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Home My WebLink About282723 Disaster planningYES, IT CAN HAPPEN HERE. For the last 35 years I have divided my time living and working between Port Townsend and Hilo, Hawaii and can attest that between May and October Port Townsend’s temperature, winds and humidity are sufficiently like Hawaii’s that the fire storm that wiped out Lahaina could happen here. We need to prepare for that likelihood. We must prepare for wildfire or fire as part of the other major disaster possibilities locally: tsunami or major earthquake such as Haiti and Turkey/Syria recently experienced. The population must have reliable means of learning danger is present and how to escape from home or workspace. Like Lahaina, we already have an early warning tsunami system along the beaches of Jefferson County. The people of Lahaina had the same system which was not used to warn of wildfire danger. In the aftermath of their deadly fire there is much debate whether it should have been used as fire swept through the town. Some wonder would it have sent people in the wrong direction, away from the coast, into the fire. On October 19th there will be a worldwide test of the tsunami warning system https://mil.wa.gov/tsunami which we should utilize to test the response to earthquake/tsunami caused fire at the same time. The population must learn where to go if fire threatens and responding agencies must design and practice response. Many lives were lost in Lahaina, HI, about 500, and in Paradise, CA, Lytton, BC, and other towns that burned because there were few, narrow roads out, causing traffic jams and no planning in advance about what to do. All along the coasts of Jefferson County are enclaves of communities tied to the rest of the County by one or two narrow roads: Kala Point, Irondale, Marrowstone, Oak Bay, Port Ludlow, Paradise, Shine, The Coyle, Quilcene, Brinnon, Discovery Bay, Gardner, Diamond Point, Adelma Beach, Cape George, North Beach, Fort Worden, Morgan Hill, Point Hudson, Uptown and Downtown, The Port, The Mill and Glen Cove. It is likely that escaping fire in these communities means going to the beach as people did in Lahaina. But our water is much too cold for people to survive by immersing themselves in water for hours until help arrives. Water rescue off beaches must be designed and planned community by community. The plan should include Coast Guard, Indian Island personnel, private boat owners, tourist boats, port facilities and ?. Should the people downtown PT be herded onto a ferry to escape? How about communities away from the coast? Towne Point has about 170 homes with only one way out onto Discovery Road [Eddie Street should be opened] or the similar sized enclave of new homes down Thomas off of Hastings [Rainier Street should be opened], or Morgan Hill [the old reservoir?]. The PT golf grounds and Mountainview should be seriously considered as sanctuary for high school and uptown people displaced due to fire, earthquake or other disaster. It appears that green, living, short, kept moist grounds like the golf course do not burn and do provide refuge from fire. The County or City governments, fire departments, and homeowners associations should hold meetings in each of these local communities explaining the local plan for escape from fire. The airport should be designed to be a safe place where people from Castle Hill and people in cars stalled along the roads out of PT can be safe. It is also a place where disaster supplies could be stored, made safe from fire and tsunami, owned by the public, run by the Port of Port Townsend, One of the most highly responsible local government organizations. Finally, I commend the Jefferson County Noxious Weed Control Board, Port of Port Townsend, Jefferson County PUD and County Roads and the many volunteers who worked hard cleared out the highly flammable Scotch broom this year from our publicly owned double purpose firebreaks [roads, utility line clearings, airport, Short farm, Fort Worden]. Lahaina experience: https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-fires-timeline-maui-lahaina-road-block-c8522222f6de587bd14b2da0020c40e9 QAAAgD9COY7jPUQAAIA/RjmO4z0AAA==", "@type": "KeyPhraseExtraction", "@context": "http://schema.microsoft.com", "@EntityId": "e9e6391a-b11c-4cdb-88ff-cfc82f22c14c", "@extractionTimeUtc": "2023-08-28T01:24:13.3269856Z" } ]