Previously, evacuees were not permitted to return to their homes until evacuations orders were officially lifted, meaning some residents were barred from returning until well after the skies had cleared.
That led to complaints to the La Cañada City Council of too rigid rules. Residents said they would be more likely to leave if they knew they could run home briefly to retrieve belongings or pets.
The new protocols will allow people the flexibility to use their best judgment, Councilman Greg Brown said.
“Ultimately we want people to be safe,” Brown said. “There are times when they shouldn’t be there, so we want to do everything we can to encourage people to leave when it is truly dangerous, and not feel like they have to stay because they are concerned that we are being overly cautious.”
Evacuation fatigue is a pressing issue in foothill neighborhoods that have been evacuated more than a half dozen times since August.
Aaron Pabst moved his family from Glendale to their home on Harmony Place in La Crescenta two months before the Station fire. The family has heeded only two of the multiple evacuation orders they have been issued since August.
“There’s just not much danger,” Pabst said. “It is not worth the inconvenience and the feeling of being locked [out of] your home. They just come by and tell you if you leave you are not being let back in.”
The family planned to remain home Friday night, despite the modified evacuation policy. The recent events on Ocean View Boulevard were serious, Pabst said, but were unlikely to be replicated on his east-west running street.
“A lot of people are prepared to just stay in their home for several days,” Pabst said. “We have food and water. They have stated the utilities are not at risk, so it is not likely that your electricity or water or gas would be cut off or anything.”
Other impacted residents said the changes would make a difference in their decision to evacuate. Paradise Valley resident Katherine Markgraf called the easing of protocols a “weight off everyone’s shoulders.” She and her neighbors were growing increasingly frustrated at being kept from their homes, even during light rain storms, she said.
“We have already been evacuated for rain four times and we have got a long way to go, so this is so helpful,” Markgraf said. “A lot of us work, so to be able to at least come home, grab our pets and take care of them, that is really huge. We are incredibly grateful.”
