.

"Seventy-eight percent of people in this town have said (in a survey) that they don't have the plan or don't understand it," said Ramona attorney Bob Krysak at the forum, which was sponsored by Jacob and Sheriff's Lt. Julie Sutton. "We need to know how to get a copy and we need a one-page plan."

Sutton said Ramona Community Planning Group created a two-sided one-page summary of the plan, which has a map on the back.

Krysak, who is the head of Committee for a Better Ramona, said Wellfield Park, Mt. Woodson and San Vicente golf courses and the schools could be shelters. He said residents have been very clear in stating they won't leave in the event of another major fire and agencies need to help the town come up with plans to address that scenario. Krysak said he'll be following up to get more information on the Red Cross list of shelters because he hadn't been informed of such a list.

Jacob said she will follow up on Krysak's ideas.

Monday's forum at Ramona Library included a panel of speakers from various agencies. It was informative and orderly. About 150 people attended, including speakers.

But did it answer many residents' big question: "What exactly do we do in the event of a major fire?"

Ninety percent of residents who responded to a survey by a Committee for a Better Ramona stated that if another disaster such as the Witch Creek Fire occurred, they would stay home to protect their properties rather than evacuate, Krysak told the panel.

That's a major concern to the agencies responsible for safeguarding lives and property. It's also a major concern for property owners.

If residents aren't planning to leave town, what kind of help might be available? Which locations might be used as shelters? And if people do leave town, where exactly would they go?

The consensus expressed by the panel is that fire is dynamic and that dealing with a major firestorm is a "fluid" situation which no one can forecast.

People at the forum heard from County Animal Services representative Laura Ward that there's "a list of horse ranches that might be shelters but we don't tell the public because we might want people to evacuate instead." She said her agency answers to the directive of the Sheriff's Department.

Speakers at the panel also represented the County Office of Emergency Services, California Highway Patrol, CalFire, the Reverse 9-11 system, Ramona Municipal Water District and SDG&E. They talked about the many lessons learned from the historic Cedar Fire of 2003 and Witch Creek Fire of 2007, in which a total of 17 people died.

Jacob commented about how the Witch Creek Fire created "a fiasco here," with communication and traffic problems in Ramona and other communities.

Everyone agreed that the 2007 fire created conditions that had not been seen in our lifetimes in this area and that agencies were challenged about how to handle it. Residents recalled the traffic flow problems heading down the hill on Highway 67 and weaknesses in communication among agencies.

"We do know one thing: history repeats itself if changes aren't made," Kelly Zombro, deputy chief of operations for CalFire in San Diego county said. He expressed deep concern about Ramonans wanting to stay to protect their homes. "Australians died protecting their homes. Sorry about the doom and gloom but I'm just wanting to give you a dose of reality."            

One Ramona resident, Mischa Dobrotin, who lives in east Ramona, said, "The reason we lost our home in 2003 was because we evacuated. We won't be evacuating again."