Where should I evacuate to?

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I just need to know how far away I must evacuate when its unclear: is mid Solano Avenue far enough? What about El Sobrante? I understand this depends on how far the fire has spread, but im asking for when we either don’t know yet, or its a preemptive evacuation. Thanks in advance.

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Hi @Signe, and welcome to Berkeley Firewise!

I am assuming that you are asking about evacuation from an upcoming wildfire, not a tsunami or any other cause.

First, I should mention clearly that we cannot give you an absolute answer. Each one of us can only tell you what we plan to do. Ultimately, it is a personal choice that must be made by each one of us, and the price of being wrong could be our own lives :frowning:

Yours is a tough question because the range of possible wildfires is broad. The last major wildfire that deeply penetrated Berkeley, in 1923, went down to Shattuck Ave and Hearst in 2 hours and 20 minutes. In the last in-person wildfire clinic, the Berkeley Fire Department told us that, since the hillside is now much more built up, wildfire progression down the hill would be likely quite a bit slower.

So, for myself, I feel that evacuating below the Circle is the right thing to do, and the further away from the circle (going W) the better. So, again for my own case, evacuating down to mid-Solano would be good. But

  • it is remotely possible that the fire could go beyond that
  • it is certain that evacuating away from Berkeley would be even better, in an area that is not even near a wildfire, such as San Francisco, San Jose and Monterey.

As for El Sobrante: it is likely that a wildfire will come from the parkland east and northeast of us in Berkeley, probably during Diablo winds coming from a northeasterly directly. El Sobrante, while possibly upwind of parkland, may also be in danger depending upon later wind changes. I would not consider, again for my own case, El Sobrante to be a great location to evacuate to because, if the wind shifts, it may not be so far from a wildfire area.

In summary, for my own evacuation:

  • I feel that evacuating below the Circle is the minimum
  • Mid-Solano, for me, would be a solid option
  • it would be best, if possible, to leave Berkeley altogether for far-away locations such as San Francisco, Alameda, or Monterey
  • I don’t see El Sobrante as a very good location