Tag: CERT

Emergency Preparedness Quiz for Experts

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Ready for Rain

OK, so you have been working for a while on being prepared for disasters. You’ve made it this far, and think you’re in pretty good shape, ready for whatever rain may fall! 

Maybe you even qualify as an expert?!

Last year Joe and I took an emergency preparedness quiz at a meeting sponsored by the Great American Shake-out. Sure enough, although we’ve been “Activists” for years, we were missing several key items!

That inspired me to put this quiz together for all the Emergency Plan Guide readers. (I’ve updated it for 2020, too.) The questions were gathered from a variety of sources. See how well you do! Score yourself at the end!

Emergency Preparedness Quiz

1-Is your house ready to take a hit from a disaster? Check if YES.

  • No heavy/dangerous items over the bed, couch or desk (or wherever you spend a lot of time).
  • Bookcases, TV, speakers, computers, printers, mirrors — bolted to table or to wall. Need a stud finder to finish this job?
  • Water heater and other appliances secured.
  • Outside of home squared away to protect against sudden fire (trash cleared away) or wind.
  • Home adequately insured for standard risks also local risks (flood, earthquake, etc.).

2-Does your family know how to respond to a natural or weather-related disaster? Check if YES.

  • Everybody knows and has practiced: Drop-Cover-Hold On (earthquake), Drop-Roll (fire). Grandma, too.
  • Family members know and have practiced 2 ways to get out of house: doors, windows, second floor. Can you get down the escape ladder?
  • Everyone knows where fire extinguishers are, and how to use them. How many fire extinguishers do you need, anyway? And are they all workable?
  • Adults know where water and gas shut-offs are, and when to shut them off. Tools attached near shut-off valves.
  • You have a back-up plan for pets if you’re not home. Decal on front door or window alerts emergency workers that you have a pet.
  • Everyone in the family has memorized out-of-town contact phone number.
  • Everyone who has a phone has a battery back-up (Power bank), knows how and to whom to text.

3-Are survival kits (72-hour kits) packed and ready to go?

  • Do all evacuation and survival kits have masks so you can operate within COVID guidelines?
  • A survival kit in the house for every family member, customized to size, skill, medical needs, etc.?
  • A kit for every pet?
  • A kit in each car?
  • A kit at work for every worker?

4-What about handling the immediate aftermath of a disaster?

  • Every room has emergency lighting – lantern and/or flashlight.
  • All first aid kits are fully stocked with up-to-date items.
  • We have at least one emergency radio (solar, hand crank, battery) tuned to local emergency station, with extra batteries.
  • Everyone has sturdy shoes for safely getting around, clothing/gloves to protect against cold or broken items. Pets have protective booties/jackets, too.
  • Supply of warm clothing, blankets.
  • Everyone knows ways to report in that they’re OK.

5-Are you prepared at work for the immediate aftermath of a disaster?

  • Every room has emergency lighting – lantern and/or flashlight.
  • First aid kits are fully stocked with up-to-date items.
  • Emergency radio tuned to local emergency station, with extra batteries.
  • Everyone has sturdy shoes for safely managing stairs, getting out. (Particularly important for female employees whose footwear may be stylish but impractical. Stash an extra pair of tennis shoes in the bottom drawer of the desk.)
  • Partners check on each other’s situation. People with disabilities have designated partners who know how to help them evacuate.
  • People responsible for shut-down or evacuation procedures step into action.
  • Everyone knows how to report in assuming phones are out.

6-How about an extended recovery at home after a disaster?

  • Supply of food that doesn’t need cooking. Can-opener. Utensils.
  • If camp stove, supply of food that uses hot water or heating. Fuel for stove. Fire igniter. Pot. (Have you practiced setting up and starting the stove? A challenge under the best of conditions!)
  • Condiments: salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, chilies, soy sauce, sugar, honey, other.
  • Water supply. Clean water supplies, a way to filter and/or disinfect other water.
  • Pet’s food, water and hygiene supplies.
  • Personal hygiene supplies: temporary toilet, toilet paper, wipes, paper towels, Clorox. Trash bags.
  • Personal supplies: lotion, bug repellent, sun screen, soap, sanitary supplies, condoms, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.
  • Medicines and prescriptions for at least 2 weeks.
  • Clothing for cold, rain; ponchos, umbrellas.
  • Tools appropriate for making repairs: saw, hammer, nails, tape, plastic sheets, tarp, crow bar, ax, shovel, emergency lighting.
  • If someone can handle them and manage fuel: generator, chain saw.
  • Emergency two-way communications: walkie-talkies, ham radios.
  • Entertainment: books, games, cards, paper and pens.

(When it comes to extended recovery at work, that’s another quiz. It will be based on the type of work place, key functions of the business, number of employees, etc. Emergency Preparedness for Small Business can give you nearly all the guidance you’ll need to answer THAT quiz!)

7-And here’s a bonus emergency preparedness quiz item:

  • I’ve completed CERT training. (I know, CERT training is being postponed until we can get back to meeting face to face. But at least, you can put it on your to-do list!)

And your score on this Emergency Preparedness Quiz?

There are 41 questions in this quiz, plus the bonus. They don’t have equal importance, so there’s no real way to rate yourself based on the number of boxes you checked off.  Still, just in reading the quiz you should have a FEEL for whether you are:

  • Rookie – 10-15 check marks: A good start but still have a ways to go
  • Solid – 15-30 check marks: Comfortable with your progress; won’t feel (too) guilty if something happens
  • Expert – Anything above 30, plus the bonus! Heck, you should be teaching this stuff!

If you’re not actively “teaching this stuff,” you can use this emergency preparedness quiz to help yourself and other people you care about get started on their own preparations.

How to get started?

Start slowly — but get started!

Did some of these items jump out at you as being really important?

Start with just one or two. Work on a new one every week.

If you are part of a neighborhood group, maybe pick a couple of items to work on every month. (Our new Mini-Series was designed PERFECTLY for groups! Schedule one topic per week or per month, get people together — in person or via zoom — to discuss and share.)

Every small preparedness action you take will add to your family’s and your community’s resilience. Since your neighbors are most likely to be the people who end up rescuing you in a disaster, this step-by-step method has a double pay-off!

Let us know how it goes, and what YOU would add to the quiz to make it even more useful. We are all in this together!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

 

Drones for Emergency Response Teams

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The market for drones for emergency response teams continues to expand.

Drone for emergency response team

Updated 5-2020

We started reporting on drones about 5 years ago. At that time, drones were mostly high-tech toys. Two years ago we updated our reporting, and today it’s time for another update because . . .

Drones for emergency response teams are becoming more common. 

Before you start looking at drones for use by your neighborhood emergency response team, however, it’s a good idea to listen to the advice I got from an excellent training film put on by the Pacific Northwest Economic Region  Center for Regional Disaster Resilience. Here’s the link to the video: https://vimeo.com/296920234  One of the speakers said: “Before you decide on a project, become the local expert and understand how to collect and manage data. ” By the time you’ve done that, you’ll know what equipment you need and the rules you’ll need to follow.

The video mentioned above was by and for a governmental agency. You may not be part of a governmental agency; you may be a hobbyist. But you need to know all the rules!  Here they are as of 2020 . .

Rules for hobbyists, commercial and non-governmental use of UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) . . .are changing!

You need a pilot certificate.

If you’re operating your drone as a hobbyist, that means hobbyist. You’re not operating as a service, or planning to be paid for your services, or to sell your photos, etc. In the past, you didn’t need a certificate but it looks as though you WILL need one soon if not already!

Getting a Remote Pilot Certificate from the FAA requires that you pass a test as well as meet other requirements. Here’s a link to find out more: https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/part_107/remote_pilot_cert/

Register Your Drone.

Whether being flown by a hobbyist or for another reason, any UA must be registered. If it weighs less than .55 lbs you can register it online; otherwise, go to the FAA website to get started registering it on paper.  Here’s the link:  https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry/UA/  

A drone weighing MORE than 55 lbs. falls into another category altogether. (That 55 lbs. includes any cargo that the drone is carrying.)

Pilot Your Drone Safely.

Even though rules change, the main thrust for hobbyists and commercial operators is always on safety. You can check in on a regular basis to monitor any changes, at http://knowbeforeyoufly.org/

Here’s a summary of the current rules:

  • Drones must remain in visual line of sight of the pilot or a sighter — no first-person-view cameras. (This means no flying by what the camera shows as opposed to what you actually see from where you are standing.) You can only fly one line-of-sight vehicle at a time. Maximum distance from pilot is 3 miles.
  • Maximum speed is 100 mph and maximum altitude is 400 feet.
  • Pilots must be at least 16 years old and hold the “remote pilot airman certificate,” mentioned above.
  • Operation is only allowed during daylight hours or twilight with appropriate lighting.
  • Pilots must avoid flying over cars, populated areas or over specific people not involved in the operation.
  • You must understand airspace zones and respect them. Manned aircraft always have the right of way.
  • You must be aware of no-fly zones. (The best drones have “no-fly” zones built into their software.)
  • The big issue, of course, is privacy. While there don’t seem to be clear cut rules regarding privacy, you’ve got to remember that there is a concept called Expectation of Privacy. This usually translates into giving people a warning if you’re going to be flying, not capturing “private” footage if you don’t need to, and deleting it if you’re asked to. If you’re part of a group, you would do well to have a privacy policy to protect your members. Here’s a reference that might be helpful: https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/voluntary_best_practices_for_uas_privacy_transparency_and_accountability_0.pdf

Please note — again! – rules keep changing! Some changes have been promised and awaited but are now on hold as a result of the Coronavirus. Get the rules at the FAA.

Using Your Drone as an Emergency Response Tool

While not commercial, and yet not recreational, here are some uses your team might be considering. Before you actually decide to implement any, be sure your use is legal.

  • Use a drone to provide overhead lighting when searching an area at night
  • Inspect upper levels of buildings or structures (in industrial or high-rise residential areas)
  • Film damaged areas or obstructions following a disaster (as long as you don’t interfere with First Responders)
  • Identify “hot spots” after a fire (using infrared technology)
  • Map area covered by the CERT team to segment into manageable areas
  • Find a missing person
  • Search areas for survivors
  • Identify pathways for access or escape or to to safer positions
  • Drop markers to designate specific damages or routes to follow
  • Monitor teams during training exercises with filmed records for group critique
  • Transfer supplies, first aid items, batteries, replacement radios, etc.
  • Transport high value items over a distance, reducing the need for multiples of expensive equipment (e.g., gas sniffer)

You can probably come up with many more.

Challenges for Emergency Teams

1-Rules may limit your emergency response team’s use.

When you look at even this short list of uses, you will see that a number of these uses would be against current rules! Let’s look again . . .

  • Can’t fly at night.
  • Can’t let drone out of your sight.
  • Can’t fly higher than 400 feet.
  • Can’t fly over people.

From our standpoint as emergency responders, these restrictions limit the use of the technology. In a serious situation the safety of our neighbors in the community is more important that the actual altitude of the drone looking for them!

You may request a waiver of some of these restrictions if you can show you can conduct your operations safely. And we have confidence that some of these restrictions may be lifted or clarified, so we are not letting them stop our analysis.

2-Battery life may limit your team’s use.

Most drones have a flying time of only around 20-25 minutes. As technology improves, that will improve. To get a couple minutes more of flight can cost a couple hundred more dollars in purchase price. No matter which model you get, plan on getting at least 3 or 4 extra batteries right along with the machine so you can rapidly put the machine back in the air.

3-Set up in advance to be able to share your images and videos.

Clearly, the emergency planning and response ideas above would generate information you’d want to share with the rest of your team or with First Responders! There are several options available – the obvious one being sending footage to YouTube or Vimeo.

However, the FAA may label your video as “commercial use” if it appears with an ad on it, whether or not you wanted it!  (Again, in an emergency, I’d probably not worry about that. But be aware . . .) Other sharing options include apps provided by Facebook, Dropbox and certain drone manufacturers.

Moreover, if you share any photos, issues of privacy raise their head. Understand how you will manage your data to maintain privacy. Review the resource above in the long list of bullet points.

If you goal is to share your work, find out more before purchasing.

OK, with all this in mind,

Which drone is best for our Neighborhood Response Team?

In our community, we already have some guys who race electric cars. And there are a couple who build and fly model airplanes. The skills they bring to the table will be valuable – but not all of them are on our emergency response team, of course.

So, as we shop for a drone, we have to add “ease of set-up” and “easy to fly” to our shopping list.

Here’s the whole shopping list so far:

  • Big enough to fly outside, in somewhat inclement weather (Cheap toys won’t work.)
  • Strong enough to carry something to a designated location
  • The best battery life we can get for the price
  • Proven performance (not bleeding edge technology)
  • Reasonable image and video quality, though not necessarily the highest
  • Easy to set up and start flying
  • Compatible with variety of hand-held mobile devices

We’ve done a lot of comparing of different machines to get to this point! I hope the data above will be helpful to you in your own search.

See our top choices for drones in Part Two of Drones for Emergency Response Teams.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S.  I found these important additions. Become an expert before you buy or fly!

  • “Report to the FAA within 10 days of any operation that results in at least serious injury, loss of consciousness, or property damage of at least $500.”
  • “Failure to register an unmanned aircraft that is required to be registered may result in regulatory and criminal penalties. The FAA may assess civil penalties up to $27,500. Criminal penalties include fines of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment for up to three years.”

Getting the Message Out to Neighbors While Shut In

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I started this Advisory as a piece on “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.” It was a reflection of the importance of communicating these days in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. But I decided that theme would focus too much on “evil,” so I dialed back to “getting the message out.”

Certainly, our ways of communicating have changed! Here are three events from just the past week that relate to getting the message out. I wanted to share them to see whether they parallel some of what you’ve been experiencing.

1 – “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.” Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wednesday I was part of a conference call. Big deal, you yawn. Everybody knows that conference calls, and particularly Zoom calls, are the way communications are taking place these days.

But this one was different, because it was a call among members of our community who are blind or visually impaired.

Think about that for a moment.

If you can’t see well, you certainly can’t see those Blue Angels streaking across the TV screen, much less across the sky. You can’t binge on Hulu or Netflix. Even when your children call, all you may get is their voices – no smiling faces or gurgling babies, or whatever images would be showing on FaceTime.

People with vision problems are often isolated anyway. We have a group that meets every month, just to give friends a chance to get out and get together safely.

Because of the coronavirus, of course, our meetings have been cancelled.

So yesterday’s UberConference® call was a new experience – and the first time most of these senior citizens had been on such a call.

The call turned out to be a home run!  

Everyone figured out how to get aboard (Dial, type in the call ID number), handled “mute” and “unmute” at the right time (“Press star twide”).  

Best of all, friends whom we normally see/hear only at a monthly meeting got a chance to hear each other’s voices! We laughed and laughed at the stories people told –

  • “My son came to visit and went shopping for us. He seems to have forgotten that we are just two people, because he came home with a gallon of sour cream and 10 pounds of pasta!”
  • “I’m glad I’ve retired from teaching! I had enough trouble with this call. I don’t know how I would have managed the “online learning” technology.”
  • “As I heard your voices, I pictured you all sitting around the table at our usual meeting.  Then it hit me — we are all in separate houses!!”

So, this was a first – and now, something we will use again. This truly was a message of love looking “with the mind.”  Who do you know who might appreciate being able to join in a group call?

2 – “Hear no evil, speak no evil, and you won’t be invited to cocktail parties.” ~ Oscar Wilde

I couldn’t resist this quote and had to fit it into this Advisory! It’s a bit off the topic, but hey. We’re sharing ways of communicating, right?

So here’s another communications first, one you can share in.

Just about a month ago, one of my emergency preparedness contacts on LinkedIn asked if Joe and I would do a podcast for his “radio station.”

“When I saw you had published a book on how to build community preparedness, I knew I wanted to hear the story,” said Preston Schleinkofer. President and Founder of Civil Defense Virginia.

Preston has developed his own program to encourage more community members to join in with local government authorities to “preserve safety, security and constitutional government functions” in the case of natural disasters and man-made catastrophes. (Us oldsters will recognize that Preston has come up with a new definition for “Civil Defense.”)

You can read about Preston’s 501©3 organization at https://civildefenseva.org/ and get more about his philosophy of Continuity of Community. You can also hear the interview he did with Joe and me at http://CivilDefenseRadio.com! You’ll see Emergency Plan Guide right there at the top of his list of podcasts!

What helps get communities to work together?

As we listened to our voices (always a sort of out-of-body experience) I heard us identifying some of what has helped us build our local neighborhood groups. In the past you’ve heard how we based our organizing on CERT. But we also brought our own background to the table. Namely:

  • Both Joe and I have done door-to-door selling! (There’s nothing like it for building self-confidence.)
  • Both of us have trained and taught students, employees, and professional colleagues.

Since we’re both writers, too, it has been a natural for us to translate our 20 years of business and community experiences into some do-it-yourself guide books. The first series was to help communities improve their level of preparedness. Our newest series is aimed at personal preparedness.

As Preston says, “Everyone is more of a preparedness expert now, as a result of the coronavirus.”  I invite you to take a listen to all of his podcasts for info about even more emergencies we ought to be concerned with, including grid failure from electromagnetic pulse.

3 – “Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.” Margaret Atwood,The Handmaid’s Tale

Earlier this week the White House rejected CDC guidelines aimed at getting the message out about how best to manage a phased re-opening of the economy. Apparently the guidelines were “too prescriptive.”

Sorry, but I read “too prescriptive” as “too hard for ordinary Americans to understand and follow.”

So the guidelines have been removed from the CDC website!  (Go there looking for them and you get an “Oops, can’t find that!” message.)

With thousands of people dying every day, I believe that most of us would WANT the chance to see some expert information to make our lives safer. Dumbing it down just doesn’t make sense to me – that is “working” at ignoring, as Margaret Atwood says.

I hope these three examples of “getting the message out” have inspired you as we continue to cope with this astonishing historical development, the COVID-19 pandemic. What can you add about communicating?

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

What can I do to help others?

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washing hands to help prevent coronavirus - is it all you can do?
Is this all I can do????

I keep hearing neighbors say, “If only I could be doing something to help others!”

I feel the same way, because this staying at home gets mighty tiresome. So I turned to one of my favorite resources: Google Alerts.

(Anyone who writes for a living or for a hobby is always looking for resources – history, current news, people in the news, etc. So we all know Google Alerts.)

One of my alerts tracks the expression “CERT.” And I have been collecting story after story about how CERT teams are being activated to help others in their communities.

Are you familiar with CERT?

By now you are likely to be familiar with CERT, but if not, here’s your chance to find out more. Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers have taken a national course in citizen emergency response sponsored by FEMA. The actual training is delivered locally by your city or county. It’s a 20 hour course, usually free or at low cost, and it covers basics of emergency management, first aid, fire safety, disaster psychology, etc. Trainers usually come from the local police and fire departments.

The training is meant to educate volunteers so they know what to expect and how to respond to help their community for the first 72 or so hours after a big disaster. Why 72 hours? Because that’s how long it might take for professional First Responders to get to you! (I will repeat what our Fire Department says to us regularly. “In a big emergency you are not high on our priority list.”)

Here’s a short YouTube video about CERT.

CERT training is valuable – and fun! Joe and I were part of our city’s 3rd graduating class, back in 2001. They are now up to Class 78!  (It’s been cancelled for the time being, as you can imagine.)

One you’ve graduated, you are encouraged to continue to support your community in various activities. For example our CERT team has been called upon to search for lost citizens (at night). We have spread a message about auto theft in a particular neighborhood. And we support our police and fire departments in a variety of outreach events every year.

With the coronavirus creating new needs, CERT teams are being activated all across the country.

Here are just a few of the articles I have captured on my Google Alerts about CERT volunteers helping others in their communities.

  • Longmont (CO) CERT members are hosting a mask and glove drive for workers on the front lines of the coronavirus.
  • In Nebraska, the Hall County CERT has been helping with Strategic National Stockpile Hubs.
  • The Hall County CERT teams have also been called up to assist in county elections, where regular poll works have been lost.
  • New Jersey CERT volunteers are helping train food distribution workers in safety measures as groceries are collected in local food pantries.
  • CERT volunteers are serving in support roles at the Emergency Operations Center of Stafford County (VA). They are also staffing at the county’s PPE drop-off center.
  •  In Walton County (FL), CERT members are helping with a drive-thru food distribution program.
  • Hoboken (NJ) residents are able to call for an appointment for testing, thanks to the CERT volunteers staffing the call center.
  • CERT volunteers are providing traffic control for a drive-thru testing clinic in Fairbanks (AK).
  • In New York City, CERT volunteers are assisting in food distribution programs, canvassing senior centers and tracking and distributing sanitary supplies for childcare and early childhood centers. They are also helping deliver individual grocery and pharmacy necessities.

In each of these cases, their community called upon vetted CERT volunteers to provide essential support.

In some communities, CERT groups have not been formally “activated” but they find ways to help others anyway!

Because CERTs have skills, training and are by definition leaders, they are finding ways to volunteer without it being a formal effort.

  • Last week, for example, two CERT groups in our Southern California area were invited to participate in a PPE collection by donating extra personal supplies.  (You may have received the notice I sent out about that.)
  • Individual CERT volunteers supported a “face shield assembly” project set up by a local Rotary club.
  • Here in our neighborhood CERT grads have been sewing face masks for seniors and helping direct traffic for a drive-thru food distribution program sponsored by a local church.
  • And you’ve heard about our CERT volunteers doing telephone outreach to neighbors.

The point of all this?

You don’t have to be a “member” of any group to find a way to help others during this crisis.

And you don’t have to necessarily be physically strong, or have to commit to hours on your feet. Take your time to find a volunteer job you can manage and enjoy.

If you do, you won’t have to go around saying, “If only I could do more to help others!”

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. And when we are “back to the new normal,” consider taking the CERT training in your own city. You, your family and your neighborhood will all benefit for years to come! (Here’s another description of CERT written by one of our readers who went through Hurricane Florence.

April – Month of Action

B.Y.O.E. = A special community meeting on fire extinguishers

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I was running late – to my own community meeting!

But we’d done some good planning, and by the time I got to the community room, a handful of volunteers were already digging into the oh-so-carefully-packed box of supplies. Name tags went out onto one table along with colored pens; handouts went onto another.  Two people were pinning photos from past events all across the back of the room. And refreshments had magically appeared on a table in the corner. (“Make people walk past the photo display to get to the cookies.”)

I saw immediately that our guest speakers had arrived before me, too!

But my back-up host had directed them to the electrical set-up, the microphone and projector were humming, and as neighbors started arriving, fire extinguishers in hand, everyone was standing about just casually chatting!

What a relief!  All I had to do was grab that microphone, take a deep breath, and gather my thoughts for the introductions! Here I am, a few minutes later, double-teaming with our fire captain.

“Bring your extinguisher, wear your Team vest . . .”

What was behind this special community meeting on fire extinguishers?

Pretty simple. We’ve had two fires recently in our neighborhood. In one, the whole house was engaged before the fire department arrived. (No person injured, but two pets died.)  In the other, smoke filled the kitchen but an observant neighbor noticed, grabbed a fire extinguisher, ran across the street and stopped the fire before any real damage was done.

The obvious lesson:

“If you can catch a fire right away, and you use the right equipment, you can put it out yourself.”

After the most recent fire, we took a poll of neighbors.

  1. “Do you have a fire extinguisher?”
  2. “Are you confident you could put out a fire in your house with your extinguisher?”
  3. “Have you ever even USED an extinguisher?”

Too many “no” answers! 

So we contacted our local fire department for help.

Not only were they willing to come do a special community meeting on home fire extinguishers, but they offered a magnificent surprise – a chance for us to actually practice putting out a fire.

But not a real fire.

We had the chance to train using a laser-driven fire extinguisher simulator!

First, we went over the basics of fire extinguishers.

In fact, we had invited everyone to BYOE — BRING YOUR OWN EXTINGUISHER – and it made a big difference! 

Many people had never even taken their extinguishers out of the box! Hardly any knew what sort of fire their extinguisher was good for. And I don’t think any had searched out the date of manufacture.

Imagine if you will a room full of people, many clutching red and white fire extinguishers in their laps, as our fire captain went over the basics using a power point presentation. There were MANY interruptions, much squinting to read the fine print, and MANY questions before it was over. (Remember, this meeting took place in a senior retirement community.)

  • Classifications tell you what kind of fire this extinguisher will put out – A, B, C, D and K.  In our group, nearly all were A, B, C.
  • What’s actually INSIDE the extinguisher? Again, for our audience, probably dry chemical that comes out as a powder to smother the fire.
  • How long is the extinguisher good for? “Check the date.” (This became an embarrassment and pretty humorous as people found the dates and called them out. The oldest extinguisher in the room dated to . . . 1987!)  The recommendation from our fire department – “Check ‘em often and replace after 5 years to be sure it will work when you need it.”
  • Where and how to store it? (Designated place, clearly visible. Turn it upside down and hit it with your hand to loosen the powder.)
  • Other comments – Only attempt to put out a fire you can control. Have an escape route. Call 911. and many more . . .

Then it was time for the SIMULATOR training!

Step back, you’re a little too close.

The head of our local CERT training stepped up to demonstrate the equipment. The digital “flame” on the screen was very bright, very realistic! The green dot from the laser was easily visible.

Before she was completely finished, people were already lining up to try it! (What a relief. As meeting planner you just never know what kind of reaction you’ll get!)

PASS – not so easy to remember when you have an extinguisher in your hands and the clock is ticking.

Our fire captain had gone through the steps to extinguish a fire.

And our CERT trainer had gone over them again, demonstrating two or three times just how the equipment works.

Still, when people came up to try, sometimes they forgot! They dropped the pin. The extinguisher was quite heavy and some couldn’t hold it and squeeze at the same time. A couple squeezed before they aimed!

Everyone was terribly engaged. Some were anxious. All were watching VERY closely.

Can she do it?
Too heavy? Hold it between your knees.

More than half the people in the audience tried the simulator. And everyone succeeded in putting out their fire. (A few did need a couple of tries.)

More important, as our CERT trainer observed, every one walked away with new-found confidence.

As the community meeting on fire extinguishers broke up, several people told me they wanted to learn more about our city’s CERT training and others wanted to join our local neighborhood response team. (We have no requirement for CERT training.)

As we gathered up all the stray handouts and took down the displays, we were very satisfied at the outcome.

Gotta love volunteers who stay to help tear down.

Could any meeting be more successful?!

Why yes, because that very evening I got several thank-you emails with many positive comments.

At 9 a.m. the following day our office manager wanted copies of anything that was left over “because people have already been coming in asking about it.” A bystander in the office volunteered, “I’m going to buy a new extinguisher for myself, and two for my daughter.”

Then the manager added, “I have never seen people come out of a meeting with so much excitement. They were talking and waving.  They were laughing. They were energized!

Fire extinguisher Simulator LED screen
The Bullex Digital Fire Simulator uses LEDs to create a “fire,” and the special fire extinguisher (same size and weight as regular one) “puts the fire out” using a laser beam.

I think you can agree, somewhere along the line this training will pay off. I hope you can add a similar meeting to YOUR group’s schedule!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. I’ll be adding this to my next collection of published Meeting Ideas! Let me know if you want to be on the pre-publication list!


Positive Progress on Preparedness

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So many disasters happening this week! Where’s the positive progress???

My attention has been drawn from the incredible wildfires here in California to political blowups in Washington D.C. to the aftermath of a monster tornado hit in Texas. I’ve read about home solar battery explosions, the threat of Boeing’s 737 MAX, vaping addiction and deaths among high-schoolers, and tonight, to ever-wider PSPS’s . . .there’s just more happening than I can keep up with!

(Oh yes, PSPS is the newest acronym, standing for Public Safety Power Shut-offs. That’s the deliberate shut-down of power by the utility companies here in California in an attempt to avoid more fires during this hot, dry, and windy weather.)

So I decided to turn away from all the bad news and focus on some good news.

And I’m starting with a note from one of our readers that was positive progress personified!

Here’s what I received earlier this week from Suzi.

Hi Virginia! On my birthday in September I asked my family to lend me a hand to create a dedicated emergency supplies cupboard. We emptied a cupboard, built some shelves, and stocked it with all of our Go bags, a big first aid kit, an emergency radio, lanterns, gloves, etc. Nearby is a closet where we store sleeping bags, a tent, and canned food. I’m a CERT/CMAP member and I feel like I’ve finally made good progress on my preparedness to-do list. I enjoy reading your advisories and I continue to learn about how to react in an emergency. If you’d like, I can send you a snapshot of my new cupboard. Thank you!

Well naturally I responded to her invitation with an enthusiastic “Yes, please!’

So she wrote: Here is the dedicated cupboard! It’s a space we made under the stairs. On the door you can see the list of phone numbers for family members. We also have an extensive notebook with pertinent financial info, birth certificates, etc. One of the best items in this cupboard is an Icon Lifesaver Jerrycan which allows us to filter any questionable water (lake, pool, tap water under a boil water order). https://iconlifesaver.com/product/lifesaver-jerrycan-starter-pack/

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Storage cupboard built under staircase

Suzi’s note and photo have inspired a lot of questions and comments.

Such a good idea – finding useful storage space where there wasn’t any before!

Stairs and staircases are a perfect example of “lost” space that can be recovered.  Two-story homes often have whole strange-shaped rooms under stairs, perfect for storage. Any home with a porch may have space underneath that can be converted to emergency storage. Some of our neighbors have storage bins fastened to the roof in their garage (over the garage door tracks). We even use part of our Public Storage unit for storing emergency supplies. (The facility is located within walking distance of our home.)

Sometimes you have to create storage space if you want to make positive progress. What’s been YOUR most original and/or useful discovery?

What stands out for me in the photo of Suzi’s supply cabinet?

  • The list of important phone numbers and contact information fastened to the inside of the door! It looks as if it could easily be removed and stuffed into a Go-Bag, too, if necessary. (Joe and I have so many bits of “important information” that we have had to scan and store them on flash drives. But since we likely won’t have computers in an emergency, we have to have them on paper, too. The trick is to know exactly where they are.)
  • Items in see-through containers. This cupboard is awfully neat; as it fills up, as it is bound to do, having items in see-through plastic holders will make it so much easier to find what you’re looking for. I remember finding see-through soft zippered suitcase packing cubes at Amazon that might stack wonderfully on these irregularly-shaped shelves.
  • Duct tape. No need to comment about that except to be happy to see it! Do you have scissors and a knife? Not everyone can tear it easily. (This comment applies to all tools. Only collect and store tools that work and tools that you or family members can use safely.)
  • Icon Lifesaver Jerrycan for purifying water. I can’t identify it in the picture –  Is it hidden deep in one of the shelves? — but the more I hear about long-lasting outages, the more sensible a water purifying system sounds. (As you know from reading my Advisories, I have a number of small water purifying devices from LifeStraw, and have read good things about the family-size Berkey purifier.)
  • The full-sized First Aid Kit. One of my neighbors opened the trunk of her car today to get out a shopping bag, and I saw a small first aid kit fastened near the wheel well. I didn’t say anything but I wondered . . . How long had it been there – in the heat and cold? How much useful stuff could possibly be inside such a small box? I think we’re often too casual with our first aid supplies.
  • The LED light. That’s a great one – so compact!  (Here we have to be ready for an earthquake so we have a flashlight or lantern in every single room including one on each side of the bed.)

Suzi, your picture inspires one additional planning piece . . .

Just in studying the picture and in writing about all these emergency supplies I realize that at some point you may have to add another piece of paper to the door: a diagram listing everything in the cupboard and showing where it is located! 

As you know, I love lists and use them for just about everything, but I must admit to one challenge I haven’t solved. And that’s a good way to pack/store/keep track of my CERT duffel bags. We have a variety of them on the floor in a closet, and unfortunately I pull one or the other out for a different purpose – demonstration, first aid exercise, actual turnout to look for a missing person — add just what I want for that day, and then put the bag back at the end of the day. The next time I can’t remember what’s in which bag and find myself sorting through them all . . .  

Dear Reader, what’s your best suggestion for keeping track of my stuff in duffel bags?

So hasn’t this been an Advisory of a different style!? Thanks to Suzi for getting us all started in taking another look at our emergency supplies and how and where we have them stored. Again, please share your own positive progress stories. They help us all!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. Another cool thing about Suzi’s cupboard is that when it’s closed the valuable items inside are hidden from the casual observer. It’s important to be discrete about preparedness supplies so as not to draw uninvited attention.

P.P.S. I invite you to add to this conversation. The more positive progress we share, the more we’ll all be rewarded with good ideas! Drop me a line via the CONTACT form and we’ll see how to package your suggestions for everyone’s benefit.

Top Survival Resources: Five Popular Stories and Subjects

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Top Survival Trends

After 20 years of training and writing about disaster preparedness, and with well over 500 articles now under my belt, I discover that some topics keep coming up again and again – in the news media, in questions people ask, and on the various internet sites and in specialty magazines that report on “survival trends.” Thanks to Google Analytics, we can also track which articles are most often viewed on our site, too. Here are our top survival resources!

Here are the 5 most popular topics on our site, with links that will take you immediately to more information.

Are you in the mainstream? Are these among YOUR favorite subjects? Check them out!

1. Emergency Radios and Radio Communications

If there is one topic that stands out, this is it.  In fact, radios and radio communications are twice as popular as anything else we report on!

A radio for your personal survival kit.

Are you ready to buy an emergency radio for yourself or a family member?  Check out our Updated Reviews of Emergency Radios with comments about solar, hand-crank, etc. We’ve added new info about some nifty, palm-sized radios that fit perfectly in a pack, glove box, etc. Most of the radios we discuss are found on Amazon, where prices are as good as they get, and buyer comments are very helpful in selecting the best fit for your needs.

Two-way radio communications for groups.

Interested in how to use walkie-talkie radios effectively for your group, whether it’s your family or a neighborhood response team? Then you need a way to not only listen, but also to speak.

We have used many different models, and review walkie-talkies here.  EmergencyPlanGuide.org also has a number of Advisories on walkie-talkie use:

If you are serious about building a neighborhood group, each of the books in our Survival Series has a complete discussion and a diagram showing one way to use radio communications, how to assign channels for your different divisions and specialty teams, etc.

 2. Emergency/Survival Kits

We know that some people simply don’t have time to actually build their own kit, so we start with a review of Popular Ready-Made Kits to be found on Amazon.  The purpose of the review is not to recommend any one kit in particular, but to highlight different things to look for as you shop. (Again, please be aware that if you buy something from Amazon through one of our links, we may receive a commission from Amazon. The commission does not influence the price you pay.)

Because every person and family is unique, we recommend strongly that you build your own basic kit, and we have written a booklet to guide you through the various decisions that need to be made.  Once you have the basic kit, add items that fit your climate, your skill and your interest level.

We have also discovered that most people continue to improve their kit by adding specialty items. Some of the most interesting additions:

 3. Special Preparations for City Dwellers

Much of the “prepper” literature deals with developing skills that allow you to survive by living off the land. For urban or suburban dwellers, particularly people living in apartments or condos, these survival skills need to be adjusted to the realities of the city.

Some of the top survival resources for city dwellers:

4. Emergency Water Supplies

We probably spend more of our time on water than on anything else (even though, as reported above, website visitors seem to prefer reading about radios!). How to store water for an emergency, where to find more water when the emergency hits, and how to protect yourself from contaminated water – these are ongoing challenges that need to be overcome if we are to survive.

A few of the most comprehensive articles focused on water:

And finally, one topic unique to EmergencyPlanGuide.org  . . .

5. Counting on Neighbors for Survival

We know that the first people to be there to help in an emergency are the people already there – the neighbor at home next door, or the co-worker at the next desk or in the next room.

With that being the case, we think that the more we all know, the better chance we’ll all have to survive, at least until professional help arrives.

We also know that professional help – police and fire – will be overwhelmed in the aftermath of a widespread disaster, so it may be hours or even days before they do arrive. A strong neighborhood team, ready to take action, just seems to make great sense.

Our 20-year commitment to neighborhood emergency preparedness has been focused primarily on building a neighborhood response team. It has been a labor of love – and yes, a LOT of labor!

The website has many stories about what it’s taken to build the group. You can find many of these stories by heading to the list of categories in the sidebar and clicking on “CERT” or “Neighborhood.”

We have even compiled much of this information into two in-depth resources:

I hope you’ll find this list of top survival resources helpful, and a reminder of areas in your own planning that may not be as secure as you’d like. Also, if you would like to see more on any aspect of emergency preparedness or disaster recovery, please just let me know!

Virginia and Joe
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

We mean it! Let us know in the comments what topics YOU like to read more about!

Survive a hurricane thanks to NIMS

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Virginia promoting CERT
Virginia promoting CERT

I’m a very big fan of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. I took the course in 2001, and have been happily participating as a volunteer in various follow-up activities once or twice a year since. Accordingly, this summer Joe and I took a refresher course on NIMS, the National Incident Management System. We just finished it up last week.

With both hurricane and fire season ramping up, it felt like a good time for a review!

Here’s how we respond to emergencies in the U.S.

Citizens are usually the victims of an emergency — which also makes them the very first responders!

CERT members are citizen volunteers trained to respond – to help themselves and others.

Now when CERT members are activated by their sponsoring agency (police or fire department), they may find themselves working with other local volunteers, perhaps from a different city. They could easily be working with local or borrowed first responders – police and fire departments or emergency medical personnel – and maybe even other city, state or national agencies including the National Guard.

In a disaster you could find yourself surrounded by all sorts of professional responders — and all of them strangers. How would you be able to work with them?

Because of NIMS, everyone is able to work together!

Per FEMA, the purpose of NIMS is to “guide all levels of government including territories and tribes, nongovernmental organizations like the Red Cross, and the private sector (including families, faith-based organizations, etc.) to work together to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from incidents of all sizes, in all locations, no matter how simple or complex.

That’s a tall order!

The way I understand it, what NIMS really does is give everyone involved in an incident three important assets:

  • shared vocabulary
  • an agreed-upon management system that expands to coordinate disaster responders on the local, state and federal levels
  • a standardized approach to a specific on-the-ground incident

The “on-the-ground,” tactical component of NIMS is the ICS or Incident Command System.

As a neighborhood response team member, or as a CERT volunteer, you are most likely to be exposed to the ICS. Here’s how its underlying principle has been described to me: “The first person to arrive becomes the Incident Commander, until someone more senior/experienced takes over.” The command chain builds out, step by step, using a common hierarchy to incorporate as many people or teams as necessary. As the problem is resolved, the chain contracts.

Here are a couple of diagrams that will help explain the ICS:

Chart showing Incident Command System

The chart above shows the basic structure. At the top, the Commander, who is supported by a public information officer, safety officer and liaison officer. Directly under the Incident Commander are four “Sections.” Even your simple neighborhood disaster will have an Incident Commander and an Information Officer. You might also have Sections (though probably not a Finance section).

Below is a chart of a “fully expanded” Incident Command System. It shows the sub-groups associated with the various Sections. Again, if you are a small neighborhood group, like we are, your Operations Section might have Division Leaders (and Block Captains), all reporting up the chain to the Incident Commander. If you are able to field Special Teams (medical, search & rescue, etc.) they might logically fall into the Logistics Section.

Chart showing expanded Incident Command System

How did this all come to be?

After the terror of September 11, 2001, followed by the chaos of Hurricane Katrina in 2004, the nationwide approach to emergency management underwent dramatic changes. NIMS was formalized. Today, all official emergency management groups in the U.S. follow the NIMS system, and all “incidents” are managed using ICS, the Incident Command System.

If your community experiences a disaster, whoever comes to help will be following these systems. You will be far more useful and confident if you are familiar with the set-up and the vocabulary!

And if you are building your OWN citizen community teams, consider how they might fit into this same national framework. Of course, you don’t have to have every position. But try to choose titles for your positions that reflect the “official” vocabulary. You’ll find it far easier to integrate with professionals when they finally do arrive on the scene.

This short article is not really sufficient to explain the full system. Here are a couple of official resources for citizen volunteers.

(1) FEMA offers a series of online courses for volunteers and professionals at https://training.fema.gov/nims/ Start with IS-100 (a. is the original, b. and c. are updates).

(2) You can also purchase a book from Amazon, authored by FEMA, so you can have it to refer to at a meeting or in the field. Click on the image or on the link below for further details and price. (less than $10 as I write this.)

IS-100.B: Introduction to Incident Command System, ICS-100

Once again, please remember I’m writing this article after long-time familiarity but I’m not a professional emergency manager. Still, I hope you’ll get a helpful overview. Please feel free to comment with corrections or suggestions!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

Muscle Memory and Emergency Preparedness Training

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raining and muscle memory

By now we’ve all heard the concept of “muscle memory.” That is, if you practice something enough, when called upon your body will remember what to do even if your brain is sidetracked.

Professionals train constantly. They develop all kinds of muscle memory, and every day we hear stories how that training has paid off.

Volunteers, on the other hand, are a different story. When it comes to preparedness training for volunteers within the neighborhood, we have a challenge.

Here is the training challenge as I see it.

  • Even in a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training session with the guidance of professional instructors we can TALK about what to do in an emergency medical situation. We can SHOW people how clear airways, check for breathing, and test circulation. We can PRACTICE once or twice with professional supervision.

    Then we go home! And we are lucky to get a refresher course on those particular procedures within the next month or even 6 months!
  • In our local neighborhood group meetings we don’t have professionally-trained leaders. We depend on our own volunteer members to come up with good ways to prepare and to respond. When we’re lucky, we attract a guest speaker with special credentials.

    Then we go home! And we may never hear from that speaker again!

A current LinkedIn discussion group sees the challenge, too.

I participate in a LinkedIn group for emergency managers. There’s a discussion taking place right now about providing enough on-going training for people at different levels of expertise.

In particular, the discussion is focusing on the very audience I mentioned above – the concerned and committed volunteer who may be part of a local community but not part of a formal program.

How can we give these people the chance to develop that all-important “muscle memory?”

Here’s some of what I’ve learned about meeting the training challenge.

Online resources. There are a number of online resources, courses and online videos. We have used many of them in our group. The challenge is having to first find and then sort through them all, site by site and video by video, to find one that fits your group’s level of interest, its budget and is of a quality you’re comfortable with. As we know, there is no easy way to “rate” the quality of ANYTHING online!

Local resources. In our community we occasionally have the opportunity to attend a face-to-face course offered by the Red Cross or a health care organization. Some of these are free; most charge a fee. Some communities are more fortunate in that they have regular such programs offered through a university. (Here are two examples, the first at Columbia and the second at the University of Kansas.  https://ncdp.columbia.edu/practice/training-education/online-face-to-face-training/ and http://rtcil.org/emergencypreparedness/onlinetrainings)

Books. By now, you realize I’ve tried to capture some training ideas in the books I’ve written.  The advantage of books is that they are inexpensive, available everywhere, and eminently portable. The disadvantage – reading about an idea in a book doesn’t train muscle memory! Some dedicated member of the group has to turn the idea into an actual training exercise. (That’s what I try to assist with in Emergency Preparedness Meeting Ideas.)

Training that can actually involve muscle memory is by far the most desirable. For volunteers, it’s still very tough to come by.

But when it comes to emergency preparedness, ANY training is better than none!

You can get started now with some of the resources mentioned above. One thing for sure: There will be no time for training once the disaster hits!


Day 24 of Summer Vacation: A time for some shorter and lighter Advisories as a welcome change-of-pace!


Does Business Hold the Key to Community-wide Preparedness?

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Anyone who is active in the world of emergency preparedness recognizes these simple truths:

  • Disasters, whether natural or man-made, are becoming more frequent and more serious. And more deadly.
  • People with a personal survival plan have a better chance of surviving a disaster than those with no plan. Same for businesses and for communities with active neighborhood emergency response groups.
  • Getting individual Americans to make a plan is an uphill battle!

How Can We Help More People and More Communities Be Better Prepared for Emergencies?

The government plays a role in preparedness.

FEMA was formed in 1979 with good intentions. When disaster awareness took front stage after 9-11-2001, FEMA’s efforts ratcheted up.

Actually, even before that, FEMA had seen the efforts of Los Angeles Fire Department to train civilians in earthquake preparedness. The LAFD program was adopted in 1993 as a national program and called Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

CERT training is now available in all 50 states. Thousands of citizens have been trained and now serve as valuable interim backup to official First Responders. Training is at minimal cost and in some cases is free.

For the past decade or so, shifting from its traditional top-down approach, FEMA has looked at improving resilience at the community level. But here we are today, having gone through Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, Irma, Maria and Michael. We’ve experienced hundreds of mass shootings, thousands of acres of historical flooding, massive wild fires, and millions of data breaches — and the level of preparedness in American families hovers unchanged at around 50%!

Why don’t individual Americans prepare for emergencies?

After 30 years of working with our individual neighbors all across the country, we have found it boils down to this: the comforts of urban living have overtaken the urgency to develop survival skills.

And there’s a secondary reason, too. While people understand that working together will give them an advantage in an emergency, our increasingly diverse and ever-more-mobile society makes working together harder. 

So while people will always agree that they SHOULD be preparing, and that working together will give them an advantage, most lack the necessary leadership skills or they just aren’t willing to make the effort.

CERT Volunteers do their best to engage neighbors – but . . .

CERT training attracts a special breed of people, people who recognize risk and are eager to take action to reduce it for their families. When they have completed the CERT training they have a unique understanding of how their community and in particular how their First Responders work in a disaster. They also have skills to help save lives on the ground until those First Responders arrive.

But CERT training does not include a module on “community organizing.” Without the aptitude for sales or sales training — and lacking backing and financial support – individual CERT volunteers who want to build neighborhood groups around themselves inevitably run into a wall.

Businesses have preparedness advantages that individuals don’t.

Are you familiar with the statistics for business survival after a disaster?

FEMA reports that up to 40% of businesses never reopen after a disaster, and those that stay closed for more than 5 days are unlikely to last more than a year.

With a solid emergency preparedness or Business Contingency Plan, chances improve dramatically for a business to make it through or re-open more quickly.

But small businesses, like individual families, still lag behind in planning. They may not recognize the powerful advantages they already have for effective preparedness:

  1. A business is already an existing group. Its members are typically in close physical contact. They know each other. They are used to working together as a team to meet a common objective.
  2. Businesses have a built-in network of resources to call upon for help in planning for emergency. Those resources include other neighboring businesses, partners like suppliers, city governments, utilities, and professional advisers like accountants, attorneys, insurance agents, etc.  And CERT training is available to business usually at no cost.
  3. Every business has a duty to protect lives, and everyone in the business has an incentive to protect their livelihood!  Even if the doors of the business are closed, the business has to make sure regulatory and legal commitments are met. A proper plan can assure this continuity, keep employees paid and deflect legal assaults.
  4. The owner or employer sets the tone and can require and ensure that the business develop a preparedness culture.
  5. Where the business’s plan includes well-thought-out emergency communications with employee families, it reduces employee anxiety and gives employees an incentive to stay or at least return to work during the critical minutes and hours immediately following an event.
  6. And the prepared business actually adds a bonus for the whole community. Employees will take knowledge and training home and spread it within their local neighborhood.

Businesses start ahead of the game. All they have to do is get into it! 

Logically businesses might first turn to their existing team of professional advisers for help in putting together a plan. These are the accountants, attorneys, bankers and insurance brokers who currently advise them on their business issues. Each has valuable expertise.

But these professionals may not see themselves having a role in emergency preparedness. So without that guidance, how can businesses turn the corner on preparedness?

Businesses can use CERT to jumpstart preparedness training at their location.  

Once the business has been exposed to CERT, building a more comprehensive Business Contingency Plan will be a natural. And once employees have been exposed to CERT, they will automatically take new awareness and skills home with them right into their neighborhoods!

Spreading CERT from the business into the community at large isn’t a guaranteed or proven answer to more community resilience. But, given the uneven track record that many communities experience in trying to organize neighborhoods, this would certainly seem to be an approach worth testing.

Let us know what you think!

Here at EmergencyPlanGuide.org we’ve been committed for years to preparedness at the community level. To help businesses get started, we have published a simple guide to preparedness for small businesses. We are making it available to professional business advisers, too, along with reference materials and more resources from that particular service perspective.

Inventory Worksheet for a Resilient Community

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Resilient community after a hurricane
How well will your community fare in a disaster???

The emphasis from FEMA these days seems to be on building “resilient communities.” 

This includes improving cooperation among the various community agencies and organizations like cities, counties, fire departments, hospitals, the Red Cross, CERT programs, etc.

It also means a new focus on individual citizen and neighborhood preparedness. Here’s a new resilient community element that has been added to the CERT program in our city.

As CERT grads, we are being asked to serve as ambassadors to reach out more deeply into our community.

At Emergency Plan Guide we’re of course delighted with this development! We’ve been doing this grass roots work for years, and we welcome new resources!

Today, I’d like to share an inventory worksheet that our CERT team received after the orientation to the new outreach program.

An inventory worksheet can add important knowledge for a more resilient community.

Have you received or used a similar worksheet? Perhaps you’ve found out some of what we have . . .

  • In our experience, people are hesitant to share information about personal skills and/or equipment until they have developed a certain level of trust with their neighbors. I think you’ll get better response by planning the inventory exercise only after your group has been established for a while and people know each other.
  • As always, we think you’ll improve participation in the list exercise by introducing it with stories that apply to your neighborhood or property. When people see a photo or take a walk out to the back gate that’s always chained shut, then they will be more comfortable sharing that they own bolt cutters!
  • Having a prepared list is great to start the discussion about a resilient community, but we have found that other important items emerge only after discussion. So now we use a “short list” as a starter and let the group brainstorm and build its own list on a white board or easel.  Then we share our “custom list” with all current members of the group.

No matter how you build it or introduce it, though, getting a list of skills and equipment is important. And you’ll want to update it regularly because people come and go and they tend to buy and get rid of stuff. In any case, and to continue the discussion,

Here’s the inventory worksheet we were given by our CERT program.

Inventory worksheet
Click here for a full sized, easier to read image!

Leverage your inventory worksheet for even more benefits to your community.

Here are more discoveries we’ve made using the inventory exercise. Perhaps they will emerge in your group, too.

  • When you know what equipment is located in the neighborhood you’ll have a head start on preparedness and won’t have to plan to buy more, often expensive, items.
  • Knowing where people with special skills or equipment are located means your neighborhood can have quick access to these assets, maybe saving lives that otherwise would be lost. (Make a map, and have a discussion about confidentiality.)
  • People who own equipment usually know how to use it. They may be pleased to lead a training session on that equipment for the benefit of the whole group. (We’ve had trainings on gas sniffers, fire extinguishers, and furniture bracing, for example.)
  • A discussion of equipment and skills may reveal gaps in your group’s preparedness “coverage.”  Can you create a sub-committee to seek out a donation, find special training, or establish a new partnership from within the community?
  • Neighbors may be inspired to sign up for more training – like the full CERT training or to become a HAM radio operator — thereby adding significantly to the strength of the team. What would YOU like to learn more about?

This worksheet was the first training piece that our CERT outreach group received, and we haven’t finished with it yet. But I wanted to get it out to you right away in case you find a way to use it with your group.

And if you do, can you please write back and let us know how it is working! We all look forward to hearing from you.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. This list isn’t exhaustive. A few items that aren’t here but that might find their way onto a customized inventory could be boats, golf carts, and pop-up tents! What items does your group come up with? 

P.P.S. If you are just starting a CERT outreach program in your community, you might want a copy of the “Start-Up Suggestions” we provided for our own Southern California program leader. I’d be happy to send you a copy. Just drop me a line.


How to Improve Your Chances of Survival

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First person to help is probably a victim

Start a new year, strengthen your team.

The first rescuers in a disaster are others who are right there. Your neighbors. Your co-workers. They know you. They know where you are likely to be, and whether they should search for you!

Improve your chances of survival by building a stronger team around you – in your neighborhood and at work.

If you’ve got the start of a team . . .

Last year (2018 was so long ago!) we focused on creating what we think are some helpful blueprints for building that team. To make them more useful, we customized by type of neighborhood you might find yourself in.

Each of the books in our Neighborhood Disaster Survival Series addresses a different type of neighborhood:

  • An apartment or condominium neighborhood, where neighbors come and go, storage space may be limited, and since you don’t own the entire building, some preparedness options are limited. Improve your chances of survival by sharing and working together.
  • A mobilehome community, where building standards vary so homes may be more vulnerable to certain natural disasters and top infrastructure threats include broken gas and water lines.
  • A suburban neighborhood where options may be more varied but homes are so far apart you may not even know your neighbors or where families may have a “My home is my fortress.” attitude.
  • A small business whose owner is typically torn between meeting current profitability necessities and providing for what feel like only potential business or employee losses.

Steady wins the race.

You can’t build a team quickly. The guides go into great detail about building teams. They focus on identifying leaders to start the process, and suggest that the leaders get Community Emergency Response Team training so they share some of the same skills and approach emergencies in a systematic way.

Once this core group is ready to go, its members can begin to pull in other neighbors. The guides have plenty of ideas for ways to attract neighbors and get them involved. Your team will find it easy to arrive at emergency preparedness recommendations for the whole neighborhood. They may even come up with a written plan. All this will improve your chances of survival.

Many, many neighborhoods around the country have followed a similar road to improving their resilience.

But what if you don’t have a team?

What are you doing or planning, at home or at work, to improve your chances of survival?

  • If you have trained CERT graduates in your neighborhood, maybe they have stepped up to take on a leadership role. Or maybe you could encourage them to do so?
  • If you have a property manager or business owner who is tuned in to emergency preparedness, has that person taken some steps for more resilience? Maybe you could suggest and support those efforts? (Lots of ideas here at Emergency Plan Guide!)
  • What if nothing is happening in your neighborhood, and you feel like a voice in the wilderness?

Here in our community our team has shrunk. So we’ve decided that it’s time for a renewed neighborhood effort. We’re starting – again – from scratch!

Set the tone.

won't you be my neighborRemember this cartoon from the Advisory a couple of weeks ago? We’re using it to set the tone for our 2019 team-building effort. Friendly, not threatening or guilt-inducing.

Simple first step.

This week, we’re following up with the next step, providing neighbors with a simple form that they can fill out and share. The form is a simplified List of Emergency Contacts aimed at bringing neighbors together who may never really have met.

Emergency Contact InformationHere are instructions we’re sending along with the form:

Fill it out this form WITH YOUR INFORMATION.  Maybe your emergency contact is your daughter. Mention that. And under “Special notes” you could add your pet.

Make a few copies of this information about you, and make a few blank copies too. (You don’t need a form; a simple piece of paper will do.)

Then, step next door and introduce yourself and share this information. Ask neighbors to share their info in return. Exchanging info doesn’t mean you’re promising to be best friends. What you are doing, though, is making our neighborhood a friendlier place, and making it safer and more secure, too.  

A good way to start the year, don’t you agree?

Neighborhoods change, and neighbors change. Here in our own household we’ve noticed one thing that happened in 2018   – we’re getting older!

But no matter the exact circumstances, having good neighbors, and being a good neighbor, will improve your chances of surviving a disaster. We are all in this together!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. How well do you know your neighbors? Have you exchanged important contact info? Let us know how you went about it! We need all the suggestions we can get, because this seems to be one of the biggest challenges to starting a neighborhood group!

Help Your Neighborhood Prepare for Disaster

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The Constant Challenge

I write often about CERT – the Community Emergency Response Team – and the great training that CERT provides.

People who become CERT graduates are almost always up to speed on what’s going on with the weather. CERT grads have basic emergency equipment including radios and walkie-talkies. They are people you can count on when things go wrong.

But CERT grads just aren’t enough to help most neighborhoods prepare or get through a major disaster because there aren’t enough of them!

So when the disaster hits, you’re going to be counting not on First Responders, not on CERT grads, but on your neighbors – trained or untrained!

Here in my neighborhood, we’ve built a neighborhood emergency response  team with the help of CERT grads – but we’re constantly trying to strengthen neighborhood resilience just by getting more neighbors involved in planning for disaster.

Earlier this month I wrote an article on the issue for our neighborhood newsletter. I tried to make the message a friendly one – not just about emergencies and disasters!

I’ve received some positive feedback so I thought I’d share my article here. Maybe you can cut and paste and use some of it for YOUR neighborhood? Can you pull out a couple of the suggestions as the basis for a meeting?

Do with it what you will!

I just hope it will be useful to help your neighborhood prepare for disaster!

Here’s the article.

won't you be my neighborWon’t you be my neighbor?

Over the past year we’ve witnessed so many tragedies and none worse than what’s still happening now in Northern California – thousands of homes destroyed, dozens of people dead, and 3 still missing more than a month after the start of the Camp fire.

We’ve heard great stories of neighbors helping neighbors in disaster situations.

Some of the stories are awe-inspiring.

  • The Cajun Navy towed their private boats from Louisiana to Florida and launched them to help pluck hurricane victims from floodwaters.
  • Neighbors with chain saws worked hour after hour to clear roads after devastation caused by Hurricane Florence.
  • A food truck owner drove 50 miles into a disaster area and fed everyone as long as the food lasted.
  • People spontaneously added clothing to a pile in a Walmart parking lot to create a place where displaced families could collect necessities.

There are many stories just like these – stories of ordinary people finding the will to step up in a disaster.

At the same time right here at home we’re lucky to have stories of neighborhood volunteers who help out all the time!

Here in our neighborhood we see residents who are willing to give time and energy to make a difference for our community throughout the year. We can look back and count dozens of activities, groups meetings, special events – all organized for us by caring volunteers.

But here’s The Constant Challenge. . .

This group of dedicated volunteers is reaching fewer and fewer people – partly because we lose community members, and partly because new residents are not being integrated. And as always, because no disaster has actually hit us, people find it easy to postpone taking any preparedness steps.

For the New Year, our homeowners association has made a commitment to build an even stronger neighborhood.

Building a stronger neighborhood starts with knowing your neighbors.

This means knowing names, having the name and phone number of a neighbor’s emergency contact or family member, maybe exchanging emergency keys. It means keeping a watch out for water leaks, escaped pets, etc.

When you know your neighbors . . .

  • You know who “belongs” in the neighborhood and who might be an intruder – and if you should call the police.
  • You notice when you haven’t seen a neighbor for several days, so you can do a quick check or make a call to a family member.
  • If a neighbor is having a problem getting around, you are ready to add a few items to your shopping list to help them out.
  • You have someone to call if you can’t get home to care for your pet.
  • In a major emergency, you know you won’t be overlooked or forgotten even if you don’t get an official “alert”  – because your neighbors know you are there!

Here’s the first step:

Just introduce yourself and learn the names of at least a half dozen of the people who live around you!

For the next step:

Exchange a simple form that lists names and contact information.

We’ll come up with a sample form in our next article, so watch for it. In the meanwhile, get out there and meet that first new neighbor!

* * * * * *

OK, that’s the first article in the series I’m intending to write for my community. The next article will have that little emergency contact form I mention. It will also have a place for people to list pets, medical conditions, etc. But sharing that kind of info doesn’t happen at the first meeting. It requires trust – so we’ll start with just introductions.

I’ll let you know how things go here.  Please let us know what steps you’ve taken in your community to help involve neighbors!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. If you’re new here, you may not realize that our main emphasis at Emergency Plan Guide is on what we call “wholistic” planning! We believe that the impact of every big emergency extends well beyond your family. We are all in this together — and the more we work together, the safer we all will be. Does this sound like something you agree with?  If so, take a look at our Neighborhood Disaster Survival guidebooks. Each offers a path to organizing an emergency response team within your neighborhood,whether it’s made up of apartments, mobile homes or single family homes.

Simple Survival Signals Can Help Speed a Needs Assessment

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Survival signal flare

Wham! Your neighborhood is hit by an emergency! Before you do anything else, you check immediately on your own condition and the condition of the place where you are.

Then, if you are a member of a CERT or NERT team, you set out to check on others and help come up with a Needs Assessment(Our team members, like others, use checklists to record and walkie-talkies to report on how many people have been impacted, who is injured and to what degree, and what’s the status of neighborhood structures.)

The full needs assessment may take quite a while.

  • You and a partner can try to hurry to every single house on the street, interviewing residents and noting damage. But that may be beyond your physical capability.
  • You can try to call everyone on the street. However, even if you know all their phone numbers, that, too, would take a long time — dialing, hearing their story, answering questions, leaving messages, etc. (Besides, in a big emergency the phones may be down or overloaded.)
  • If you had a drone, and knew how to make it function, and it was daytime, you could send it up to view the houses. Of course, you wouldn’t be talking to residents.

Time is of the essence!

Here are three simple survival signals that might speed the needs assessment in your neighborhood.

These signals are in use by various neighborhoods in our Southern California area. Obviously, every region/neighborhood is different. But if one of these makes sense for you, or a version of one makes sense, bring it up with your group. Of course, not one of these will work without NONE of the signals works unless people have been  have come up with different ways to SIGNAL they are OK. All of these “systems” have come into play after group discussion, and they only work if people have been trained to use them in advance of the emergency.

Simple Survival Signal #1: White Towel Over the Mailbox

In closely-spaced neighborhoods like ours, we can stand at one corner and see all the way down the street to the corner. Many residential neighborhood developments around the country are laid out similarly.White towel signals OK

In an emergency, if people would SIGNAL THEY ARE OK by putting a white towel over the mailbox. A quick glance would tell rescuers to head to the next house.  (Note how the white towel in the photo stands out!)

Advantages of the white towel system:

  • Everyone has a white towel or rag or can get one. (White cloths are sold inexpensively in packages, as rags.)
  • Towel won’t be damaged by getting wet or dirty.
  • White towel is visible day or night.

Disadvantage of this system:

  • Won’t work if you don’t have mailboxes or other structure at curb in front of each house.

Simple Survival Signal #2: Red Card, Green Card in the Window

At a recent meeting sponsored by the Earthquake Alliance here in Southern California, we were shown a great printed resource designed to be handed out to everyone in a neighborhood. It’s an oversized tri-fold brochure printed on heavy paper, with all kinds of interesting facts and tips about preparing for disaster.

Two of the panels are signaling devices. One has a big OK in Green. On the reverse is printed a big red HELP! In an emergency you put the appropriate sign up in your window to let first responders/neighbors know what’s what. (The image shows two of the brochures so you can see both red and green panels.)

Emergency Signal SignAdvantages of the colored card system:

  • A sign inside the house won’t get blown away or damaged by weather or vandals.
  • This sign is big enough and heavy enough that it won’t be accidentally tossed.
  • Resident won’t have to go outside to place signal.

Disadvantages of this system:

  • All residents in the neighborhood would need to be provided with the signs (cost).
  • Someone has to design, write and print the signs, which would be different for every region.
  • Window sign is probably only visible from directly in front of the house or window.
  • Probably not visible at night.

The green/red signal doesn’t have to be printed. It could be as simple as two pieces of construction paper, one red and one green. Store them near the front window, of course.

Simple Survival Signal #3: Survival Whistle Calling For Help

Ok, what if you are trapped under fallen debris? You certainly can’t place the red (HELP!) card in the window. And depending on ambient noise, time, etc., you may quickly become exhausted calling for help.

But nearly everyone would be able to use a whistle to signal their need for help – as long as they can get the whistle to their mouth.

The universal signal: three loud, short blasts followed by a pause, and then three more loud, short (3 seconds?) blasts.

Advantages of having a survival whistle:

  • Whistles are small, light-weight and easy to carry – on a key chain, connected to your purse, on a lanyard fastened to your backpack, etc.
  • Whistle can be large, small, colorful or discreet. You can find the style you like.
  • Whistles can be used for other purposes, too – calling kids, scaring away animals, warning drivers, etc.
  • Nearly every whistle I’ve ever seen costs less than $10.

Disadvantages of a survival whistle:

  • A poor quality whistle will NOT serve. A cheap whistle (the kind with a round “pea” inside) can jam. (I have experienced this!) The sound made by cheap whistles can also be too soft. You want 90 to 120 decibels of sound.
  • Super loud whistles may require earplugs.
  • Even though they cost less than $10, buying whistles for a whole group can become expensive.

There are so many whistle choices! I personally have a half-dozen or so different whistles, because I keep seeing ones I want to try! A couple of them are just to fat or ugly to make me feel like carrying them. (I use them for show and tell at our meetings!) But I have found a couple that I really like, and I have them with me all the time. Check out the whistles below for yourself, your family (great little surprise gifts) or your group. Click on the images or the links to go directly to Amazon.

Perfect for EDC — Every Day Carry

I really like this brass whistle! It’s neat, attractive, sleek, reaches 120 decibels.  It’s truly mini — small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. Of course, I’d want to attach it to a key chain or add some sort of lanyard; the gold ring looks sturdy and well made. AND the whistle costs less than $5 as I write this!

Mini Whistle Premium Emergency Whistle by Outmate-H62 Brass Loud Version EDC Tools

Businesslike and flexible

The whistle below comes as a two-pack, with carabiner and lanyard included for a variety of fastening options. Still, it’s not too bulky. This is the loudest of the three examples. Its stainless steel double-tube design can achieve 150 decibels — that sound carries farther, too! Also less than $5 each.

Michael Josh 2PCS Outdoor Loudest Emergency Survival Whistle with Carabiner and Lanyard for Camping Hiking Dog Training (Gold)

Fun and sporty

This third example also comes as a 2-pack. The whistles are dual tube, made of colorful, unbreakable plastic, waterproof. (Plastic doesn’t stick to your lips in the cold, either.) Matching lanyards are also sporty, would attach well to backpack, sports equipment. These whistles might not blend in  so swell with business attire (!), but look great for sporting events, camping, etc.  Loudness: 120 decibels.

HEIMDALL Safety Whistle with Lanyard (2 Pack) for Boating Camping Hiking Hunting Emergency Survival Rescue Signaling

I hope you’ll take a serious look at these simple survival signal ideas, and share them with your neighbors. And let us know how your tests work!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. Of course, you will likely turn to your cellphone as your very FIRST signalling tool in an emergency. Even if the phone does work, it would take a long time to dial up all your family and neighbors. Better? Pre-program your phone so you can send a TEXT MESSAGE all at once to a group, with just the push of a button!  (If the president can do it, we can too.) I’m researching programs for this right now. Do you have any recommendations?

 

 

 

 

 

Firsthand Account of CERT Response in Hurricane Florence

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The following is a . . .

Special Report from North Carolina

It’s from one of our readers in North Carolina. Sparky Wilson was a guest author a Emergency Plan Guide a couple of years ago, so when Florence hit I knew he was in the affected area. I wrote and was gratified (and pretty amazed!) to get back this detailed assessment of what he and his fellow CERT members have been going through.

I’ve attached some of his photos from the area, too.

You will see that the report suggests a number of ideas for building your team. I’’ll be developing some of them in future Advisories.

In the meanwhile, read on . . .!

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Virginia, here’s some hurricane news from the Sandhills of central North Carolina!   My wife and I live in Carolina Trace, a gated community of 3,000+ people living in 1,750+ homes, situated on 2,500 acres of heavily forested rolling hills with a 330-acre lake in the middle of the community.  It is both beautiful and a challenge when disasters hit – like hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, chemical spills, heavy rains, and snow and ice storms.

Tree falls on roof Carolina TraceHurricane Florence is the second hurricane our CERT has been involved with.  Two years ago, we were activated for Hurricane Matthew – high winds, heavy rain, over 500 downed trees and some damaged homes.  We learned a lot from the Matthew experience and identified areas where we could improve performance.

I would like to share some of the lessons we have learned.

I am convinced CERT should . . .

Create Emergency Operations Plans for their neighborhood(s) and coordinate them with key players.  The key players include, but are not limited to: the emergency services office, fire department, ambulance service, local shelter, HOA/POA(s), power, water and sewage connection points, and the agency charged with evacuating residents.

Carolina Trace tree downCoordinate frequently with the organization directing your team.  Our team reports to the Director of Emergency Services.  Learn who else will be out there responding and what can they do for you and vice versa.  There are many organizations in your community that will be operating during a disaster response – EMS, fire departments, Red Cross, law enforcement, neighborhood security forces, transportation agencies, Baptist Men’s Group, and the list goes on.  You’re going to see them all when the disaster strikes – get to know them now.

Carolina Trace flooded roadGood radio communication is extremely important and never seems to go the way you want.  Carolina Trace CERT issues a MURS radio (short-distance Multi-Use Radio Service, limited to 2 watts power) to every team member.  It’s our go-to radio for intra-team operations because they are relatively inexpensive, we can add more powerful antennas for increased range and there is no licensing requirement.  We encourage our CERT volunteers to become Amateur “Ham” radio operators.  Ham radios are great when it comes to reaching out to others in an emergency.

(Note though that Amateur Radio Operation requires licensed operators so plan ahead.  We are fortunate in that we have a narrow-band digital radio that allows us to communicate directly with the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and our fire department wherever they are in the County.)

Know your team’s strengths and weaknesses.  We have learned a lot about our strengths and weaknesses during exercises and especially during Hurricane Matthew.  We have worked hard since Matthew to improve our capabilities in those areas where we found weaknesses while maintaining proficiency where we were already to standard.   Our field exercises have garnered recognition from our first responders and has led to more training with and from them, thus creating good communications and a better understanding of roles and capabilities for us and them.

Carolina Trace flooded dockWe were prepared when the cone of uncertainty indicated we were at risk. Florence brought us tropical storm force winds and fifteen to twenty inches of rain (depending on where you lived in the County).  Some homes were damaged, many trees were toppled and several roads are still impassable due to flooding.  We offered support to the county shelter and checked on neighbors when it was safe to venture out.  We also provided damage assessments to the fire department and the county Emergency Operations Center.

Next steps in our CERT response in Hurricane Florence

Carolina Trace clearly “dodged the bullet” when Florence dipped South and skirted us.  That said, our preparations through hands-on monthly training sessions and radio checks, field exercises and partnerships with the professionals have led our team members to feel confident in knowing how and what to do when disaster strikes.  They understand that If things don’t go well in training they are not likely to go well when it’s for real.  Our next step is to conduct a Hot Wash (AAR – After Action Report) to identify areas where we can do better and focus future training on those areas.

Virginia adds: You can see that Carolina Trace has a pretty well organized neighborhood CERT team, with a history of training, connections with local officials, current equipment, etc. Not every community has this level of neighborhood commitment and support, but it is something we can all aim for. A team of trained volunteers in our neighborhoods could make all the difference in how we get through any emergency.

Thanks to Sparky for this timely and valuable information. Please share it — and share YOUR story, too. This is how we know what’s really going on.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. If you liked this Advisory, sign up below to get one every week.  Disasters aren’t going to stop coming.