Moorpark Among Worst Wildfire Evacuation Routes In CA

MOORPARK, CA — Moorpark residents have reason to fear a major wildfire or other natural disaster. The community was identified as having some of the worst evacuation routes in California. According to a USA Today-California Network analysis of California communities and evacuation routes, some areas have a scarily small number of roads (which would be used to evacuate during an emergency) compared to the size of the nearby population.

LA County's Palos Verdes Peninsula, due to its dense population and few lanes leading out of it, has more than five times the population-to-lane ratio than Paradise, Calif. — the town where 85 people died before they could escape the state's deadliest wildfire to date, the Desert Sun reported.

The reporters combined and analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Cal Fire and OpenStreetMap to evaluate exit routes for Californians living in areas at risk of a fire-related evacuation, the Desert Sun reported.

The group found a set of ZIP codes that have the greatest number of people living in the highest-risk areas with the fewest number of exit lanes by combining the ZIP code population and fire risk data with the standard number of lanes for every major roadway, according to the newspaper.

Here are the ZIP codes with the worst evacuation routes in Southern California:

• 90042: Highland Park and Eagle Rock in Los Angeles County
• 90272: Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles County
• 90274: Rolling Hills in Los Angeles County
• 90275: Rancho Palos Verdes in Los Angeles County
• 91935: Jamul and surrounding areas in San Diego County
• 92065: Ramona and surrounding areas in San Diego County
• 92131: Scripps Ranch in San Diego County
• 91320: From Newbury Park to Dos Vientos Ranch in western Thousand Oaks in Ventura County
• 91377: Oak Park, an unincorporated community in Ventura County
• 93021: Moorpark in Ventura County
• 92548: Homeland and areas northwest of Homeland in Riverside County
• 92584: Menifee in Riverside County
• 92314: Big Bear, Minnelusa and Sugarloaf (92386) in San Bernardino County

Read more at the Desert Sun.