In the midst of another long wildfire season, Marin County officials are launching a new system to accelerate evacuations.
Marin County will now use evacuation tags to mark houses and properties that have been fully evacuated during wildfires. The tags are used by the homeowner to let first responders know that the property has been completely evacuated.
"When a wildfire or disaster strikes time is at the essence," Sgt. Brenton Schnider with the Marin County Sheriff's Office said.
He told KCBS Radio the tags will improve response times and allow first responders to focus on the fire rather than getting people out.
Evacuating any one property can take one to three minutes, Schnider said.
In an emergency situation those minutes add up.
"It gives first responders a chance to more directly deal with the wildfire or the disaster and not having to worry about which houses have been evacuated and which haven’t," Schnider said. He added last year's Woodward Fire demonstrated just how valuable extra time can be.
It's a system that's also been put in place in neighboring Sonoma and Napa counties.
The tags can be picked up at all Marin County fire stations as well as police and sheriff's department locations.
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