Linda Miller has lived through numerous fires, including the 1988 49er Fire and the 2020 Jones Fire. Both fires ignited in the Yuba Canyon.
“When a fire breaks out, our family jumps into action,” said Miller.
During the 49er Fire, her husband and numerous family members were out in the field offering to help build fire lines with tractors and other heavy equipment. The fire burned 33,700 acres and the north side of the family’s historic ranch, located off of Bitney Springs Road.
Linda grew up on the Personeni Ranch, founded nearly a century ago by her Italian-born father, Phil, his brother, Louis and Johanna, her German-born mother. Last fall, Linda’s daughter, Jen Kohler and her husband Grant, daughter “JoJo” (nine) and son “Cal” (three) moved to the family property to help care for the sheep and other livestock grazing on the bucolic rolling hills. Uncles, aunts and cousins live on what they jokingly refer to as a “family compound.”
The family is signed up for Nevada County Alerts, a new opt-in emergency notification system for residents. Residents can designate their home address, work address and addresses for schools or loved ones.
The Miller/ Personeni family sees the resource as an essential tool during an emergency when timely communication with loved ones and neighbors is critical for evacuating vulnerable elderly individuals and animals in their tight-knit agricultural community.
“I sleep with my cell phone by my bed,” Miller said, who is also signed up for the app Watch Duty, follows local media outlets and keeps an updated list of family and neighbor cellphone and landline numbers.
“We have several elderly family members who might need different forms of assistance and other friends and family who may need help being evacuated,” said Kohler.
Even though they feel relatively safe surrounded by acres of open space and irrigated pasture, they share multiple stories of nearby fires and close calls within their watershed. They’ve learned by experience to be ready for anything during wildfire season.
“We’re in a hotbed. We’re in the triangle,” said Kohler, pointing just beyond the treeline, to where the 705-acre Jones Bar Fire burned 18 structures, including wooden ramps and bridges of the popular Independence Trail.
Now that they are signed up for Nevada County Alerts, they can breathe a little easier knowing they will be notified if a fire threatens any of the five addresses they registered.
“It was very easy to hop on and very intuitive, so there’s no reason not to do it,” said Kohler, who has registered her rental house in Grass Valley, too, and is notifying her tenant.
“I think we’ve had enough scares. People are listening.”
Nevada County Alerts is Now Live!
Nevada County’s collaborative approach to preparing for wildfire and handling emergency response has become a model for other rural counties in California. From shaded fuel breaks and neighborhood green waste efforts to packing go bags, having a plan and knowing evacuation routes, multiple agencies and neighbors work year-round to ready themselves for wildfire.
“We work hard all year long on our planning efforts and communications, building those out beforehand. Fire is definitely our biggest major emergency we will see in Nevada County,” said Sergeant Andrew Liller of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.
Last November, the opt-in emergency alert platform known as CodeRED, used for more than a decade by the County, experienced a nationwide data breach. As a result, the vendor decommissioned the platform. This accelerated Nevada County’s efforts to find a new vendor before fire season hit and meet the needs of the 70,000 residents signed up with the old system. In California, six cities and 12 counties were impacted – including Nevada, Yuba, Butte and Plumas Counties.
“When we had that breach, it kind of shook everyone’s confidence,” said Sergeant Liller.
In February, the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services (OES) worked with the Sheriff’s Office, Information Security and local responders to develop a request for proposals. The group reviewed the pool of applicants and evaluated submissions to identify the most qualified vendor before choosing HQE, a veteran-owned company that prides itself on security and holds contracts with the U.S. Marine Corps. Nevada County Alerts will remain the public-facing name, even if the company platform changes or the California legislature adopts a statewide system.
“We’re switching the name to Nevada County Alerts. We don’t want to be confusing to the public,” said Sergeant Liller of the system rebrand.
The new vendor uses the same zone-based system that emergency teams and residents are familiar with while adding easier-to-use, timely messaging, a public alerts function and customization to fit the county’s growing needs, said Sergeant Liller.
By signing up for the service, residents will receive alerts for emergencies via landline and cell phone calls, email and texts when in proximity to their home addresses. Residents can register up to five Nevada County addresses – designate their home and work address and addresses for schools or loved ones.
In the first week after announcing the new platform, 6,800 residents had signed up for Nevada County Alerts. It’s the only County-sponsored method of emergency alerts that residents can sign up for in advance and complements the existing alert systems the county uses to notify people in an emergency.
“It’s going to be easier for staff to use during stressful times when we are working on so many critical elements to ensure public safety during an event,” said Liller, emphasizing how the new system eases communication response when personnel are pulled in many directions during a fast-moving emergency, like a wildfire. “This system is just one piece of our multi-layer evacuation model. It’s another tool in our box to alert the public. We want to make sure everyone gets timely information,” said Sergeant Liller.
The County’s OES is working with local cities – Nevada City, Grass Valley and Truckee to provide new system training. The new platform allows for numerous channels of communication, helping personnel meet the challenge of responding to an emergency in highly forested and mountainous terrains with little to no cell phone service.
“It’s challenging for sure and evacuation is on a lot of people’s minds these days. I think this new system is going to be a lot quicker and keep the accuracy that we need,” Sergeant Liller.
Besides the opt-in Nevada County Alerts, residents receive information about emergencies from the Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Emergency Services through:
- Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs): Cell phone notifications based on location, part of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. This service does not require sign-ups.
- Emergency Alert System (EAS): Alerts radio listeners and TV viewers.
- Hi-Low Siren: Alerts neighborhoods of an Evacuation Order using a European-style, two-tone siren.
Helping Families Stay in the Loop
That’s good news for Erin Schopfer and her family. Schopfer lives with her husband and children in Tuolumne County, near Yosemite, but grew up in Nevada County where her parents continue to make their home. Now in their 70s, her dad serves as a caretaker to her mom, who lives with disabilities. They live on Polaris Drive and were evacuated in the middle of the night during the McCourtney Road Fire in 2017.
“It was very scary when they got the knock on the door by a fireman in the middle of the night telling them, ‘you gotta go,’” said Schopfer. As her parents evacuated, flying embers glowed in the sky and hot spots could be seen a couple of doors down.
That was before her mother was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. She now uses a wheelchair, a change since she evacuated from a wildfire a decade ago.
“If they need to be evacuated, I would be alerted and able to call friends and recruit them if needed,” said Schopfer, who schedules a visit back home every couple of weeks.
Recently, Schopfer and her dad signed up for Nevada County Alerts. All it required was an email or phone number and at least one address. Nevada County Alerts is another way the family can be prepared for wildfire. Besides knowing their zone, which hasn’t changed, they have go-bags packed with extra essentials like medication and medical aid supplies to keep her mom safe and comfortable.
“Signing up helps me feel like I’m in the loop on stuff even if I’m far away. My dad can focus on what he needs to do instead of worrying about calling me,” said Schopfer. Signing up for Nevada County Alerts also prompted a family conversation about evacuation plans, so now everyone knows the drill.
“If you are a part of a support team for your family or want to be involved with them, signing up for Nevada County Alerts is a really nice way. You can do it from your phone, and it takes less than a minute. It’s literally so easy,” said Schopfer.
Residents are encouraged to sign up now to be included in the County-wide Nevada County Alerts test on May 28. Learn more and sign up at: readynevadacounty.org/emergencyalerts
Laura Petersen is a freelance writer who lives in Grass Valley. This article was written on behalf of Nevada County. Contact Laura at laurapetersenmedia@gmail.com.
