Emergency Preparedness

Wildfire Preparedness & Evacuation

The El Cerrito Police Department, El Cerrito/Kensington Fire Department and the Kensington Police Department have designed a booklet to help you protect your family, home and neighborhoods, particularly during wildfire season. This booklet includes evacuation and preparedness tips and an evacuation map for the El Cerrito and Kensington communities.

View the Wildfire Preparedness and Evacuation Booklet HERE.  

Know Your Zone:  To learn more about evacuation in El Cerrito, go to community.zonehaven.com (no "www" at this time). You can type in your address and find out your evacuation zone number and the zone number for the neighborhoods around you. These are the zones the Community Warning System will use during an organized evacuation from a wildfire threat.

You can also download a pdf of the community zones.

Prepare yourself and your family


Are you ready for the next major earthquake or wildfire? The first steps are as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Store water


  • Store 12 days of water for each person & pet in your household.
  • 1 gallon of water per person/pet per day. Water storage containers available at local retailers.

2. Make a plan


3. Build a kit


Already have water, a plan and a kit?
Take the next steps. Learn how

Be ready to help your neighbors


Join El Cerrito's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Through CERT you will learn:

  • Disaster Preparedness
  • Damage Assessment
  • How to Turn Off Utilities
  • Disaster First Aid
  • Basic Firefighting
  • Light Search & Rescue
  • and more!
Register here

For more information and to register for CERT classes, please contact Fire Admin at (510) 215-4450.