Unfortunately, we need to remind you again as wildfires rage over Santa Barbara, tips to have your cell phone, phones and information ready in case of
fire.
- Be sure to keep your cell phone charged.
- Send
text messages to save bandwidth - frequently during a disaster the cell
tower traffic can get overloaded. Sending text takes far less
bandwidth and can notify your loved ones without tying up resources. - Keep your cell phone away from extreme heat such as the dashboard of your car, or fires.
- Don't let your cell phone be exposed to water.
- A car charger, battery booster or other form of charger such as a the fuel cell Medis 24-7 is good to have Solio also makes a solar phone charger.
During a power outage it is important to have another way to charge your cell phone.
- Store important numbers in your cell phone, you won't have time to look them up.
- Designate
a friend or family member outside the fire area to contact in case your
service goes down, or you lose members of your family who are unable to
contact you. - If your primary phone number is a landline, make sure you have phone that does not require power, a simple dial phone.
- If you have time before leaving and have a web-enabled phone, bookmark important news sources like the County of Santa Barbara Emergency HomePage.
You may want to contact your carrier to find out if they have evacuation centers or mobile stores if stores have been burnt down. Verizon has set up a wireless phone bank at a second
emergency shelter, being opened at the University of California Santa
Barbara Multi Activity Center on the UCSB campus.
Because
you may not be able to carry a lot with you if you are evacuated, you
can store your important documents on a USB drive or microSD card. You
should always store files off site by some method, in case a fire burns
your computer.