Emergency Evacuations
What is the map below?
The County of Sonoma manages a county-wide online map that is used to help identify areas that are under threat either by fire, flood, earthquake, or power outage. The map (titled Fire Incident Map) is found at the bottom of this page and includes Evacuation Zones for areas inside Petaluma, as well as areas in other cities and unincorporated County areas.
An additional map resource where you can find your evacuation zone is called the "Know Your Zone" map. Click HERE to download a printable "Know Your Zone" map for Petaluma.
Where is your zone?
This map is interactive. You can type your address in the search box in the upper left corner, and it will zoom to your area. Petaluma's zones start with the letters PTL and are followed by numbers (you may need to “zoom out” sightly to see these zone numbers, such as PTL-001). For details on the address and it’s Zone, click on the parcel and a window with Zone status and other information will pop up. Click HERE to download a printable Evacuation Zones map for Petaluma.
How do I use the map?
To find information specific to an address, enter the address in the search bar and click on the parcel to see incident information, evacuation status, and evacuation zone boundaries. In the lower right of the map, you will find additional tools. The legend tool will provide you with a description of what each of the symbols on the map represents. Additionally, clicking on any symbol will pop up more detailed information. The Layers tool will allow you to turn on additional layers of information, or turn off layers that are not of interest. There is also a Measurement tool and a Printing tool provided.
HOW WILL I BE NOTIFIED IF I HAVE TO EVACUATE?
If an alert or warning needs to be issued for a potential threat to the City of Petaluma, community members can receive these messages by subscribing to Nixle or SoCo Alerts. As part of our emergency management and preparedness, the City of Petaluma provides this alert and warning service free to our community. To subscribe to Nixle, click HERE or text your Zip code to 888777. We encourage all of our community members to also sign up for SoCo Alerts, if you have not already done so.
Like the County of Sonoma, the City of Petaluma also has the ability to activate the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system for situations that present an imminent threat to life or property. This notification does not require a subscription and is typically received through a wireless device like a mobile phone or tablet. You may have already seen this type of alert before as it commonly used for AMBER alerts. For more information about WEAs, please see below:
What is WEA?
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) is a nation-wide system providing lifesaving information for the State of California. WEAs are used to send concise, text-like messages in English and Spanish to WEA-capable mobile devices during emergency situations. WEAs are sent by your state and local public safety officials such as the National Weather Service, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the President of the United States.
TYPES OF WEA ALERTS
PRESIDENTIAL
Alerts issued by the President or a designee during a national emergency.
IMMINENT THREAT
Alerts issued when an imminent threat to life or property exists in your area, including severe human-made or natural disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
AMBER
Alerts issued to help law enforcement search for and locate an abducted child.
For more information on this system, click here.