Let’s Plan, Prepare and Get Connected

With the recentfires we have had in Simi Valley and Santa Rosa Island, it’s a perfect time to take a moment and make sure you are prepared for an emergency in our community. NOW is the time to take simple, proactive steps to protect yourself, your family, pets, and neighbors before disasters occur. The City of Goleta, together with our partners, provides practical tips and resources to help everyone become better prepared for all types of emergencies.

As a reminder, we do have a great new tool for Santa Barbara County to provide up to date information on emergency zones. Launched in August 2025, the Emergency Zones Map is a key resource that ensures you can access critical details at any time. In addition to this tool, here are some other important steps you can take to make sure you are prepared for an emergency.

Step 1: Have a Plan

Talk with your family or household members about what to do during different types of emergencies, such as wildfires, earthquakes, or power outages. Decide on safe meeting places, practice evacuation routes, and make sure everyone knows how to contact each other if separated. Writing down your plan and reviewing it regularly helps ensure everyone stays on the same page.

Step 2: Keep Supplies

Supplies give you peace of mind and support when resources may not be available. Build an emergency kit with essentials like food, water, medications, flashlights, batteries, and first aid supplies to last at least three days. Don’t forget items for pets, infants, or elderly family members.

When planning ahead for evacuations, or in case immediate evacuation is required, keep the 6 “P’s” in mind:

• People and Pets
• Papers, phone numbers & other important documents. Deeds, birth certificates and other irreplaceable documents should be in one location so these can be grabbed at a moment’s notice.
• Prescriptions, eyeglasses, and vitamins. You may be gone from your home for days, so be sure you have access to all your health-related items.
• Pictures and irreplaceable memorabilia.
• Personal computers or any information stored on hard drives and disks.
• Plastic (credit cards, ATM cards) and cash in small denominations.

Step 3: Stay Connected to Official Emergency Information Before, During, and After a Disaster

• Sign up for ReadySBC Alerts, or if you’re already signed up, confirm or update your account information this month.
• Explore the emergency zones map to better understand how to search your address and bookmark the webpage. Additionally, community members can download the Genasys PROTECT app in the Apple App Store and Google Play on their mobile devices. Mobile app users can choose to receive push notifications when a zone is activated during an emergency.

Additional information: For community members with kids, this can be a helpful way to start family conversations about safety and preparedness, and resources such as Emergency Planning for Kids can offer additional support. For individuals with disabilities and others in the access and functional (AFN) needs community, this can also be a useful way to begin conversations about safety and preparedness, Emergency Planning for AFN.