Category: Resources

My daughter’s long commute by car.

One of my daughters is an executive and works in Beverly Hills, California. With no real public transit available she is forced to drive over 100 miles to and from work, spending a total of almost four hours on the road every day. Every morning she sets out in her executive clothing and footwear and with a list of business phone calls to make along the way.

With two children in separate schools and on different schedules, her chances of a speedy reunion with family following a major earthquake are slim. Roads and freeways could be restricted for use by emergency vehicles responding to calls . . . or even possibly blocked by collapsed bridges and overpasses. At the very least, if the earthquake happens during the workday, roads will be massively congested with people trying to reach home.

If she had to walk to get home . . .

. . . she could. But 50 miles could conceivably take days.

Fortunately, she is conscientious and, of course, has me to help keep her on track!

What’s in her personal Commuter’s Go Bag?

In the trunk of her car she carries a Commuter’s Go Bag that we put together just for her. It has the usual Survival Kit items that you’d expect: walking clothes including comfortable shoes, a jacket, some energy bars and water, a portable radio, and a flashlight with extra batteries. There’s a notebook and pen. And because this is California, she has a space blanket AND an extra pair of sunglasses.

In addition, she carries extra prescriptions for a medical condition, and some cash (coins and small bills).

And because she is competent to deal with it, she has pepper spray.

Perhaps most important, she has paperwork: a list of contact numbers including some for family out of state, and maps that show her route and alternate ways to get home. (GPS may well be out.) She has teamed up with other employees who live in the same general area so they could travel in groups, and they have made note of “safe house” locations along the way where she — and any companions – can stop and rest.

She is good about keeping her car’s gas tank at least ¾ full at all times. If there is a general power outage that could last for days, neither ATMS, Credit Card Processors nor gas station pumps are likely to be operating, of course. I have suggested to her that a small, plastic, fuel canister and siphon hose that could siphon gas out of other stranded commuters’ cars may come in handy along the way! (She gets the concept, but hasn’t been ready to practice siphoning yet . . .!)

Finally, my grandchildren also have emergency supplies at home and know where to go and whom to call following a major emergency because neither mother nor dad is likely to get home any time soon.

Doesn’t it make sense for the commuters you know to have such a kit?

Putting together all the items mentioned above would cost about the same as a tank of gas. Naturally, you’ll have to complete your kit with more personal stuff.

Let us know how it goes!

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. We added an emergency kit to our granddaughter’s car too. Here’s the story!

If someone said to evacuate RIGHT NOW, would you be ready?

• Do you know where you would likely be heading?
• Do you know if your pet will be allowed to go there with you?
• Do your family members/children, who aren’t at home right now, know where you will be and how to contact you?

Here’s more about evacuations that might help you answer these questions!

Who actually gives the evacuation order?

News reports always talk about “the authorities.” In our local community, evacuation orders are given by the fire department and executed by the police department. To get the most attention and the best response to evacuation orders, professionals recommend that the warnings be issued as coming from ALL sources available (First Responders, local government, Red Cross, National Weather Service, etc.), so as to make them more credible.

Once I leave, when can I come back?

Generally, once an area is evacuated, residents will be prevented from returning until officials declare an all-clear.

If the evacuation takes place “too early,” authorities are challenged to retain control of the once-evacuated area. There’s always the danger of looters trying to sneak in. And residents go to all lengths, finding their way by back roads, etc.,  to get back to their homes to pick up valuables and particularly to deal with pets that were left behind.

What if I don’t want to leave?

As a private citizen, you can always leave your home at any time if you feel threatened. By the same token, you can refuse to evacuate if you think your home is safe, you need to provide continuing care to a family member, etc.

If an area has been officially evacuated, though, emergency personnel may be pulled away from your neighborhood and you will be left on your own. (For a very interesting view of the kinds of people who don’t respond to evacuation orders, check out this blog post: Why don’t people evacuate?”

What if I can’t leave?

You may not be able to evacuate because you don’t have access to transportation, you are mobility impaired, or you can’t afford to leave. Obviously, officials will try to provide evacuation services where possible.

In Hurricane Sandy, some people with mobility issues were trapped in high-rise buildings when electric elevators no longer worked. Only if friends and neighbors know of disabled neighbors are they likely to be able to help. If you know that evacuation would be impractical or impossible for you, your preparations for sheltering in place need to be more rigorous.

Get more about how to cope with evacuation for people with disabilities here.

Where do I go?

Your city or county will have already identified potential public shelters. Look for a list online or request one from your property manager, local fire department, etc. If an evacuation is called, you will be told where shelters are open and space is available. Don’t head for any shelter until you know it is open!

Interestingly enough, only about 15% of people go to shelters; most evacuate to friends, family or to hotels.

Can I take my pet?

Traditionally pets have not been allowed in Red Cross shelters. People end up leaving their pets at home, or leave them in the car when they have reached the shelter. Obviously, you would want to find a shelter or hotel that is “pet friendly” well in advance of an approaching storm. You can do that research beforehand. As for large animals (horses, etc.), sometimes they can be cared for a facilities such as fair grounds, etc. Check with your vet for resources and further information.

What should I bring?

Your evacuation kit should always be prepared and ready near the exit of your home. You won’t have much room in the car or even in the shelter, but your kit should contain some food and water, medical supplies, prescriptions, sturdy shoes, clothing and blankets. Having an emergency radio and flashlight is smart. Have a list of important emergency contact phone numbers; copy important papers onto an electronic “flash drive” and include it in your kit.

The Emergency Plan Guide comprehensive Checklist has two lists, one for the “Survival Kit” and another for an “Evacuation Kit.” We also have a Pet Emergency Checklist.

Hope this has made you think about how YOU will handle an evacuation order!

Virginia Nicols Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Have you been through an evacuation?  Tell us what happened and what you learned . . .! (If you have a whole story, I’d love to publish you as a guest blogger.  Just let me know.)

We’ve all heard about how a text message might get through in an emergency when a regular phone call might not.
Certainly, everyone needs to add texting to their emergency skill set. (Add this to your to-do list if you haven’t already.)

But what about trying to reach emergency services by texting to 911?

As of three days ago (May 15), people who use AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon can send text messages to 911, and their calls will be routed to their local police dispatchers — BUT ONLY if the county they are in supports the technology!

According to the website govtech.com, if you live in Vermont, Iowa and Maine, you will reach a dispatch center if you text to 911.

But where I live in California, there’s no such service.

It all depends on the individual counties and whether they decide to adopt text-to-911.

Want to know whether text-to-911 works in your area? Check at this website, which was updated as of 5-16-2014 when I wrote this: http://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/text-to-911-deployments.pdf

If there’s no service where you live . . .

In places where the service has not yet been instituted, if you place a text-to-911, you’ll get what the industry calls a “bounce-back” message. It tells you to contact emergency services another way, like by making a voice call or using TTY or a telecommunications relay service (for people with disabilities).

(I’ve never really tried this so I can’t vouch for what the message actually says.)

Text-to-911 Limitations

Before you get excited about this emergency communications option, consider this:

1. You might be able to make a 911 call while driving – but certainly not a text message!
2. If the dispatch center wants more info – like the cross street, or details of the situation (cars involved, number of people injured, for example) – it would take a lot longer to text than to simply answer the question.
3. A text certainly couldn’t convey the emotion of the situation – hysteria, shots being fired, angry voices, etc. This could be important information.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed rules that would require text providers to support text-to-911 by the end of this year (2014).

It remains to be seen if this goal can be met. Texting capability may require upgrades to local dispatch centers, phone companies, equipment vendors and manufacturers, and local police and fire departments. It is likely to require that additional dispatchers be hired.

So it all comes back to the individual counties. Stay tuned . . .

Question: Have you had any personal experience with texting to 911?  How did it go!?  Please let us know in the comments.  This is one of those situations where the rest of us are operating in the actual dark!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

“I read you loud and clear.”

Every month, on the second Wednesday at 6 p.m., our neighborhood CERT group clicks on their two-way radios and gets ready to participate in the radio drill.

The first check-in takes place at the Division level, when the Division Leader checks with 10 or so Block Captains. It’s a quick call: “Division 5 Leader calling Block Captain 5 Alpha. Do you read?” and a quick answer, “Five Alpha reads loud and clear.” Takes less than 7 minutes.

After the Block Captains check in, the Division Leaders and Special Teams (Search and Rescue, First Aid, etc.) switch to the Community Channel and participate in their own roll-call. Another 7 minutes.

What we accomplish with these radio drills is three-fold:

1. Radios are checked to be sure they are functioning. (If someone forgets to turn the radio off, then when the next month rolls around that radio’s batteries are dead!)
2. Everyone gets practice using the radios, the channel assignments, and the lingo. (It seems easy to say “Five Leader” or “Five Delta” but non-native English speakers, in particular, need to practice.)
3. We get reassurance that our community is intact and participating!

Last year Southern California experienced a 5.3 quake at about 8 p.m. On that evening, CERT group participants grabbed their radios and ran outside to check how neighbors had fared. I stood there in the dark, and soon came the voice of one of my team members, “This is Cheryl, Five Charlie. Is anyone there?” (Protocol slips a bit when there’s a real emergency.)

Cheryl and I were able to discuss our block and ascertain that all was well. I then switched to the Community Channel to check in, and sure enough, other Division Leaders were doing the same thing.

The point is, this simple communications plan worked, worked well, and worked fast. No dialing, no waiting, no ringing, no busy signals, no leaving of messages. Just push to talk.

“I read you loud and clear.”

Take a look at our updated review of Walkie-Talkies.  I think you’ll find it interesting and valuable. And let me know if YOU have Walkie-Talkie stories to share. Til then, “Over and Out.”

Virginia 
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Police and Fire Department Introduce New CERT Jargon

(Preface: I’m sure you’ve heard that when you want to address the public, you should avoid acronyms or jargon and stick to commonly-used words. Well, you’ll be interested to know that one of my most popular articles was on the Vocabulary of CERT. It was filled with jargon! So I didn’t really hesitate when I started writing this article.)

We recently attended a CERT refresher training. Guest speakers were there from the Police Department and the Fire Department. They gave us more info on exactly how they are deployed under normal circumstances, and how that changes in an emergency.

Having been through CERT training, we knew a lot of what they talked about. But some new vocabulary words were tossed out.

Here are a few of the words and expressions. Do you know them all?

1. EDITH. Stands for “Exit Drills in the Home.” (Do you conduct them in your home? Do you practice when you have neighborhood trainings?)

2. FULL ACTION, NO ACTION. Applies to the Fire Department in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Yes, we know that their first mode will be NO ACTION as they survey the extent of the damage. Again, we heard that in NO ACTION mode the fire engine would drive right past your burning home or business without slowing down. Only after these First Responders have assured themselves of their own safety, and confirmed the status of their co-workers and families, will they switch to FULL ACTION.

3. CAR HOPPING. This, from the police. It refers to the practice of teenagers going from car to car until they find one that is unlocked. Stealing something from an unlocked car is a misdemeanor; breaking into the car to steal something is a felony. Criminals know the difference!

4. RED FLAG WARNING. A fire warning called by the U.S. National Weather Service; based on the local geography. Here in Southern California, a warning is called when the wind exceeds 25 mpg, the relative humidity is less than 15%, and the temperature is higher than 75 degrees. The warning causes reserves to be called up, public parks to be closed, and utility maintenance crews to be denied access to remote areas.

5. CATALYTIC CONVERTER. Not exactly jargon. But not often used to describe a hazard! A catalytic converter normally operates at about 1,200 to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit (640-870 degrees Centigrade); if overworked, its temperature can reach 2,000 degrees F. (1,010 C.). Either way, it’s hot enough to start a fire if you drive over dried grass. Stay on the road with your car, or at least on the gravel. No off-road excursions!

Add these words to your CERT lexicon; sprinkle them liberally in group trainings. I think CERT folks everywhere like knowing this stuff!

Oh, and if you want to review that earlier jargon-filled article, here’s the link!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Carbon Monoxide Poisonings — Again!

I just came up with these five news items. All of them took place within the past five days.

1. New York –Officials investigating a carbon monoxide leak that killed one person and hospitalized more than two dozen people at a New York mall are focusing on the heating system.

2. Maine — Twenty-one people suffered carbon monoxide poisoning and seven of them were hospitalized following an incident early Sunday afternoon at a Route 1 time-share resort that the fire chief said was not equipped with carbon monoxide detectors.

3. New Hampshire —Three adults died and a fourth person was hospitalized after a carbon monoxide poisoning inside a home in Plaistow, N.H., fire officials said on Tuesday. Someone had removed the batteries from the victims’ detector

4. Wisconsin —Eight adults and five children were taken to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning in Trempealeau County. Initial investigation showed a charcoal grill was being used to heat the home in the kitchen area.

5. Utah –A propane heater appears to have caused the death of a Utah father and his teenage son, who were poisoned by carbon monoxide while camping in a fishing hut.

We can’t have too many warnings!

I wrote about carbon monoxide poisoning just last month, but apparently we can’t get too many reminders. The three essentials:

Have a working carbon monoxide detector in your home.

Don’t use open fires for heating. This includes charcoal fires or propane heaters, which were apparently the cause of two of the above incidents.

Keep flues and exhaust vents clear of snow and debris.

If you still don’t have a carbon monoxide detector, click here to go directly to my list of the five most popular alarms, and then get what you need.

Please, don’t waste any time on this. It clearly is a matter of life and death.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. Please forward this message to any friends who are experiencing particularly cold weather. You’d think CO Alarms would be obvious emergency prevention devices, but apparently not!

(We’re updating this post today because we’ve had some new experiences!)

I know this may be an unpleasant subject to deal with, but even a moderate disaster can turn out to be more than an inconvenience. The issue?

Coping with primitive sanitary conditions.

Even if you have to put up with them only temporarily, dealing with such conditions requires ingenuity as well as fortitude. But deal with them you must.

What could trigger a sanitation emergency?

• Broken pipes. Even a moderate earthquake can result in broken water pipes. Within minutes, you’ll be unable to flush your toilet. People near the break may be faced with seepage of raw sewage.
• Power outage. A local water tower functions using gravity, but most urban systems depend on electrical pumps to move water and manage sewage. In a severe storm, these systems may shut down or overwhelm their back-up generators.
• Flooding. If too much water pours down into the drainage system, drains and ultimately sewage treatment plants may be overwhelmed, even without any actual breakage.

Any one of these circumstances could pose a serious health threat to you and your family.

What options do you have?

In the home, what’s important is to act IMMEDIATELY to seal off your home from contamination if you suspect a breakdown in either the water or sewer systems.

Shut off the water.

Even if your home isn’t damaged, you don’t want contaminated water flowing into it. At the first suggestion of problems, it’s easy enough to protect yourself by turning the water off at the house.

Block off the sewer.

You’ve surely experienced clogged plumbing, with waste water rising up in the shower, or a toilet overflowing instead of flushing neatly down. This is what we want to avoid!

If you know the sewer system has been compromised, AND YOU HAVE MADE ARRANCEMENTS FOR THIS IN ADVANCE, you could consider plugging your main sewer line with an inflatable plug to keep sewage from backing up from the system into your home.  (Read on for more about this.)

Keep people from using the toilet!

Of course, you can’t keep people from having to go – so you need to arrange a safe place for collecting feces, bile material and sanitary napkins.

We’ve written before about temporary toilets.

• The easiest solution? Line your regular toilet with heavy-duty plastic bags – the kind that are made for trash compactors.
• Second best solution? Line a 5-gallon bucket with the same compactor bags.

Some duct tape may help keep the bags where you want them.

How to dispose of sewage?

When you use your temporary toilet, add some disinfectant. (See below for suggestions.)

After bags have been used a few times, close and seal the bags, remove from the home, and store in a designated place – perhaps in a hole in the ground, preferably at a distance from the house and from traffic, where bags won’t be accidentally damaged.

Next steps? Store supplies BEFORE the emergency.

These are “general suggestions” that may or may not be appropriate for your situation. Talk over the alternatives at one of your community emergency response team meetings or discuss with your local police and fire authorities.

In any case, think it through and make sure you have the supplies you need. Here are some of the items discussed in this Advisory. (As always, click on the images to go directly to Amazon for full details and current pricing. If you buy we may get a small commission — your price won’t be affected!)

Compactor bags. These are NOT ordinary garden or trash bags!  They are made specifically for trash compactors. Get the sturdiest you can find. Costs start at about a dollar apiece and go down dramatically, the more you buy. Click on the images for details. These examples show a price range, but if you are buying for emergency use, you need more than just a dozen!

Disinfectant

Use your favorite. I prefer Clorox – the original, unscented kind, of course.

We’ve also used toilet deodorant chemicals in our motor home travels. This brand is specifically for portable toilets. Cost at Amazon is less than $10.

Rubber gloves – not the lightweight nitrile ones you see in the doctor’s office, or the simple rubber ones you might have under your sink for washing dishes. Here’s a pair designed for heavy duty use. Again, click the image for details and exact pricing.

Inflatable sewer plug

Get professional help to know what size to get and how to install it. Note these come in 2,3 and 4″ sizes to fit your pipes. Prices range from $20-$40 depending on size.

.

Bucket

Different colors have different prices (starting at around $15). Here’s one from a popular manufacturer, without a lid:

And with lid (different manufacturer), add about $5 – $10.

You may already have some of these supplies around the house.  Just be sure you don’t inadvertently run low or run out and find yourself in a fix if an emergency hits.

I know some of our readers have purchased different types of travel toilets. If you have experience with them, let us know in the comments!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

If you read our posts regularly, you know we’re all about stocking up on food, water and medicines to tide us over in the case of a major disaster or emergency event until over-taxed emergency services can arrive.

 A Small Generator and a Camping Stove Can Be a World of Luxury in an Emergency!

If you have a small generator (say, 3,000 watts ) that you can run for an hour or so a day, you can probably continue to utilize your refrigerator and freezer. (This is particularly good since I don’t like being without my sour cream herring!) And, since we enjoy our coffee and are big latté drinkers in our house, we began experimenting with packets of instant latté. Most were pretty dismal . . . but, one turned out to be exquisite . . . exceeding our hopes.

Vinacafe 3 in 1 Instant Coffee Mix, 20 Sachets (Pack of 3)T

The surprise was that the brand, Vinacafé®, is actually a Vietnamese brand.

And then I remembered that The Vietnam of today used to be “French Indo-China.” (Yes some of us are old enough to remember ancient history.) And, if anyone knows how to make a good cup of latté (or should I say Café au Lait) it’s the French (no slight to the Italians intended).

It’s now all we drink. We’ve packed up the latté machine and forsaken Starbucks except when we are on the road.

Not All of Us “Up-Scale Survivalists” are Ready to Grab the Knife Between Our Teeth and Stalk Wild Animals for Dinner!

If there are any cool-headed, luxury-inclined “survivalists” within earshot, (wordshot?), I warmly recommend you try Vinacafé®. It only costs about 20-30 cents a packet, depending on where you buy it. (Compare that to $3.00+ a cup) So far, the only places that carry it are some Vietnamese grocery stores and Amazon.com. (Go back and click on the image to get current price at Amazon.)

If you don’t have an outside barbecue, you’ll probably want to pick up a one or two-burner camping stove (we chose a Coleman out of loyalty ) that runs on butane. In addition to boiling water for your coffee, you can also cook some of that food you have stored up.

The point to this dissertation is simply that there are some things in life you don’t have to give up, even in difficult times! 🙂

What are your favorite “luxury” items that you’ve stashed in your survival kit or among your emergency supplies?

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

(Joe sent this letter out this morning to our whole email list . . .)

10,000 lives lost in the storm-ravaged Philippines is just another wake-up call about the realities of surviving major catastrophes, on the heels of the devastating earthquake in Haiti as well as Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina.

The popular TV shows about Doomsday Preppers, extreme survival with 100-lb “bug-out bags” and building arsenals of automatic weapons to “protect your stash” are not only ridiculous fantasies, they’re actually diverting people’s attention from the actual realities of survival:

• 1. Government cannot possibly respond to everyone in need at once following a major catastrophe. The logistic challenges are impossible to surmount and it may be days before “official help” can be mobilized.
• 2. The first few minutes and hours of a disaster are the most critical for saving lives. YOUR BEST HOPE OF BEING RESCUED OR HELPED ARE YOUR IMMEDIATE NEIGHBORS! And you are their best hope as well. Period!
• 3. The easiest way to prepare – together with having your own 10-day supply of Water, Food and Medicines – is to take advantage of the Free training offered on line by FEMA as well as local cities and fire departments: CERT, Community Emergency Response Team. This fabulous training is “community focused” and deals with the ordinary citizen realities of disaster situations.

The fact that we have been able to get over 40 of our neighbors trained and equipped through our city (Irvine has trained literally hundreds of people who work or live here – all for free!) has made it possible for us to organize actual teams to respond to emergencies. Our biggest concern here in California is, of course, the likelihood of major earthquakes and the probability that family members may be in various parts of the community when a quake strikes.

If you want to give yourself, your family, your neighbors and co-workers a better chance of survival in an emergency, Virginia and I urge you to look into the programs offered by your city, fire department and Red Cross. We list a number of organizations, links and tips for survival on our website: www.EmergencyPlanGuide.org. And we urge you to share this information with your family, neighbors and employers. It’s the best way we know of to protect what’s most important to you. You can simply forward this email.

P.S. If you want to help out in the Philippines, go to the Rotary.org website and make a donation to the Rotary ShelterBox program. They have stockpiles of 10-person tents & survival tools ready to be airlifted to disaster zones as well as standby volunteers. Rotary’s ShelterBox program is one of the most widely recognized and respected projects in the world.

Sincerely,

Joseph Krueger &  Virginia Nicols

Joseph Krueger and Virginia Nicols

EmergencyPlanGuide.org
www.EmergencyPlanGuide.org

4790 Irvine Blvd., Suite 105
Irvine, CA 92620
JKrueger@MktgMach.com
Telephone: (949) 733-3778
Direct: (949) 733-1778
Fax: (949) 559-6993

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 A Vital Role in the Effectiveness of a CERT program

In a serious emergency where power is interrupted, landline telephones are often affected and even cell phones become unreliable due to central computer outage, damaged antennas and/or over usage by the populace.

So what is the answer for emergency communications for neighborhood CERT groups — to warn of dangers? Call for help for injured? Share news?

In an emergency use standard radio protocol

The answer for most teams becomes the two-way Family Radio Service . . . the inexpensive walkie-talkies that are used by campers, modelers, children at play and at a variety of club and athletic events.

The FRS/GMRS (Family Radio Service/Ground Mobile Radio Service) radios typically have 22 separate channels and the more elaborate ones have additional “privacy” settings on these channels that extend them into the hundreds of “channels.”

Two Classes of Radio for Local Neighborhood Groups

Simple Radios

We have equipped every one of our team members with a simple radio.  (The team leaders, who have the need to communicate with other leaders, have more sophisticated radios with slightly longer range.) Regular team members in each Division or neighborhood of 50-75 homes only have the need to communicate within their Division — over distances of less than a mile.

Having a less-sophisticated radio is actually an advantage since one that is too “sensitive” is likely to pick up interference from outside the immediate neighborhood, where frequencies are open to all citizens.

Each of our Divisions has two designated frequencies (primary and backup) and we have special frequencies assigned to team leaders for coordinated efforts. This allows us to manage everything from Search & Rescue Operations to First Aid/Triage, Security and Logistics, etc.

The two brands we have found most satisfactory for our purposes are the Uniden and the Midland.  These both perform well and have a variety of models. Our homes are close to one another and the six neighborhoods all fall within a relatively compact area so these units work well for us. You can get details on each of these on our walkie-talkie review page.

Radios with Wider Range

If your neighborhood/s and homes are spread out in suburban or rural areas, you may find it necessary to invest in more expensive units with greater range. We have tested all manner of these radios in a wide range of prices and “claimed” range of operation.

If the claims are accurate, they probably tested them on flat ground in deserted areas with little or no interference. From our perspective, all claims have to be treated as inflated! In other words, purchase several pairs and test them before you commit to a volume purchase.

In addition to the general communications, we have three licensed Amateur Radio Operators (HAM operators) on our team who are authorized (and equipped) to communicate with the emergency radio organization/s that work within our city and county. We also have a few Citizen Band (CB) Radios that have a somewhat greater range than our FRS/GMRS units.

Ongoing Emergency Communications Training

Radio Drills

We have monthly training drills on the radios and ongoing training for new team members.

You’d be surprised — or maybe you wouldn’t — at how easy it is for adults to forget exactly how to change channels and volume on a little radio that only has two buttons!  Children seem to have no difficulty.

We follow a standard radio protocol in our communications and in a real emergency have specific people assigned to record the subjects of messages for a log.

Radio Batteries

We also schedule battery-replacements along with our drills — typically, twice a year when the time changes.

We prefer to use regular (not rechargeable) batteries since in an emergency there may be no recharge capability. After several rigorous tests, we have concluded that Energizer brand batteries generally last longer than any others.

As you can tell, we take our emergency communications very seriously. We recognize that in a real emergency, time is of the essence and good communications within the neighborhood are likely to save lives and preserve property.

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