Boise Fire and residents train for wildfire evacuations in Warm Springs Mesa

Boise Fire and Boise PD, along with the help of other local agencies, conducted an emergency evacuation drill in the Warm Springs Mesa neighborhood on Friday. The exercise allowed emergency first responders and residents to practice wildfire evacuation plans and test the CodeRED notification system.

• The training included a mock fire that firefighters responded to and a test of the CodeRED Emergency Notification System for residents who chose to participate in the event.
• This is the first time Boise Fire has done an evacuation drill on this large of a scale.
• You can find out how to sign up for CodeRED Emergency Alerts here.

( Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

“This is a chance to practice our ability to reach residents and notify them of what’s going on, and have them assist us in evacuating the area," says Mike Walker, the Division Chief of Special Operations with the Boise fire department.

He tells me this evacuation drill helps them prepare for the real thing.

“Sometimes, that’s the best tactic for us is to remove the people from the problem instead of removing the problem from the people," added Walker.

He tells me this drill gives them an opportunity to find parts of the system that need fixing.

“Every time we do an exercise, something that looked good on paper, at a minimum you find a few little tweaks that need to be done so we’re hoping to find those little nuances, those little tweaks that need to happen," says Walker.

The training included a mock fire that firefighters responded to and a test of the code red emergency notification for residents that chose to participate in the event.

“You’ve got to do training, you've got to do drills," says Tom Burns, a member of the 'Pod Squad' which is part of the Mesa Emergency Safety Action Group.

Burns helps his neighbors connect with each other, he tells me training like this is important.

“It gives everybody an opportunity to build muscle memory about what to do in an emergency," says Burns.

“It’s extremely important because there always will be wrinkles," says Virginia Gillerman, who lives in Warm Springs Mesa.

She told me she found some of those wrinkles, but is happy that they’re testing the system.

“There were some good things and some bad things I did get a phone call to open actually on my landline but I had signed up according to our instructions on the smart phone code red alert, and I got absolutely nothing on my cell phone," says Gillerman.

Participants were given comment cards to share their experiences with the drill, so that issues like Virginia’s can be fixed.

“Preparation to save lives, because you don’t want to come up with a plan on how to save yourself save your family, save the neighborhood in a minute in the moment of crisis," says Walker.