Piedmont Weighs Asking Residents to Leave Before Wildfires Ignite
City Council • PiedmontOctober 5, 2026
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A regional plan would ask some Piedmont residents to evacuate on rare extreme fire weather days, before any fire has started. The council gave feedback on the draft Monday but took no vote, and members raised questions about liability, alert fatigue and gaps in help for vulnerable residents. Earlier, the council unanimously appointed Bonnie Tam as the city's next Public Works director.
- "Leave early" framework for extreme fire days aims to be ready by next fire season
- Mayor flags legal liability and the risk that residents will tune out repeated warnings
- No shelter plan and no list of vulnerable residents yet; only about 12% enrolled in AC Alert
- Bonnie Tam appointed Public Works director unanimously at a $237,029 salary
The basics: The National Weather Service cannot create a new warning category. So the Alameda County Fire Chiefs Association's draft framework builds on an existing one: the "particularly dangerous situation" (PDS) designation, typically declared 24 to 48 hours ahead. On those days, the region would be sorted into three tiers: leave-early areas, get-ready areas and everyone else.
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