Every RV park and campground owner should have a written, location-specific disaster plan that covers how to warn guests, evacuate them, treat injuries, and reopen — before a wildfire, flood, or storm ever arrives. Most parks have insurance and a fire extinguisher and stop there. That is not a plan. A real plan names the hazards your property actually faces, assigns who does what, and gets rehearsed until your staff can run it without you in the office.
Key takeaways
- Start by mapping the specific hazards your location faces — a Colorado mountain park plans for wildfire and flash floods, a Gulf Coast park plans for hurricanes.
- Write down evacuation routes, a guest-notification method, and a staff role chart, then keep printed copies where you can grab them when the power and Wi-Fi are down.
- Train staff and run at least one drill a year; review your insurance limits annually so a total loss does not become a total loss for the business too.
Map the hazards that actually threaten your property
Generic checklists are useless because no two parks face the same risks. A riverside campground worries about flash flooding; a park in a dry forest worries about wildfire and evacuation under smoke; a Tornado Alley park needs a hardened shelter. Build your plan around the two or three things most likely to hit you, not a list of everything that could theoretically go wrong.
- Check your address against FEMA’s flood maps and your county hazard mitigation plan — both are free and tell you exactly what your area plans for.
- Call your local fire department or emergency management office; they will often walk your property and flag defensible-space or access problems.
- Note your real constraints: a single dirt access road, a low-water crossing, or one cell tower is a vulnerability you must plan around.
Write the evacuation and communication plan down
When something goes wrong, you will not have time to think it through. The plan has to exist on paper so anyone on shift can execute it. The two pieces that save lives are a clear way to evacuate and a reliable way to reach every guest, including the ones who checked in an hour ago and have no idea where the exits are.
- Mark primary and backup evacuation routes on a map, including which gate opens when the main road is blocked.
- Set up a mass-notification method that works without your office Wi-Fi — a bulk SMS service tied to your reservation list, plus a backup like an air horn or staff door-knocking sweep.
- Put the emergency plan in the welcome packet and post a map at the bathhouse and office so guests already know the routine before anything happens.
- Identify your designated shelter or safe area for events where leaving is not an option, like a sudden tornado warning.
Train your staff and run a drill
Your front-desk and maintenance staff are the first responders until the fire department arrives, and that can be 20 minutes in a rural park. A plan nobody has practiced falls apart under stress, so the goal is for each person to know their one job without being told.
- Get at least one staffer per shift certified in basic first aid and CPR — the Red Cross runs courses for under $100 a person.
- Assign clear roles: who sends the alert, who opens the back gate, who accounts for guests, who calls 911.
- Run one tabletop walk-through and one live drill a year, then fix whatever broke — a stuck gate, an outdated guest list — before the next season.
Protect the business: insurance, documentation, and recovery
Surviving the event is only half the job; reopening is the other half. Review your coverage every year, because a policy written when you had 40 sites does not cover the 70 you have now, and many standard policies exclude flood entirely. Good documentation also protects you if a guest later claims you failed to warn them.
- Confirm your policy covers business interruption — lost reservation income while you rebuild is often the bigger hit than the physical damage.
- Photograph your property and equipment annually and store the files off-site or in the cloud for claims.
- Keep an incident log; after any event, record what happened, when you notified guests, and what you did.
- Plan how you will tell guests you are closed and when you will reopen — a quick website notice and email to upcoming reservations prevents arrivals at a damaged park.
Frequently asked questions
How do I quickly notify every guest during an emergency?
The most reliable method is a mass-text service connected to the phone numbers in your reservation system, since nearly every guest has a phone on them. Back it up with a low-tech method — a PA system, air horn, or a staff sweep on foot — because cell and internet service often fail during the exact events you are warning about.
Does my campground need a disaster plan if I already have insurance?
Yes. Insurance pays for damage after the fact; it does not get guests out safely or reduce your liability. A documented, rehearsed plan is what protects people during the event, and it can also help during claims by showing you acted responsibly. Many insurers will also look more favorably on a park that has a written safety plan in place.
How often should I update my preparedness plan?
Review it once a year, ideally before your busy season, and again any time you add sites, change your layout, or hire new staff. Each drill will surface something that needs fixing — an outdated guest contact, a blocked route, an untrained employee — so treat the plan as a living document rather than a binder you write once and forget.
A safety plan only works if guests can actually find your routes, your alerts, and your reopening updates — and that usually starts with a clear, reliable website. If you want help turning your emergency information, guest notifications, and reservation list into something that holds up when it matters, Outdoor Web Solutions builds and supports websites and digital tools for campground and RV park owners so the right information reaches your guests fast.
