California WildFires Force Continued Mass Evacuations

ContactRelief Recommendations for Contact Centers

ContactRelief is making public recommendations made to its subscribers, Thursday, December 7th, 2017.

ContactRelief recommends suspension of contact with consumers in multiple California zip codes until further notice. To obtain the list of the affected zip codes, become a ContactRelief subscriber.

California fires expand and force additional evacuations

Southern California continues to burn as high winds and dry conditions stoke the flames of multiple fires. Over the last two days, ContactRelief has tracked and issued recommendations to suspend contact with consumers affected by four major wildfires. These are the:

• Thomas Fire - Santa Paula, CA
• Creek Fire - San Fernando, CA
• Rye Fire - Santa Clarita, CA
• Skirball Fire - Bel Air, CA

These rapidly expanding fires have resulted in multiple fatalities and injuries, major power outages, damage to structures, and large mandatory evacuations in and around Los Angeles, the nation's second largest city. Fire officials warn that the worst may be ahead as strong winds which buffeted the area Wednesday night are projected to continue into Thursday.

Thomas Fire Update

The out of control Thomas fire in Ventura County grew to 90,000 acres Wednesday. The fire has destroyed 150 structures and threatens a total of 12,000 structures. As of Wednesday night, CAL FIRE officials report that the fire "continues to burn actively" and is only 5% contained. Mandatory evacuations and road closures are in effect. For more information, see the latest incident report.

ContactRelief's recommended zip code suspensions remain in effect for the Thomas Fire.

Creek Fire Update

The Creek Fire has burned more than 12,000 acres and is only 5% contained as of Wednesday night. Over 150,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders. The fire threatens 2,500 structures.

ContactRelief's recommended zip code suspensions remain in effect for the Creek Fire.

Rye Fire Update

The Rye Fire expanded overnight to more than 7,000 acres. Fire official reported Wednesday that they had made some progress but were afraid that the return of the Santa Ana winds would thwart progress and result in the fire's continued expansion. CAL FIRE officials list the fire as 10% contained. The fire threatens over 5,000 structures and has resulted in mandatory evacuations. The fire officials do not expect to be able to contain the fire for at least another 7 days.

ContactRelief is expanding its Rye Fire zip code suspension to include an additional zip code.

Skirball Fire Update

The Skirball fire brought the California wildfire problem to the heart of Los Angeles Wednesday, burning homes in the affluent Bel-Air neighborhood and shutting down the busy 405 freeway. The fire has burned 475 acres. Over 46,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders. Multiple schools are closed Thursday as a result of the fire including the entire Santa Monica-Malibu Unified school district.

ContactRelief's recommended zip code suspensions remain in effect for the Skirball Fire.

Why You Must Also Prepare for Man-Made Disasters - The Las Vegas Mass Shooting

Contact centers need to be prepared to act quickly and decisively not only for forecasted events like hurricanes, but also for man-made disasters that cannot be predicted. On Sunday night in Las Vegas, over 50 people were killed and over 500 injured in a senseless mass shooting at a local music festival.

ContactRelief issued a recommendation to suspend contact to accounts with zip codes surrounding the Las Vegas Strip on October 2nd at 12:30 AM PDT, a little more than 2 hours after the incident began, and expanded this contact suspension recommendation at 4:30 AM PDT to include all of the county surrounding Las Vegas (Clark County, Nevada) as more details became known.

If you are like most companies, you can't afford the staff to perform the around the clock monitoring required to act promptly, the management of multiple concurrent disasters, and information gathering it takes to know when and where to suspend and resume contact for all types of possible events. But why bother when ContactRelief has this and more for less than $300 per month.

Why You Must Act Now

Our offer of free access to our service will expire soon. We provide the only service specially designed for contact centers and focused on all aspects of the customer experience during natural and man-made disasters. We can not only tell you when and where to suspend contact, but when and why you should resume contact, and how you can improve your brand image by the actions you take during these periods. Because before starting ContactRelief we owned and operated large contact centers, we understand your business perspective, and our recommendations are designed to help you deliver a great customer experience while still enabling you to achieve your other objectives.

Don't Delay

The next disaster is on its way. Become a ContactRelief subscriber and keep your company protected from disaster. Our full recommendations consist of the areas to be suspended and the list of zip codes covering these areas. For as little as $300 per month your company can quickly implement a solution that protects your company and its customers. As we say at ContactRelief, "It's just smart business."

Contact sales@contactrelief.com for more information.