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EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS The number one action that you can take to defend your home is to create defensible space! 1. Clear a 30 foot - 50 foot wide space around your home, free from weeds and dry brush. Trim tree branches away from your home, remove wood piles. 2. Check fire extinguishers and add them to strategic locations around your property. 3. Keep fire tools handy - rake, axe, bucket, shovel, hose, fire extinguisher. 4. Do not forget your roof - sweep off any leaves, pollen, or other dry debris. One spark igniting dry pollen can set your roof on fire 5. If you do not have a Rural Metro Fire Subscription, please consider getting one. If your house is on fire and you do not have a subscription, you will be sent a bill for their services (it is not inexpensive). You can schedule a property survey with one of the firefighters by calling Luther Moorhead at 480-606-3398. They will come out and do a visual inspection and assess the steps you can take to protect your property. Rural Metro also provides Emergency Services and Rattlesnake Removal. 6. Check with your insurance company to make sure that your policy is up to date and covers appropriate replacement value. Also check with them to see if they will process your claim without a Rural Metro subscription. 7. Drive alternate routes from your house so you are familiar with the area and possible escape roads/trails. 8. Make sure your address is visible from the road. 9. Take videos/pictures of your personal belongings or household item, along with valuables, back up the pictures/video to the cloud/Amazon Prime or your phone carrier. All-Hazard Evacuation Steps READY - Prepare Now Sign up for the Rio Verde Horsemans Association Emergency Alerts. Enter your phone number, name and carrier. www.rvha-az.com, click on RVF alerts tab. You will receive a text in the event of fire, evacuation, road closures. On Facebook, join the following groups: RVHA, Arizona Foothills 911, Rio Verde Foothills Bulletin Board. These groups will give you up to the minute info on fires/emergencies/road closures Download the website www.ein.az.gov for current emergency area information. Make a family evacuation and communication plan that includes family phone numbers, out-of-town contacts and family meeting locations. Keep in mind physical distancing recommendations, wearing face coverings or other public health recommendations. If you have livestock, they may need to be evacuated. Set up a relocation spot in advance. Make sure your horses will load into a trailer, as they may need to be left behind if they cannot load. Have a dog tag, small luggage tag or other ID (vet marker/write your number on their hoofs) ready to braid into their manes or tails. Note: Westworld is available in the event of an evacuation (depending on availability). All horses need current shots and health certificates. Current rates will apply. Build an emergency go kit with enough food, water and necessary supplies for at least 72 hours. Include supplies to help keep you and your family healthy, such as face coverings, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes. Start with the five Ps; people and pet supplies, prescriptions, papers, personal needs and priceless items. Get to know your neighbors and check with them, family, friends and elders through video chats or phone calls to ensure they are READY. SET - Be Alert Residents should consider voluntarily relocating to a shelter or with family/friends outside the affected area. Residents should avoid close contact with those who are sick and should practice public health recommendations when relocating. Grab your emergency go kit. This might be the only notice you receive. Emergency services cannot guarantee they will be able to notify everyone if conditions rapidly deteriorate. Be SET to GO. GO! - Evacuate Danger in your area is imminent and life threatening. Residents should evacuate immediately to a shelter or with family/friends outside of the affected area. Residents should avoid close contact with those who are sick and should practice public health recommendations when relocating. If you choose to ignore this advisement, you must understand emergency services may not be able to assist you further. Follow instructions from emergency personnel, stay on designated evacuation routes and avoid closed areas. 5 Ps of Evacuation o People and Pets and other animals/livestock and supplies. o Prescriptions with dosages, medicines, medical equipment, vision and hearing aids, batteries and power cords, face coverings, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes. o Papers including important documents (hard copies and/or electronic copies saved on external hard drives or thumb drives), insurance papers, contacts. o Personal Needs including clothing, water, baby supplies, food, cash, credit cards, first aid kits, phones, and chargers (solar chargers), flashlights and extra batteries, bottled water, personal hygiene items, whistle, dust mask. o Priceless items including photos, irreplaceable mementos and other valuables