Wildfire season brings power shutoffs and evacuation risk. Here's how San Diego families can prepare a homebound senior parent now.
By Diane Whitfield, CSA · July 16, 2026
San Diego County's wildfire season typically runs from late spring through fall, and it brings two distinct risks for older adults aging in place: the fire itself, and the planned power shutoffs utilities use to prevent one. For a senior who depends on an oxygen concentrator, a stairlift, a refrigerated medication, or simply reliable lighting to move safely at night, a multi-day outage is its own kind of emergency, separate from whether a fire ever reaches their neighborhood.
Families in fire-prone areas like Alpine, Ramona, Julian, and parts of North County are usually well aware of evacuation risk. What catches people off guard is that San Diego Gas & Electric can shut off power in a much wider footprint during high-wind red flag conditions, including in coastal and urban canyon-adjacent neighborhoods that don't feel like 'fire country.'
If your parent relies on any electric medical device, the single most useful thing you can do this month is enroll them in SDG&E's Medical Baseline Program. It doesn't guarantee power stays on, but it flags the account for earlier outage notifications and provides a modest additional energy allowance at the baseline rate to help offset backup power costs. Enrollment requires a form signed by a physician, so start the paperwork now rather than during an active shutoff.
Separately, ask your parent's home care agency or physician whether their equipment has a battery backup option, and if not, whether a portable battery or generator is medically necessary enough to be worth the investment. For refrigerated medications like insulin, a simple cooler with ice packs and a plan for restocking ice can bridge a 24-48 hour outage without spoilage.
A senior who can no longer drive, walks with a cane, or uses a wheelchair needs an evacuation plan that accounts for the fact that a standard evacuation timeline assumes someone can get in a car and leave within minutes. Identify in advance who will physically get your parent out: a neighbor, a family member who lives closest, or a paid caregiver with evacuation responsibilities written into their care plan. Don't assume paramedics or fire crews will have capacity to assist with a non-emergency evacuation once a fire is already moving.
Keep a 'go bag' packed year-round with a week of medications, copies of prescriptions, a list of diagnoses and allergies, chargers, and comfortable walking shoes. If your parent uses a wheelchair or walker that won't fit in every evacuation vehicle, confirm ahead of time which vehicle in the family will be used and that it's actually equipped to transport it.
AlertSanDiego is the county's official emergency notification system and will text or call registered addresses during evacuation orders; register every phone number your parent uses, including a landline, at the county's ReadySanDiego site. For anyone who doesn't drive or lacks a nearby support network, 2-1-1 San Diego (dial 2-1-1) can help connect vulnerable residents to evacuation transportation and shelter resources during a declared emergency.
San Diego County Aging & Independence Services (800-339-4661) also maintains information on disaster preparedness for older adults and can help identify in-home support gaps before fire season peaks, not just after an evacuation order is already issued.
The best time to build this plan is a calm Tuesday afternoon in July, not the night a red flag warning is issued. Sit down with your parent and write out, on paper, exactly who calls whom, where they'll go, and what they'll bring. Post it somewhere visible in the home and give a copy to whoever provides regular care.
If your parent lives in an assisted living or memory care community rather than at home, ask the administrator directly for their written wildfire evacuation plan and where residents are relocated. Every licensed RCFE in California is required to have one on file with the Community Care Licensing Division, and you're entitled to see it before you need it.
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