08-09-2023 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ramsey County │ Annex B: Protective Actions 3 • Jurisdictions should always consider shelter-in-place as the default option when feasible. The decision to evacuate or shelter-in-place will be made based on situational awareness, factoring in the type and severity of disaster risk, health and safety concerns, sheltering capacity, and the condition of roadways and other transportation resources. • If shelter-in-place is chosen as a protective action, specific shelter-in-place procedures must be communicated to the public based on the type of threat (e.g., hazardous material spill vs. armed aggressor). • While some emergencies are slow to develop, others occur without warning. Hence, there may be time for deliberate evacuation planning, or an evacuation may have to be conducted with minimal preparation time. In the case of no-notice or short-notice evacuations, there may be little or no time to obtain personnel and equipment from external sources to support evacuation operations. • The need to evacuate may become evident during the day or at night, and there could be little control over the evacuation start time. • If people must be evacuated or relocated, the primary mode of transportation for most people will be personal vehicles. However, transportation should be provided for people who do not have access to vehicles. • Private facilities with transportation-dependent populations, including schools, nursing homes, etc., have a duty to maintain their own evacuation facility plans and will utilize the transportation assets set out in those plans to evacuate their populations. The County or municipality will assist them as necessary for any resources needed as appropriate and available beyond what their plans supply. • Public safety authorities may need to evacuate more residents than necessary rather than risk evacuating too few. However, they should strive to be precise due to the burden on mass care and shelter operations. • Most people at risk will evacuate when local officials recommend that they do so. A general estimate is 80% of those at risk will comply when local officials direct an evacuation. The proportion of the population at risk that will evacuate typically increases as a threat becomes more obvious to the public or increases in severity. • Some individuals will refuse to evacuate regardless of the threat. Neither Ramsey County nor the State of Minnesota have a mandatory evacuation law and will not enforce evacuation. • Residents, workers, or visitors who choose to ignore an evacuation order take the risk of being without law enforcement, fire, medical, and other life-sustaining services for a prolonged time. • The evacuation of large numbers of people from vulnerable areas will stress the limited capabilities of roadways available for this purpose, potentially requiring substantial additional time to complete an evacuation. Consequently, an evacuation must be initiated as soon as feasible upon recognition of the threat. • Evacuations will require a substantial level of personnel and equipment resources for traffic control, which could stress and/or exceed the capabilities of the County and municipalities. Pre-