Traplines are unique to each incident. Considerations to take into account include how close are the communities that will be affected, is smoke impacting one community more than another, and are there established points within the communities where locals and visitors go for information about the area.
Convenience stores and gas stations are nearly always places where PIOs can be certain of contacting large numbers of locals and visitors. Post offices, libraries, grocery stores, motels, restaurants and other businesses are also effective points of contact.
Occasionally, the hosting unit will already have established a regular trapline where they post information and that information will be valuable to PIOs who are responding to an incident.
Trapline Organization – Although traplines can be developed and documented any number of ways, this form was developed on an incident where community interest was high and nearly every business in the nearby town of 3,500 people received copies of daily updates.
