What zone are you in? City of Sonoma releases evacuation map

As the evacuation zone maps spread on social media and news reports over the past week, the City of Sonoma received a number of questions about local evacuation zones, according to sonomacity.org. They responded by “expediting the release” of the Emergency Evacuation Zones map, which divides the county map’s Zone 9 — the City of Sonoma – into four distinct “quadrants.”

“It is important to know what zone you reside in ahead of time, so that you can quickly evacuate if orders for your zone are ever issued,” reads the city website on a page with the multi-colored map itself. “Find your zone, then write it down, screenshot it, or save it in your memory, so you can reference it and are ready if/when the time comes.”

The four quadrants are:

• Zone 9A, which includes all areas in Sonoma city limits that are west of First Street West and north of West Napa Street.

• Zone 9B, which includes all areas in Sonoma city limits that are east of First Street West and north of East Napa Street

• Zone 9C, which includes all areas in Sonoma city limits that are east of Broadway and south of East Napa Street.

• Zone 9D, which includes all areas in Sonoma city limits that are west of Broadway and south of West Napa Street.

The evacuation zones were under development countywide over the summer, said city Manager Cathy Capriola. “Yes, we published our internal plans a bit early to help the public understand zones for the City once the Sheriff started using the evacuation zones for the Sonoma fires.”

The city cautions that their “current best laid plans for an efficient evacuation of our community during a large-scale emergency” are subject to changing conditions and varying hazards, modifications could become necessary during an emergency, noting that an evacuation order may instead refer to geographic boundaries, streets or landmarks

Broader Sonoma County and unincorporated Sonoma Valley evacuation maps can be found online at socoemergency.org/evacuation-update.