On a June night in 2016, a teenager setting off firecrackers in the Boise Foothills started a wildfire that burned 2,500 acres near Table Rock.
Residents of Boise’s nearby Mesa neighborhood were unprepared as the fire crept toward their homes late that night. Many weren’t signed up for emergency notifications and kept sleeping. Others woke up and began knocking on neighbors’ doors to alert them. Some residents evacuated, taking the only road that led out of the neighborhood, while others stayed back to keep an eye on their homes. No one really knew what to do.
They got lucky, and the fire stopped just short of their homes. But Rod Haars, who had moved to the neighborhood from the Midwest only two years before, was angry about the close call.
“God, this could have been a disaster,” he told the Idaho Statesman.
He and other residents decided to take matters into their own hands over the following years: Through a neighborhood association committee they dubbed Municipal Emergency Safety Actions, or MESA, they mapped out their neighborhood and divided it into “pods” of about 15 or fewer homes. Each has a “pod captain” who would disseminate information and instructions in an emergency and works with neighbors beforehand to come up with an evacuation plan. They make sure that neighbors are signed up for Code Red , PulsePoint and Idaho Power emergency alerts.
In August, the team’s preparation culminated with a full evacuation drill involving the Boise Fire Department, the Boise Police Department and other first responders. Ahead of time, residents assembled “go bags” and talked through logistical details. Were any of their neighbors doctors or nurses? Could someone watch the pod’s children while parents were packing the car? Who had had a recent surgery and would need help getting out of the house?…