Wildfire Safety

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE OPEN:

• The best temporary shelter is in a sparse fuel area.
• When in an automobile, move it to the barest possible ground. Close all windows and doors. Lie on the floor and cover yourself with a jacket or blanket. Keep calm and let the fire pass.
• If a road is nearby, lie face down along the road cut or the ditch on the uphill side. Cover yourself with anything that will shield you from the fire's heat.
• When hiking in the back country, seek a depression with sparse fuel. Clear fuel from the area while the fire is approaching and then lie face down in the depression and cover yourself.
• On a steep mountaintop, the back side is safer.

AVOID:

Canyons: They form natural chimneys and concentrate heat, gases, and updrafts.

Saddles: Vegetation normally ignites first in these wide, natural paths that are ideal for fire storms and winds.

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