Category: Neighborhood groups

Timing is everything. Where will you be when the disaster hits?

You can almost assume that when an emergency hits, your family will not be together. Depending on the circumstances, you may not be able to get back together for some time. And whether you get together at home is yet another question.

• Students and teachers may be held in school, perhaps in a locked-down situation.
• Employees may be required to stand by to help protect co-workers as well as the business itself.
• City employees and First Responders are likely to be called into action and kept away from home for hours or days at a time.
• Any family member could be away from the home on travel, shopping, or vacation.

Immediately following the disaster, your concern will be to find out where everyone is, their condition, and the condition of your home. This is natural and normal . . . and without a plan, this difficult period may be far longer and more painful than necessary.

A Plan Speeds Communication

Your plan could contain a number of important steps.

1. Sign up to receive emergency communications from your local police department via email or phone. This could give you an important head start.
2. Set up an Out-of-Town Contact , someone who:
   • Lives out of the immediate area. If local phones are out, getting through to someone via a long-distance connection may be easier.
   • Owns a smart phone that can receive a text or SMS message. (SMS = Short Message Service). Of course, any phone is better than no phone.
   • Is able to keep track of calls that come in and share info with others. Not all family members are able to do this.
3. Create Emergency Contact Cards for every member of the family.

Everyone needs a wallet card that can be carried for identification and that will have the Out-of-Town Contact’s number.

Below is a sample Emergency Contact Card.  Include a similar card in backpacks, briefcases and purses.

Sample Front of Card

 Special for Families with Children

Being separated from parents during an emergency will be an emergency itself for many children. If you have small children, your family plan needs to be more extensive than simply an Out-of-Town Contact name and number.

We recommend that you:

1. Review the list of “approved people” that is on file at your child’s school. Should it be expanded?
2. Confirm with neighbors or relatives that they are on the “approved list” and be sure they agree to be there.
3. Go over the list with your children so they know what to expect in an emergency.

Update your information

Like all contact information, your emergency contact information needs to be regularly updated. Reaching an old, disconnected number may be more upsetting than not having one at all!

NOTE:  This Advisory is only an overview. You can find more on what happens to phones in an emergency, which ones are best to have, where to look for missing family members in a wide-spread U.S. disaster, and a suggested agenda for a family meeting about emergency communications on our website.  Click here to jump to the three-page Family Communications Plan.

Getting press coverage has a dual purpose.

Of course, it’s always gratifying to find yourself in the news – as long as the story is a positive one, of course. But when it comes to pulling together a neighborhood team, there’s a lot more to getting an article than simply a “feel-good” moment.

Article about fire rescue

Your main objective is to inspire others to form their own neighborhood CERT program. Why is this so important? Simple. The more people in your community are prepared and organized for survival, the less pressure on your community’s First Responders and the less danger to you personally.

Remember the fire?

I wrote about the fire that happened here in our own neighborhood several months ago. The older woman living in the home was pulled to safety by the mail carrier, but the house burned to the ground. It was dramatic and scary for all concerned. We got a photo in the news that time, too . . .

Four months later, more news

Last week I was invited to attend a special breakfast held at the local post office. It was to recognize the mail carrier’s quick action in saving our neighbor’s life. Once again, an article appeared in the newspaper. Definitely a “feel good” article that was a change from the negative news that seems to proliferate.

But there was a lot more to the event. Before the presentation, I had the occasion to talk to the local fire authority, in the person of the Division Chief. Here are some highlights of that conversation:

• I talked to him about the fast action of his people, but more importantly, he and I had the chance to confirm a number of fire safety issues that apply specifically to the people who live in older homes.
• The Chief reiterated that the 5-minute response time to the fire was in part possible because of the actions of our local Emergency Response Team. (We have just under 100 Members.) Not only did several of them call 911, but team members jumped into action at the site of the fire, pushing curious by-standers away from the home and clearing the streets so the fire engines could access the fire without delay. The real key is that, because of our training, everyone knew what to do without dithering around! One team member’s nearby home became not only a refuge for the lady whose home burned, but also a headquarters of sorts for the incident.
• The Chief had heard about our Emergency Response Team before, but was very interested when I mentioned that we were holding a training meeting in February to discuss the high-pressure gas line that runs near our community. In fact, he immediately invited himself to attend.

What’s the value of all this to our organizing efforts?

First, our entire team and their work have been validated! They were mentioned in the Chief’s remarks to a large gathering of community leaders, and briefly mentioned in the newspaper article. (We have heard from readers across the state who saw the article!)

Second, having the Chief attend our upcoming meeting will reinforce the sense of cooperation and coordination with authorities that we work so hard to build. Not only will the fire department be represented, but our invited “experts” are from the local police department and the city’s emergency preparedness division. We will all become more knowledgeable about the risks posed by this particular pipeline.

Our future requests for resources – whether for guest speakers, or exhibits, or for invitations to local or county-wide Red Cross and/or FEMA trainings – are much more likely to be welcomed by these official First Responder organizations.

Finally, are we serving as a role model for other neighborhoods?  YES!  That is the real bottom line.

Our local neighborhood is adding a distinct layer of safety and security to our wider community. It is gratifying and encouraging that this effort be acknowledged and appreciated.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. What press coverage has your group received? Any suggestions for the rest of us?

High pressure lines are closely monitored by a number of agencies.  Your local utility or city will be the most familiar with the state of high pressure lines in your area, and with the monitoring guidelines and records.

Gas fire erupting through LA street after Northridge earthquake. (photo by M. Rymer)

No matter how carefully lines are monitored, however, leaks and breaks can happen.  Most often, they happen when construction equipment accidentally punctures a line.  They can result from a natural event like a storm, earthquake, tornado, or ice storm.  Sometimes an over-loaded, aged infrastructure is to blame.

Leaks could happen at any time.

How do your local gas lines stack up?

An online search using the National Pipeline Mapping system is a good place to start. Dig deep on that site to find the names of the various operators of the different lines in your area. Contact them to get more details about the age and condition of their lines, their monitoring and safety policies and plans, etc.

If you think you have an emergency…

If you see or hear any of these near a pipeline right-of-way, it could signal a leak:

• A hissing, roaring sound
• Dirt or dust blowing
• Water bubbling or spraying
• Dead or brown vegetation
• Flames coming from the ground
• “Rotten egg” smell

(Typically the “rotten egg” smell is added only to smaller distribution lines. It won’t appear in major transmission lines.)

What’s the right response to a potential gas leak?

Get out! But do it intelligently.

• Turn off any machinery or motors.
• Don’t turn on or use any electrical equipment that could create a spark. This includes turning lights on or off, making a cell phone call, closing a garage door, or using a battery-operated radio!
• Do not allow any open flames, including matches, cigarette lighters, welding equipment, etc.
• Evacuate the immediate area. If exiting a building, leave the doors open.
• Keep bystanders away.
• Do not try to find the source of the leak.
• Do not operate any valves or other shut-offs.
• Do not attempt any repairs.
• Do not attempt to put out any fires.
• From a safe distance, call 911.

Emergency Preparedness Training

Action Items: Train your Emergency Response Team to recognize this hazard and to respond accordingly. Invite an expert as guest speaker to one of your neighborhood meetings. Prepare a flyer (taken from this Advisory?) and include it in your “Welcome Wagon” handouts for new neighbors.

We consider gas line leaks and the potential for fire resulting from them as the number one threat to our neighborhood! Where do they fit in your list of top threats?

Spotting Activities That Could Be Acts of Preparing For a Terrorist Attack

(Part two of a three-part series) 

While random acts of violence are difficult (if not impossible) to foresee, planning and preparation for a “terrorist’s attack” has certain characteristics that, when combined, can be used to identify a pending event.

Financing

Funding any significant act of terrorism will often require activities that are out of the ordinary or out of character for someone.  Typically, large amounts of cash involving unusual deposit or withdrawal activity are required.  Solicitations for money or collections for donations or even fraud and transactions involving counterfeit currency or goods can provide the funding for terrorists.

Acquiring Unusual Supplies

Unusual or particularly large purchases of chemicals or supplies, weapons or ammunition by unfamiliar or non-regular customers are worth noting.  Attempting to acquire official uniforms, vehicles or other items that would give them access to restricted areas is another sign to look for.

A case in point was Timothy McVeigh’s and Terry Nichols’s purchase of a large amount of fertilizer that would be used to perpetrate the largest scale incident of domestic terrorism in modern US history.  A close look at McVeigh’s reading and entertainment interests – as well as his radical political views – would also provide worrisome behavioral characteristics . . . but, then hindsight is, as they say, 20/20!

Deploying Assets

Getting people, supplies and vehicles into position to commit a terrorist act is often overt and observable by people familiar with the area.  It’s also the most immediate indicator with the least amount of time to alert authorities of the possible danger.  A good example of this was the SUV full of inflammable materials that was parked in Times Square, downtown Manhattan and brought to the attention of authorities by a street vendor familiar with the area.

Situational Awareness: Being Alert to Your Surroundings

Your best defense against terrorism is staying alert to your surroundings without becoming overly paranoid.  (For more about “situational awareness” here.)

You also want to avoid “profiling” individuals.  There is no “typical” terrorist appearance (Again, think of McVeigh and Nichols.)  School shootings should make it clear that the perpetrators look just like your next door neighbors or that kid in the next classroom.  The appropriate way to protect yourself is not to profile appearance, but to profile behaviors. 

This series continues with part three, focused on a terrorist’s practices or dry-runs.

Building Structures, continued . . .

Disclaimer: The following basic info comes from a number of sources deemed to be reputable.  BUT, be sure to get more information before you start making any changes to your home!

Chimneys are dangerous.

If you don’t have a chimney, you can skip this post – but only if your neighbor doesn’t have a chimney, either!

Chimneys are dangerous because they are usually constructed of unreinforced masonry or brick. In an earthquake, they can fall onto the roof of your house or to the ground.  In many cases, the entire chimney falls away from the wall, collapsing in a pile of bricks on the ground.

What’s the condition of your chimney/s?

Take these basic steps to understand the risk in your own home.

Action Item:  Check the condition of your chimney. Is the mortar crumbly? If yes, that’s a danger sign.  Check the attic. Is the chimney tied to the house with metal braces? If not, that’s a danger sign.

Consider these steps to make your chimney safer. 

1. Check around the base of the chimney OUTSIDE to be sure there are no parking areas or play areas that would be threatened if the chimney came down.  Take a look at your nearby neighbor’s chimneys to see that they don’t threaten your yard or house, too.
2. Consult with a professional to see if the chimney can be attached to the house.
3. Consult with a professional to see if your roof or walls can be strengthened — typically with plywood sheets —  to protect against falling brick.
4. Remove the bricks in the top section of the chimney and replace with a metal flue.

Again, any construction you undertake should be with the advice of a qualified professional.  But don’t procrastinate.  If your chimney is dangerous, it’s only getting worse with age.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

If you are just coming across this Advisory, don’t miss the other Advisories that deal with improving your home’s safety:

• Windows
• Inside the home

Share these Advisories with neighbors, too.  Their home is likely to be as vulnerable as yours is.

We get used to using the jargon of preparedness, and sometimes forget that not everybody thinks about this stuff on a daily basis! Here is some basic emergency preparedness vocabulary you can share with your neighbors and co-workers, particularly if they are new to the concept or if their English language skills aren’t well developed.

Nobody likes to feel left out or stupid. We have found that offering the vocabulary words “as a refresher” is a good way to develop a new level of engagement and confidence. This approach works for everybody!

Incident

This is the official word for the emergency itself – whether it is a fire, an earthquake, aftermath of a hurricane, or a train wreck. An incident can be local, or it can be widespread. We often think of something that is “incidental” as being not very important. In the world of emergency response, an incident is the most important thing! The Incident Commander is the person who takes charge of the response. (Interestingly enough, the very first person who arrives at the scene may become the first Incident Commander, but when someone more qualified arrives, that person may take over!)

Search and Rescue

This is pretty straight forward. It refers to searching for, finding and helping people in immediate danger. Professionals often divide this up into specialty sub-fields that require special training and/or equipment, such as mountain rescue, swift water rescue, etc.

Search and rescue activities are stopped if it is clear there are no more living victims, or if the situation becomes too dangerous for the rescuers. Eventually, search and rescue changes over to “recovery.”

Cribbing

When rescuers are searching through collapsed structures, they may want to lift pieces of debris to reach people trapped beneath. To do this safely, they lift piece by piece and create a support structure to hold each layer safely before moving on to the next. The process is called “cribbing.” It usually involves using pry bars to lift debris, then building a support underneath using wooden beams laid across one another in the form of a box.

Triage (“tree-ahzh”)

In a real emergency, one of the hardest jobs for a volunteer is to not stop to help the first injured person they come to! Instead, they go through a process to sort injured people into groups based on their need for medical treatment. Triage is that sorting process. Its purpose is to serve the most people when resources are limited. Typically, injured people are briefly assessed and then labeled as “minor” (a minor injury), “immediate,” “delayed,” or “deceased.” A fully equipped CERT team will have colored labels (see illustration to left) to attach to victims; this helps trained first responders know where to go when they arrive.

CERT (“sirt”)

The Community Emergency Response Team concept was started in Los Angeles in the 1980s and is now in every state of the union. Professional First Responders had seen the role that committed, ordinary citizens can play in large-scale disasters, when resources are delayed or spread thin. So they created training to give citizens a way to act more safely and more effectively. CERT training usually consists of 20-24 hours of classroom study and hands-on practice. In an emergency, CERT graduates are able to act first as individuals and later as teams to assess damage, extinguish fires, perform light search and recue and render first aid. When professional First Responders arrive, CERT teams serve as support if required.

Logistics (“lo-jis-tiks”)

This is the science of getting supplies to where they are needed. In an emergency, it involves understanding the scope of the incident, knowing what tools, supplies or equipment are available and where they are stored, and making arrangements for getting things delivered to where they are needed. A volunteer totally unfamiliar with the neighborhood or business will not be able to manage this job.

In our neighborhood, we have special teams devoted to each of these special areas. The leaders of these teams call upon other volunteers and direct them, as required.

Action item:  Consider printing out these definitions for all team members, and going over them out loud at a training meeting so everyone knows how they sound.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Like words?  Here are a couple of other “vocabulary” lists for different situations!

• Business emergencies
• Police Jargon

Doorhanger breaks preparation into four stages.

When it comes to being prepared, storing water and food are just the beginning. Unfortunately, many people stop there.

Our neighborhood CERT team wanted to get a better result. We researched and then broke preparation down into four stages to make it easier for people to get started building their emergency survival kit.

Our Doorhanger

Detailed instructions were published on a bright yellow doorhanger, distributed by the local block captain. Each hanger had the name and contact information of the  block captain, along with other emergency phone numbers.

The Process

Completing the four stages will take people several weeks. But they will be well prepared when they have accomplished it. Here’s how the doorhanger was laid out.

Stage One: Stay-at-Home Stash. Eleven things you and your family (including pets) need to Shelter in Place for at least a week. Superstorm Sandy showed just how important the Stay-at-Home Stash is.

Stage Two: Medical and Personal Care. These items – seven categories of them — will keep you alive and functioning. For senior citizens, this list includes spare glasses and hearing aid batteries.

Stage Three: Important Papers. Collecting papers and having them in one location, preferably protected from fire AND available to be moved, is the biggest challenge for everyone. Certainly, you can’t pull them together in just a few moments, and that may be all the time you have.  (We are working on getting electronic copies of important papers onto flash drives that would be easy to carry.)

Stage Four: Evacuation Kit. A bag or backpack contains items from the earlier stages, plus extra car keys, computers, etc.

Action Step for YOUR neighborhood

What would it take for YOUR neighbors to get prepared? You can download and duplicate excellent “Be Prepared” lists from the Red Cross, from CERT, and probably from your city.

We believe that customizing the message to our neighbors will make it more likely that they will follow through. Printing the list on a brightly colored door-hanger, instead of on a sheet of paper, makes it memorable. And delivering the message door to door is an important way to introduce and involve our CERT team.

P.S.  We’ll keep you updated on our progress!

UPDATE: It has been two years since the first Doorhanger was distributed. This year we updated, reprinted and distributed it again. So many people remembered it and still had the original in a drawer or on the refrigerator!

Trying to inspire and organize your neighborhood to prepare for an emergency is like trying to sell someone life insurance. “I’d rather not think about it,” is a typical response, often accompanied by a sheepish grin.

But a consistent effort does pay off. Last week we held a meeting of our neighborhood block captains, and around 30 people showed up. It turned out to be one of the best meetings we’ve had.

Action Item:  If you’re planning a get-together, consider incorporating the following ideas.

Changing batteries in handheld radios

What makes a good meeting?

1. A good reason! In this case, block captains were given new materials for handing out to their neighbors.

2. Good publicity. An article in our neighborhood newsletter, announcement at the Homeowners’ Association meeting, followed by email reminders and flyers hand-delivered to each block captain. (Multiple reminders are essential! It’s like that old saying that people have to see your ad seven times before they buy.)

3. Name tags for everyone. They make you “a part of the group” and make it easier for team members to get to know one another.

4. A role for each person. In this case, each block captain brought his or her radio and we changed out the batteries. (We do it twice a year.)

5. Variety of activities. Attendees changed batteries, watched a short film downloaded from YouTube (while eating popcorn!), and picked up their handouts for their neighbors.

6. Good audio-visual equipment. Our team has invested in a portable speaker that has great sound quality. We hooked up the computer to it when we showed the film, and also used the microphone for training.

The meeting had an agenda, and it was followed.  People got what they came for and were in and out in a tight 60 minutes. They’ll be willing to come out again as a result.

If you are growing a CERT group, consider grabbing a copy of one or both of of Emergency Plan Guide’s “from the trenches” workbooks. They pull ideas from the past 15 years into handy guidebooks. Get details here.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. Our third version of Great Meeting Ideas is being assembled now. Sign up for our Advisories below to be sure you get the notice when it comes out!

CERT provides in-person and online training.

As we pointed out in a previous entry, you can access a list of CERT organizations by visiting the Citizen Corps website at http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/ and clicking  on the box that says, “Find nearby CERTs.”  If you don’t find an organization nearby, you can start your own individual CERT training right now, online!

The CERT Basics Course, called IS-317, is made up of six modules (17 lessons). It can be found at  http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/training_mat.shtm#IS317. There is no cost to take the training.

Here is a list of the modules and lessons:

Module 1: CERT Basics

Lesson 1-0: Course Overview

Lesson 1-1: CERT Overview

Lesson 1-2: Family and Workplace Preparedness

Lesson 1-3: CERT Organization

Module 2: Fire Safety

Lesson 2-1: Introduction to Fire Safety

Lesson 2-2: Fire Hazards in the Home and Workplace

Lesson 2-3: Safe Fire Suppression

Module 3: Hazardous Materials and Terrorist Incidents

Lesson 3-1: Introduction to Special Situations

Lesson 3-2: Hazardous Materials Safety

Lesson 3-3: Terrorism and CERT

Module 4: Disaster Medical Operations

Lesson 4-1: Introduction to Disaster Medical Operations

Lesson 4-2: Principles and Guidelines for Victim Care

Lesson 4-3: Disaster Psychology

Module 5: Search and Rescue

Lesson 5-1: Introduction to Light Search and Rescue

Lesson 5-2: Search Operations

Lesson 5-3: Rescue Operations

Module 6: Course Summary

Lesson 6-1: Finishing Up

While this on line training is good and something you want every member of your team to complete at a minimum, nothing can take the place of hands-on training where it is available.

Are we talking Business Continuity or Business Emergency Response?

Organizing an emergency response team for a business is not the same as building a business continuation or business continuity plan…but they do complement one another.

The objective of a Business Continuity Plan is to preserve the mission critical elements of a business to assure that it can operate under a variety of conditions following a disruption.

Don’t be lulled into thinking that a contunity plan focuses on computers and customer transaction data. A good continuity plan is far more comprehensive than that! One place to start in assessing your business’ need for a continuity plan is to join the American Red Cross, Ready Rating™ program on line at: www.redcross.org/prepare/location/workplace. It’s free and includes a 125 question, self-paced analysis.

The primary objective of a Business Emergency Response Team is to save the lives of employees and managers first and preserve the business properties second.

Some Challenges May Be Outside The Business’ Control

The greatest challenges that a business faces in a major catastrophe are the various circumstances that may be outside its controls.

1. The location of the facilities, the surrounding businesses, city’s infrastructure, etc. are one aspect of the problem. Many businesses don’t take potential emergencies or infrastructure risks into consideration when they set up shop.
2. The natural urge of employees and managers to get home and check on the welfare of family and loved ones is the human side of the equation and it is something that has to be addressed in any plan that is expected to work.
3. And that leads us to the third problem: the Corporate Emergency Plan.  We have been exposed to a number of them, and have helped design programs for building Business Continuity Plans. The tendency in business is to build these plans by the “bulk” (see photo).  More often than not, this renders them unworkable. It’s much like a battle plan. It looks great on paper, but is usually superseded once the action begins.
   

   Business Continuity Plan — How useful?

Some of the issues that these plans find impossible to address effectively:

— Whether it’s a natural disaster or a major terrorist attack, you can’t predict what the damage is going to be or who will be in a position to respond to the emergency.

— The natural tendency in business is to “appoint” managers to lead Response Teams. Not everyone is physically or mentally equipped to respond effectively in an emergency situation. In many cases, the best leaders in an emergency will not be managers.

— There are legal issues to be considered, often associated with shareholders, financial and reporting requirements, etc. as well as with protecting employee volunteers.

Volunteer status and the Good Samaritan Law

In most states there are laws in place to protect citizens who act in a Good Samaritan capacity. The protection is even greater when people have received CERT, First Aid or other Red Cross training.

Action Item:  As you consider your own business emergency response plan, check to be sure how the Good Samaritan Law works in your state.

Forming a Business Emergency Response Team

The real criteria for forming a Business Emergency Response Team are thus volunteer status and training.

We think that a business has an easier task of forming a CERT-trained Emergency Response Team than another group simply because employees are readily available, and their interests in saving the business are aligned with management’s interests.

For small businesses in a multi-tenant building, it may be beneficial to join forces in building a CERT group for the building or a logical section of the building.

Which is more important, Business or Neighborhood preparation?

In all our posts, we look at getting organized and getting training, whether at the workplace or at the neighborhood level.  In many cases, these overlap.  In all cases, more is better.  This is what inspires us to keep working!

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team