Wildfire Ready

🔔 Step one — before anything else

Two minutes, today, on your phone

If you do exactly one thing on this page, do this: sign up for Pitkin Alert — it's how Pitkin County tells you an evacuation is coming, by text, call, and email. Sign up every adult in the house, not just one.

Two good companions: the ReachWell app (Aspen Fire uses it, and it translates alerts into your language) and Watch Duty, the free app locals check when there's smoke on the horizon and rumors are flying — it shows real incidents, mapped, fast.

🗣️ Know the three phrases

What the alerts actually mean

Aspen's geography is the honest part of this conversation: many neighborhoods here have one way in and one way out, and the main route out of town is Highway 82, downvalley. Officials are clear that fully evacuating town could take half a day or more — which is exactly why the pre-evacuation notice matters, and why leaving early is the local move, not the panicky one. Take the shortest paved route; the Rio Grande Trail and neighborhood shortcuts are not evacuation routes, and blocking them costs firefighters access.

Goal: out the door in 60 seconds — tap items as you pack them

Think of it as three layers: a go-bag by the door (per person — this list), a home kit (bulk water and food for outages, doesn't have to be portable), and a small car kit that lives in the trunk year-round. The go-bag is the one that matters most, because its whole job is to remove the reason people delay. Preparedness should never slow your exit — it exists so you don't hesitate.

Start the list over

🏠 Defend your home before there's a fire

The free local help most people don't know exists

Aspen Fire puts it bluntly: the most important person in protecting a house from wildfire is the property owner, not a firefighter. The good news is you don't have to guess what to do — Aspen Fire offers free wildfire risk assessments for homes and whole neighborhoods, and runs Chipper Days to haul away the brush you clear. Free, local, and they come to you.

Renting? You still control the first five feet of your door and deck — and you can nudge your landlord toward the free assessment.

😮‍💨 Smoke days

The wildfire experience you're most likely to actually have

Most fire seasons, smoke from fires hundreds of miles away is what actually reaches us. Check conditions on the AirNow Fire & Smoke Map before outdoor plans. At 8,000 feet your lungs are already working harder than at sea level — on bad-air days, locals genuinely do move workouts indoors, and nobody thinks less of them.

Keep windows closed, run whatever filtration you have, wear the N95 from your kit if you must be out in it for long, and check on older neighbors and anyone with asthma. Smoke days end; be boring about them.

👨‍👩‍👧 The ten-minute family plan

Three decisions, made at the dinner table, not during an alert

1. Who's the out-of-valley contact? Pick a relative or friend far away that everyone reports to — local lines and attention get scarce during an incident, and a relay person means nobody has to reach everybody.

2. Where do we meet? One spot near home if you're separated locally, and one downvalley if town is evacuating. Write both in each person's phone and on paper in the go-bag.

3. Who grabs what? Assign the pets, the bags, the car. Then actually rehearse the 60-second grab once — it's mildly silly and completely worth it, especially with kids.

🚗 If you're told to go

The short version, for the moment you need it

Go early, go calmly, go paved. Bags in the car, pets in the car, headlights on, windows up. Close doors and windows behind you but leave gates unlocked for firefighters. Follow the route officials give you — not the shortcut you know — and once you're out, tell your relay contact and stay out until officials say otherwise. Nothing in your house is worth re-entering an evacuation zone for.

An early departure that turns out unnecessary costs you an afternoon. The reverse costs more. Locals who leave early aren't dramatic — they're the ones making room on Highway 82 for everyone behind them.