Draft wildfire plan flags evacuation, alerting gaps on Tiburon Peninsula

At left, a map from the 2026 draft Marin County Community Wildfire Protection Plan highlights the five zones on the Tiburon Peninsula flagged as highest priority for improved emergency alerting: Gilmartin (1), Southern Paradise (2), Hacienda (3), North Belvedere Lagoon (4) and Mount Tiburon (5). In those zones, fewer than half of residential parcels carry active AlertMarin subscriptions, limiting the reach of targeted evacuation messages. The map at right shows the five zones flagged as highest priority for enhanced evacuation planning: Old Town Tiburon (1), Lower Lyford (2), South Belvedere Island (3), North Belvedere Island (4) and Upper Lyford (5). The plan warns that narrow, winding roads and complex intersections in those areas could slow evacuations — particularly if smoke reduces visibility. (Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority)

A draft countywide wildfire-protection plan identifies alerting gaps and evacuation vulnerabilities on the Tiburon Peninsula, singling out neighborhoods where emergency-notification enrollment is low and narrow roads could slow evacuations.

The findings are part of a Tiburon/Belvedere zone summary in the 2026 Marin County Community Wildfire Protection Plan, a science-based assessment of wildfire hazards and risk-reduction priorities across the county.

The draft is open for public review and comment through May 17 at cwpp@marinwildfire.org, and the Tiburon/Belvedere summary is available at arkn.ws/2026cwpp.

Though the peninsula faces lower risk of large-scale wildland-fire exposure than other parts of the county, the draft warns that small, wind-driven fires could require evacuation and cause significant losses. The plan identifies seven risk-reduction themes for the peninsula, with alerting and evacuation planning the areas of greatest concern.

The draft plan flags Gilmartin, Southern Paradise, Hacienda, North Belvedere Lagoon and Mount Tiburon as the peninsula’s highest-priority zones for improved emergency alerting.

“AlertMarin enrollment in these zones is low compared with other evacuation zones in the county: On average, fewer than half of residential parcels have an active subscription, limiting access to geographically targeted evacuation messaging,” the plan says.

It notes that census data show relatively high concentrations of residents in those zones with household characteristics that could make rapid evacuation more difficult.

The draft plan also recommends enhanced evacuation planning in Old Town Tiburon, upper and lower Lyford and all of Belvedere Island. Those zones have dense residential populations and limited egress routes, with narrow, winding roads and complex intersections that could be difficult to navigate when smoke reduces visibility.

Fire response times in those areas are also likely to be longer because of constrained access and distance from fire stations, the plan says.

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