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I'm Mary Jo Wallen and I live at 60 Yucca Drive. I've volunteered to be the Evacuation Coordinator for our lovely community. "If" there is sufficient time to notify everyone in the development, we will utilize a "phone tree" to notify everyone with evacuation procedures. I've attached an "Emergency Evacuation Sheet" (PDF file). If you want to be included, please fill it out and return to me. We've divided the area into about ten different zones. Once you provide me with this sheet then I will provide you with more specific information.

The Ramah Volunteer Fire Department provided the following Evacuation Plan to the membership at the 2007 Annual Meeting:

- An evacuation may require immediately leaving your residence with just the clothes on your back, to having a 24-hour notice before you would need to evacuate.
- Evacuations can either be voluntary or mandatory.
- If the evacuation is an immediate evacuation, only emergency vehicles will be allowed to enter the Timberlake area. Access will be restricted no matter what in an evacuation.
- If you choose to stay after an evacuation has been initiated, we may not have the personnel or resources to dedicate to help protecting you and your home.
- If we do not have easy access and egress to and from your house, we will not defend your house. We use a triage system in selecting which houses we will defend. You can contact the Ramah Fire Dept for more specific information - such as having a 30' clear area around your home and a driveway that is wide enough for fire equipment to enter and turn around in.
- Phone # for the Ramah Fire Dept is 783-4550.
- In an emergency, you can also call 911.
- If you evacuate, we would want you to close your garage doors, leave your doors unlocked and leave the front porch light on to indicate that you have evacuated.
- If there is the time to set up an information checkpoint near an exit of the evacuation area, we will collect names, local addresses of evacuees and where you are going in an accountability effort. By sending me the Emergency Evacuation Sheet, we will be one step ahead in having a database of names and addresses.
- If the phones are working and there is time to implement a phone tree, we will. We will also notify residents of an evacuation via the public address systems on our emergency vehicles. And then there is self-evacuation. The Ramah Fire Department would contact me and/or members of the Board to get the phone tree started.
- The Ramah Fire Department and/or local law enforcement will execute any evacuation.
- Once you leave the evacuation area, you will not be allowed back in until the incident is over and it is safe to return.
- The main evacuation route is out the Timberlake Road. The secondary route is up Forest Road 157 toward McGaffey.

When you fill out the "Emergency Evacuation Data Sheet" it is very important that you notify us of any special needs. Are you elderly? Are there any disabled family or friends that need assistance? Horses? Pets?

Since I have a horse I have a particular interest in making sure that I have a backup who is capable of getting my horse out. I have made arrangements with Anita Davis (she owns the corrals right off of Highway 53 when you turn off the pavement) to allow us to keep horses in her corrals. Depending on the situation, it has been suggested that we may meet by the football field after evacuating. However, specific instructions would be given to you at the time of evacuation.

We need volunteers to help with this project and we need to make sure that all information is kept up-to-date as much as possible. As new information is available, it will be posted on our web site, in the newsletter and important phone numbers will be posted on the bulletin boards by the cluster mail boxes next to the Volunteer Fire Dept. and by the bath house.

Basically, if an emergency were declared, we would have a buddy system or phone system in place and each Evacuation Coordinator for their designated zone/area would be responsible to notify the people in his/her area. For instance, I live on Yucca Drive and at the present time, there are only five other homeowners who live full-time on Yucca, Conjeo and Cedar. So, calling 5 people would not take much time.

Please remember that it is "our" responsibility to take precautions during the entire year - not just during a drought. Our homes are in the middle of the Cibola Forest and we all want to enjoy the beauty around us for the "rest of our lives".

If you have any questions or suggestions, please call me at 783-4105.

--Mary Jo Wallen