When making decisions to protect people's lives from danger and disaster, evacuations sometimes become necessary. Of course, early in the incident response, or response phase, this may become a decision for local and state emergency managers. The fire in San Diego, California, which occurred in October 2007, caused a large-scale evacuation. This essay is an analysis and identification of lessons learned from the evacuation incident. A plan of recommendations and personal improvements will also be developed based on information contained in the National Housing Strategy and the Robert Stafford Act. Wildfires began as an annual and seasonal event in the southwestern California region beginning in the early 30s, partly due to the hot, dry summers and the hot, turbulent Santa Ana winds that blow in from the desert during the fall months. It has now become a year-long event (Mckay, 2010). These conditions contribute greatly to “fire season” throughout this area. This set of circumstances, along with downed power lines and humans starting fires, occurred in October 2007. This led to a series of fires that burned more than 500,000 acres, destroyed 1,500 homes , killed 9 people, injured 85 and forced to proceed successfully. evacuation of approximately 500,000 people out of danger. Several fires have swept through the county and created devastation. The first fire dubbed the Harris Ranch Fire started at 9:23 a.m. on October 21, 2007 in the southeastern part of the county. It was determined that it had been started by an illegal bonfire and had moved north-west driven by the winds. Fires continued to burn in several areas of the county over a 72-hour period, some sparked by downed power lines and suspicious circumstances... half of paper... Lessons learned by many The events will provide a broad knowledge base and a benchmark from which all emergency managers will be able to draw to better position citizens to survive large-scale evacuations and shelter-in-place events. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/oes/docs/2007_SanDiego_Fire_AAR_Main_Document_FINAL.pdf.Federal Emergency Management Agency (2008). National Housing Strategy. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from http://www.fema.gov/pdf/media/2008/ndhs_public.pdf Mckay, J. (2010 January/February). The main protagonist Matt Bettenhausen, secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency. Emergency Management, 16-18. San Diego Mayor's Office (2008). Fire after action. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from http://www.sandiego.gov/mayor/pdf/fireafteraction.pdf