Woodside Fire and Portola Valley to conduct large‑scale evacuation drill Sept. 11

Woodside Fire Protection District announced a large‑scale evacuation drill in Portola Valley on Sept. 11 to practice zone‑based notifications and multi‑agency responses.

"We are going to be utilizing SMC Alert as well as Genesis so that people can get familiar with using those tools," said Kim Giulia, division chief and fire marshal with Woodside Fire. The drill will not require the entire town to evacuate; instead, specific zones will be called out, with some areas receiving warnings and other areas ordered to evacuate based on fire‑modeling outputs.

The exercise will be conducted in partnership with Portola Valley staff and neighboring jurisdictions that could respond to a wildland fire, including Redwood City and Menlo Park; the scenario and exact evacuation zones will be shared closer to the exercise. Kim said recent realistic wildland training in adjacent jurisdiction terrain helped familiarize responding crews with complicated roads, placarding and decisions about defending or passing on structures.

Why it matters: the drill is intended to increase community familiarity with alerting tools and evacuation procedures, and will test cross‑jurisdictional logistics. Staff and council members praised the timing and said they will publicize the exercise and encourage participation.

Next steps: staff will coordinate public information, zone maps and outreach so residents know whether and when to participate or to shelter in place for specific drills.