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Wildfire Season: How to Prepare Your Home, Business or Family

Learn how to protect your property with defensible space, prepare for Public Safety Power Shutoffs and build an emergency preparedness kit before wildfire season starts.

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Create a defensible space around your home or business

Defensible space is a 100-foot buffer zone of cleared vegetation between your home or business and grass, trees, shrubs and surrounding wildland. This slows the spread of fire and gives firefighters a safer area to work.

Contact your city or county emergency management office to learn about local requirements and assistance programs.

Tips to create defensible space

Prepare for a Public Safety Power Shutoff

A PSPS is a proactive, last-resort outage that we initiate to prevent wildfires when extreme wind and fire conditions threaten the safe operation of the electrical grid.

During wildfire season, it’s important to keep your contact information current so we can notify you before a shutoff occurs.

Stay informed

During wildfire season, it’s important to keep your contact information current so we can notify you before a shutoff occurs.

Update your phone and email in your PGE account or the PGE app to receive PSPS alerts.
Visit the outage map to see what’s happening in your area.

Make a plan

Identify places you can stay in the event of an emergency. Especially if you rely on electricity for medical needs or work from home.
If you do rely on electricity for medical needs, talk with your medical provider to make a plan that works for you. If you qualify, you can join our Medical Certificate program so we can keep you informed and offer extra support during outages.
Have a plan for water: Make sure you have enough water for your family and animals. Like stored water or bulk water delivery — especially if powering wells during an outage.
Consider buying a backup generator and if you own an EV, keep it charged.
Protect food: Keep ice packs in your freezer and know how to keep food safe during a multi-day outage.

Build a wildfire outage and go-bag kit

What to include in your outage kit:

Flashlights or headlamps with extra batteries
Battery-powered or hand-crank radio
Car chargers for phones and devices
Bottled water for people and pets (3-day minimum)
Emergency contacts, including PGE: 503-228-6322
Backup power bank for medical devices

Go-bag: evacuation kit checklist

IDs, passports, insurance documents and financial records (hard copies)
Prescription medication, glasses, hearing aids and medical supplies
Phone charger, dust masks, first aid kit and multi-tool
3-day supply of food, water and clothing
Pet supplies, including a collar with ID tags
Paper map of your area and a written list of contacts

Have a plan for medical equipment

If you or someone in your household depends on electricity for medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, dialysis machines or ventilators, you should enroll in PGE's Medical Certificate Program and identify a backup power source before wildfire season begins.

Here’s where to start:

Enroll in the PGE Medical Certificate program so we can proactively notify you.
Identify backup power options (generator, battery backup).
Plan to relocate to a friend, family member, or shelter if needed.
Coordinate with your medical provider on contingency plans.

In case of evacuation

Know your county’s evacuation zones and routes before wildfire season. Keep your car’s gas tank at least half full from May through October and photograph every room in your home for insurance purposes.

Create an emergency kit

In addition to actions and outage kit items listed above, here are a few emergency items you should have ready to go in the event of an evacuation.

Hard copies of what you need in an evacuation like ID and passports, financial records, insurance information, legal records, birth certificates and social security cards and a paper map of your area
Glasses, dentures, hearing aids, prescription and over-the-counter medicine, medical equipment and supplies like extra oxygen
Infant supplies, pet supplies including collar with ID tags, personal hygiene and sanitation supplies
Clothing, shoes/boots, summer-weight jackets, work gloves, extra undies, socks, pillows and blankets or sleeping bags, dust/face masks, sunglasses and rubber gloves
First aid kit, whistle to signal for help, wrench or pliers to turn off utilities, a knife or multi-purpose tool, duct tape, twine, paper and a marker for leaving notes or labeling your items

Find a more comprehensive list of emergency kit items that might also be useful here.

Community involvement in wildfire prevention

Wildfire prevention takes all of us. We partner with local, state and federal agencies to reduce wildfire risk across Oregon, including the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Department of Forestry, Tribal nations, local fire districts and emergency responders. Together, we coordinate wildfire prevention strategies, emergency response planning and community education. Here's how you can get involved.

Invite PGE to speak at your event

Have questions about wildfire safety, PSPS or PGE's Wildfire Mitigation Plan? Our employees are available to speak at your business, community organization or school event.

Request a PGE Community Speaker

Wildfire Ready Open Houses

Our wildfire plans include you! Every spring, we host Wildfire Ready Open Houses where you can learn about our Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) and share your thoughts as we develop next year's plan. Watch the virtual presentation recording . If you have questions, email CommunityConnect@pgn.com.