Your obligation starts with taking into account all the members of your family and their caregivers. We would not like it said of any of our neighbors that they got out while leaving their baby-sitters to fend for themselves. Preparations to evacuate quickly must include everyone.

Evacuation itself is a stressful venture. Most of our roads are steep and winding. Under conditions of poor visibility because of weather, time of day or smoke, and when most drivers are going to be distracted and operating under stress, the possibility of accidents blocking roads and trapping others may become unacceptably high.

Even on Topanga Canyon Boulevard (TCB) there are many places where curves in the road or people ignoring stop signs could cause road-blocking accidents. Three years of data on accidents along TCB suggests that, even in normal times, the three miles off Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) are disproportionately dangerous. Almost 40% of all the accidents that happen along the 11-mile Topanga Canyon segment of TCB happen in those three miles. (Data compiled from Caltrans records for the years mid-1996 to mid-1999.)

Since it is true on both north- and south-bound sides of the road, these accidents are not caused by people speeding up in relief as they get off PCH. It is hard to explain, because that stretch of road seems similar to any other part. The statistics on cause show no trend. So, we should take this as a warning. Accidents happen easily under unusual conditions.

A communications plan is essential if you leave. The purpose of the plan is to ensure that everyone with a reason to know of your movements as a result of the emergency has a way of keeping in touch with you.

First, notify a few key people that you are leaving. These include a neighbor who may be staying, the T-CEP Hotline, and a friend or relative living outside the Canyon who will act as your point of contact, and the further from the Canyon the better, as their telephone links are less likely to be affected.

Then, after you have arrived at a safe place, notify all those who may be concerned about your safety that you are safe and that from now on they should only contact the designated point of contact for information about you.

Then for the duration of the emergency deal only with your point of contact as often as need be, but at least once a day.

There may be a few people, such as someone at work, your doctor, caregivers, etc., with whom you need frequent personal contact, to whom you may confide your local telephone.

Do not rely on cell phones or the normal telephone network-or anything that relies on the normal network such as fax. The load on all these systems in the first few days, at least, may be overwhelming. No news is definitely NOT good news during and after an emergency. You want news of your safety to be available to everyone as soon as possible.

Even the cell phone system relies on electricity to power its transmitters along TCB. Telephone poles burn up and fall over. Transformers are destroyed by the heat. The normal modes of communication cannot be relied upon in a wildfire emergency. One purpose of your emergency plan is to give reassurance and confidence that, despite any lack of communication, your family and local institutions will know how to behave safely when communication is not possible.