Golden Bear neighborhood to hold emergency evacuation drill

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, Lake Valley Fire Protection District, CAL Fire, and the US Forest Service will be hosting a community evacuation drill for the Golden Bear Residential Tract on Saturday, May 18. The drill will take place from 8:00 a.m. to about 12:00 p.m.

On the day of the drill, residents of the Golden Bear Tract, who have registered their landline and/or cell phones with the County's regional notification systems (Code Red) will receive an emergency alert call informing residents of the drill and at the same time, testing the system in that specific area.

The “Golden Bear Evacuation Drill” will affect all of the Golden Bear Tract. Approximately 451 residents will be asked to voluntarily evacuate to the “Snow Dump” parking lot located at Sierra Boulevard and Barbara Avenue in South Lake Tahoe.

Traffic on Golden Bear Trail and Pioneer Trail may experience slight delays due to this drill. A traffic control point will be established at Golden Bear Trail and Pioneer Trail to aid with traffic flow. Again, this event may cause some traffic delays in the area. Visitors and residents of the area should expect these delays and may see an increase in public safety responders and emergency vehicles.

This is a great opportunity for public safety agencies to collaborate and prepare for potential incidents. This drill will also exercise cooperative local agreements as well as an opportunity for residents to gain knowledge of how an evacuation is activated, operationalized, and communicated.

"We hope all of our residents in the Golden Bear Tract will participate in this voluntary evacuation," said the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office.

Residents in the neighborhood recently held a meeting at the fire station about fire safety in the Golden Bear area. One resident has created a spreadsheet of each home, where pets live, elderly and immobile neighbors, phone numbers and other data.

If you have not yet signed up for Code Red, you can do it by visiting Ready.edso.org