What This Worksheet Helps You Do
When a wildfire threatens your area, the time between an evacuation warning and an evacuation order can be short. This worksheet helps you turn general “be ready” advice into a specific plan: what alerts to sign up for, what goes in your go-bag, which routes you’ll use, who in your household handles what, and how you’ll account for pets and medicines before you leave. Fill it in before wildfire season, not during it.
Terms to Know
- Wildfire — An unplanned fire that burns out of control in a natural area such as a forest, grassland, or prairie. Wildfires can spread quickly and threaten wildlife, natural areas, and communities.
- Emergency Alert System (EAS) — A national public warning system that broadcasts emergency alerts over radio and television.
- Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) — A short alert sent directly to capable cell phones in an affected area. No sign-up is required to receive WEA messages.
- Go-bag / Evacuation Supply Kit — A pre-packed bag or container of supplies kept ready so your household can leave quickly.
Before the Fire vs. When You’re Told to Leave
The U.S. Fire Administration and Ready.gov describe two distinct phases of wildfire evacuation readiness, and confusing the two is a common planning gap. The table below separates what belongs in your advance preparation from what belongs in your immediate-departure routine.
Advance Preparation (Do This Before Wildfire Season)
- Know your community’s emergency notification and evacuation plans
- Prepack emergency supply kits
- Identify and practice at least two ways out of your neighborhood
- Plan how you’ll evacuate family, friends, or neighbors who have disabilities
- Participate in a community wildfire drill if one is offered
- Fix anything that could slow you down later, such as a locked gate
Immediate Departure (Do This When an Evacuation Is Underway)
- Charge all cell phones in case of power loss
- Back vehicles into the garage or park them facing your direction of escape, with the gas tank at least half full
- Leave early if you’re concerned — evacuations can take longer than expected because of traffic, reduced visibility, small children, or pets
- Go promptly once told to evacuate, and keep listening for further instructions as you travel
- Confirm everyone in your household is accounted for once you’re out
- Contact your designated out-of-area contact once you’re safe
Step-by-Step: Build Your Household’s Evacuation Plan
Step 1: Sign Up for Alerts
Ready.gov recommends having several ways to receive wildfire alerts. Download the FEMA app, which can provide real-time alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations. Also sign up for any community alert system in your area. The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) require no sign-up and will reach capable devices automatically, but a local community alert system is still worth registering for, since it can provide neighborhood-level detail that a broad regional alert won’t. If air quality alerts are available in your area, pay attention to those as well — smoke exposure is a hazard even before a fire reaches your neighborhood.
Step 2: Pack the Go-Bag
The U.S. Fire Administration’s evacuation checklist calls for a prepacked emergency supply kit or evacuation bag kept ready to load into the vehicle. As you pack, Ready.gov notes a specific handling caution: be careful with flammable or combustible household products — aerosols, cooking oils, rubbing alcohol, and hand sanitizer — since these can cause fires or explosions if handled incorrectly during a rushed evacuation. If available, Ready.gov also recommends storing an N95 mask in your kit to protect against smoke inhalation. Keep a backup phone charger in the bag as well, since Ready.gov specifically recommends purchasing backup charging devices to keep phones powered during a wildfire event.
Step 3: Map and Practice Your Routes
The U.S. Fire Administration’s checklist calls for practicing evacuation using at least two different ways out of your neighborhood, with everyone in the household participating. Before wildfire season, drive or walk both routes so they’re familiar under normal conditions — not for the first time during smoke and heavy traffic. If your household includes anyone who needs extra help leaving quickly, such as a family member or neighbor with a disability, build that into the plan now, since this is one of the specific gaps USFA’s checklist flags for advance planning.
Step 4: Assign Family Roles
A plan works faster when each person knows their one job in advance, rather than everyone doing everything at once. Based on the tasks named in the USFA checklist and Ready.gov’s guidance, consider assigning:
- One person to monitor alerts and relay instructions to the rest of the household
- One person to load the go-bags and any prepacked kits into the vehicle
- One person responsible for locating and securing pets, including carriers, food, and water
- One person to gather medicines and any equipment household members depend on daily
- One person (often whoever is most familiar with both routes) to drive and to keep listening for additional evacuation instructions along the way, as USFA’s checklist recommends
Write these assignments down and keep a copy with your go-bag, since the person responsible for a task may not be home when an evacuation begins.
Step 5: Handle Pets and Medicines
Don’t leave pet planning for the moment of departure. Have carriers, food, and water ready in advance so pets can leave with you without delay. The same applies to medicines and medical equipment — build them into the go-bag checklist itself so the person assigned to that role can grab a single bag rather than searching the house.
Step 6: Watch for Local Orders and Go Promptly
Ready.gov’s guidance is direct on this point: evacuate immediately if authorities tell you to do so. USFA’s checklist adds that it’s worth leaving early if you’re concerned, since evacuations often take longer than expected — heavier traffic, decreased visibility, and the needs of small children or pets can all slow things down. Once you’re moving, continue listening for additional evacuation instructions, since routes or destinations can change as a fire develops.
Step 7: Confirm Safety and Wait to Return
After you’ve evacuated, USFA’s checklist recommends confirming that everyone in your household is accounted for and addressing any injuries. Contact your designated out-of-area contact to let them know you’re safe. Check with local authorities for current information on public shelters, or check the FEMA app for open shelter locations. Don’t return home until local officials say it’s safe to do so.
What This Worksheet Doesn’t Cover
This guide focuses on evacuation readiness — alerts, routes, roles, and departure. It does not cover home hardening, defensible space landscaping, or fire-resistant construction, which involve separate preparation steps and are outside the scope of this article. It also can’t tell you which route or shelter to use during an actual fire — those decisions are incident-specific and come from local fire officials and law enforcement in real time.
Where to Go Next
For the broader preparedness framework this evacuation plan fits into, see our Emergency Preparedness and Self-Reliance section. If you haven’t built your go-bag yet, our Bug Out Bag coverage goes deeper on what to pack and how to organize it.
Disclaimer
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for instructions from local fire officials, emergency management agencies, or law enforcement. Evacuation routes, shelters, and orders are specific to each wildfire event. Always follow current local orders, and call 911 for life-threatening emergencies. ThePreppersBlueprint.com is an independent editorial publication and is not affiliated with any government agency.
Sources: Ready.gov, “Wildfires” (ready.gov/wildfires); U.S. Fire Administration, “Prepare for Fire” and Wildfire Evacuation Checklist (usfa.fema.gov/prevention/home-fires/prepare-for-fire/wildfire/). Last updated: September 2026.