OK, the big danger is over. But the rain is running down your neck. Your fingers are feeling frozen. It’s getting dark very fast. What you desperately need right now is a fire!

Do you have what you need?

Two necessities for starting a fire: an igniter and something to ignite.

I grew up in a kitchen that always had a big box of wooden matches above the stove. And my Dad always had a lighter in his pocket. Times have changed!

The only matches we have now is a jar full of souvenir paper match books from restaurants, and we all stopped smoking years ago. So I’ve had to make sure I have fire starters for emergencies.

Igniters I’ve assembled for my survival kit.

It’s so easy top tuck some of these small items into your go-bag, your survival pack, your evacuation pack. And I’d suggest you carry more than one, in case your pack gets wet or damaged. NOTE: If you shop at Amazon by clicking these links, be sure to notice whether the items are “add-on” or “eligible for Prime” and buy enough of them at once so you get free shipping. You’ll want multiples of nearly everything, so free shipping won’t be hard to get!

• Waterproof matches are the simplest, the most obvious, and the cheapest of all to purchase. You can get them in wax coated boxes, or in neat little aluminum cases. An example: Coghlan’s 940BP Waterproof Matches – 4 Pack This is a four pack, one for each survival kit in the family!
• Magnesium sticks won’t get damp, and won’t  accidentally light.  In fact, you need to practice using your stick to be confident you can get a fire started when you need it! The trick is to use that attached little saw blade to carve a pile of magnesium shavings (at least the size of a penny) and then stroke down the stick toward the shaving pile. (Don’t STRIKE the stick; that won’t work.) The Friendly Swede Magnesium Alloy Emergency Fire Starter Blocks (3 Pack), New and Improved Version gives you three blocks so you can practice without worrying that you’ll run out of magnesium.
• Zippo lighter looks sharp (!) and will be familiar to former smokers. It feels good in my hand, too. Zippo Emergency Fire Starter, Black Matte also comes with pre-fashioned tinder sticks. Read on for more about tinder.
• Magnifying glass would be a favorite  for me. I remember as a child burning holes with a magnifying glass in all kinds of things! Today I could use it to read instruction sheets written in miniature print . . . but of course, it’s not going to work in the rain for starting a fire!

Tinder for the survival kit.

You’ll be excited to see that spark from the igniter, but you’ll get mighty discouraged if it doesn’t “catch.” Here’s where tinder comes in. Tinder is specially prepared very flammable material that will get the fire truly started. You may have used crumpled newspaper or leaves or twigs in the past — but remember, we find ourselves in a WET URBAN SETTING for this blog post. So, what can we prepare in advance to be sure our fire will start?

• Petroleum jelly and cotton balls (carried in an empty plastic medicine bottle). You may already have the ingredients for these clever items: cotton balls (NOT polyester) and Vaseline. Simply pull cotton balls apart a bit,  smear them with the petroleum jelly, scrunch back up. (Get everything ready in advance, and pull all the cotton first, because once you get the jelly on your fingers they’ll be sticky, sticky!) Here is one brand to give you an idea. Prepping Cotton Ball by Kendall ( COTTON BALL, PREPPING, MEDIUM, NS, 500/BG ) 500 Each / Bag
• Alcohol wipes also work well as tinder, and you should already have some in your first aid kit!  If you don’t, buy a pack now and separate some out for first aid, and keep some for starting fires. Curad Alcohol Swabs Antiseptic Wipes, 200 Count
• Waxed paper can be purchased at the grocery store if you don’t have any already in the kitchen. Cut a smallish piece from the roll, fold it over a couple of times, then fold back and forth until it makes an M shape, maybe about 2 inches across. Place the points of the M on top of your igniter material.  Tuck a few of these Ms into your pack and you’ll have tinder!
• Dried and shredded bark, moss or fluff from cattails can also serve as tinder, but you’ll have to collect it next time you go for a walk in the park, bring it home and stuff it, making sure it’s totally dry, into those plastic medicine bottles that you can then put into your kit! In the city, in the rain, you may not be able to find any natural material to work as tinder.
• Twine made of natural fibers may also work. Simply untwist it so get a good burning area.

And to keep the fire going: kindling and fuel.

Actually, gathering kindling (small pieces of wood and twigs) and larger pieces of fuel should be step number one, because if you START the tinder and don’t have adequate fuel right there,  the tinder will burn up and you’ll be back where you started. Some people carry dry kindling as part of their kit, but more than likely you’ll be scrounging in your immediate neighborhood for the right material to burn.  Some guidelines:

• Pick a safe place for your fire. You can make a hearth of stones or concrete to be sure the fire doesn’t spread unexpectedly.
• Dry sticks, splinters of wood and pine needles can serve as kindling. Have your kindling nearby so you don’t have to get up to fetch it.
• Once the kindling is burning, add larger pieces of fuel. Wood is obviously the best fuel, but if you’re looking for wood in construction rubble, avoid treated or painted wood and wood look-alikes that are really vinyl.
• Do not burn items made of rubber or plastic ( bottles, jugs, bags). Although they will burn, you will be creating noxious or dangerous fumes.

We’ve assumed here that your fire is for warmth and comfort.  Cooking over a fire is yet another subject. In the meanwhile, though, go back through this quick list and be sure you have emergency fire starters. As I said at the beginning, all these items are small and inexpensive, so there’s no reason not to have what you need. Your family will be counting on you!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Do you know what to do in each of these situations?

Last Wednesday was the regular meeting for our local Neighborhood Emergency Response Team volunteers. Lately members have asked for “more training” on a variety of threats – threats we don’t normally spend much time on here in Southern California.

So we decided to devote this meeting to some dangers that most people in the room had heard of but probably never faced.

In fact, before the program, we took a poll of the people in the room. Not one person had ever encountered killer bees. No one had landed in a canal or river in their car, although two of them had temporarily lost control of a car in flooding water on city streets. And only three people had ever actually used a fire extinguisher to put out a fire.

Keeping CERT Training Interesting With a “Movie Night”

The meeting went well! We had searched carefully on YouTube for short (4-5 minute) videos. Before showing each one, we prompted people to watch for a particular scene or to note the answer to a pertinent question.

Here are three of the videos we used for the program, along with the questions for each.

• Fire extinguisher training:  https://youtu.be/ktrv34zW7-A

“Where is the nearest fire extinguisher to the room we are in right now?” “ Where’s the next nearest one?” “ Do you know if they have been recently checked?”  (We were in a large meeting room that had an extinguisher on the back wall. Only one person had already noted its location! No one knew where any other extinguisher was located.)

This particular video is aimed at employees in a work setting but applies just as well to residents of a home.

• How to survive an attack by killer bees: https://youtu.be/UeV3wtA4UAY

“Where are killer bees in the U.S.?” “Are there any where we live?” (I was prepared for this question and had downloaded an interactive graph that shows how bees have spread in the U.S. since 1990. Here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Killerbees_ani.gif )

• How to escape a sinking car:  https://youtu.be/fymjbkGSta8

“Are we located in an area likely to flood?” (Consider the Red River’s recent flooding in Louisiana!) “What about electric car windows?” “How do you break a window?” (One of our volunteers had a spring-loaded window breaker on his key chain, just like the one demonstrated in the video. You can see one here and get it in time for your own upcoming meeting: resqme The Original Keychain Car Escape Tool, Made in USA (Black) (Use it as a door prize — always popular! Or get several and share the fun.)

CERT As Entertainment?

One of the LinkedIn groups that I follow has been debating the necessity of sticking to CERT training as laid out by FEMA. Obviously, a meeting such as the one described here is not covered in the official training materials.

However, in my experience, there’s a difference between training for dedicated CERT graduates and awareness training for ordinary citizens.

Of course, those of us who are CERT graduates attend the follow-up trainings put on by our city. (Next week it’s a Light Search and Rescue refresher.)

But as a Neighborhood Emergency Response leader I am committed to my entire community. So we do what we can to attract all people and engage them in emergency preparedness activities.

Our Movie Night was one of those efforts.

Would something like this work for YOUR group? Try it, and let me know!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. If you haven’t yet heard, I pulled together over two dozen different meeting planning ideas for use by community leaders. You can get more info and order a copy at https://emergencyplanguide.org/CERT-meeting-ideas/

At our neighborhood CERT meeting yesterday, the question came up about the best emergency supplies kit.

Whatever kit you have is better than none.

If you are forced to leave home (or work) in a big hurry, you’ll only have time to grab “the kit,” and hopefully a bottle of water. Whatever is in the kit is what you’ll have to work with. You won’t have time to do any packing!

If you don’t have a kit, you’ll be worse than useless – you’ll be a burden on others.

Assume you have to manage your kit yourself.

Here in California nearly every trip I take is in my car, so I have several types of emergency stuff packed in the trunk. But what if roads are impassible, or the car is disabled, or we are asked to evacuate ON FOOT?

The only solution: ONE bag that I can carry myself.

Can you carry your kit?

At our meeting, several people stated flat out, “I can’t carry anything.” These were people who need a cane or a walker, who have back problems, or who are simply not very strong.

How many people in your family or your team at work would have trouble carrying a bag?

Which survival kit option would work best for you?

The best option . . .

for a survival kit is a backpack that will leave both your hands free.

When Joe and I decided to put together our kit  we looked for a backpack that was light, flexible and NOT TOO BIG. (Our build-it-yourself kit, shown in the image with its accompanying book, has sold out at Amazon.)

If you’re a hiker, you’ll be familiar with much larger and sturdier backpacks, with many more features. Maybe you even have one you can use for a survival kit. But we looked for a pack that the ordinary person could (1) afford and (2) be able to manage.

Because your backpack needs to be compact, you have to be deliberate in selecting what needs to be in it. It’s easy to lay out too much stuff!

Second best option . . .

in my opinion is a rolling cart. You can select something as sturdy as a rolling suitcase, but for emergency, infrequent use you likely will want something simpler, smaller and lighter. Here’s what looks like an excellent choice. This one’s called the  California Pak The Big Eazy 20 Inch, Navy Blue, One Size
and it comes in various sizes and colors.

Some things to consider about a rolling cart:

• Does the cart/bag have a handle so it can be carried by hand if necessary?
• Could you fit it on your lap in a bus?
• Does it zip up or otherwise close completely?
• Is the handle long enough for you?

Each person needs a kit, and each kit will be different.

What you think is important and are willing to carry is up to you. Your 10-year-old child, though, probably needs a few different items (including snack food!). And your 79-year-old grandmother needs other items altogether.

Action Item: Build a basic kit for each person, and then add those individual items to customize the kit to its owner.

Store the kit near the exit door, so you can grab it on the way out. You’ll only have minutes – but you’ll feel a lot more secure heading out if you have your survival kit in your hands.

It’s always back to basics, right?!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. Your pet needs an evacuation kit, too. Here’s a link to more about your pet’s survival kit.

An Ongoing Threat

Where and how?

The March 26, 2015 massive explosion and fire in  New York’s  East Village caused the collapse of three buildings and fire damage to a fourth — a reminder that natural gas continues to be a threat, particularly where the gas lines are aging – as they all are!

At one of your Emergency Response Team meetings, I’m sure you’ve discussed the threat posed by natural gas. If you haven’t, or if it’s time for a review, here are some questions to start the conversation.

1. Where are gas lines located in our neighborhood and building?

Large-diameter transmission lines may run near or even through your neighborhood, with smaller-diameter distribution lines connecting to individual residences or buildings. You should be able to get from your gas company a map showing the transmission lines. Getting maps showing smaller distribution lines may be more difficult. (In our case, we were able to get original construction drawings from the city. They show the exact location and size of our gas distribution lines.)

2. Where are shut-off valves located?

The gas utility, gas system operator and/or property owner may not want to reveal exactly where shut-off valves are located, mostly because they don’t want to invite mischief or sabotage.

However, from a SAFETY standpoint it is imperative for First Responders to know how to shut the system down in an emergency. A strong neighborhood CERT group can get this information.

Shut-off valves may be located at the individual home, at the building, at the street, and in other places along the system.

We recently had a visit from the crew of our nearest fire station. It was a shock for us to learn that they did NOT know exactly where our gas main shut-offs are located!

3. How do our shut-off valves work?

As a neighborhood group, you may be limited to what you can really do in your community. However, to the extent that you do know where lines and valves are located, you should find out what it takes to shut the gas off.

Review the different types of shut-off valves in your vicinity.

• Automatic? Some valves, like seismic gas shut-off valves, operate automatically. However, such valves are not required and you probably don’t have any on your system.
• Appliance? Within the home, individual appliances may have their own shut-off valves.
• Entire home? In an emergency, shutting off the gas to the home likely means shutting it off at the meter. To do this, you’ll need a wrench and an understanding of the ON vs. the OFF position of the valve. (See earlier post.) Your turn-off may look like the one in the picture, or it may resemble a regular garden hose faucet handle.
• Gas main? When it comes to shutting off gas at a larger line, the shut-off may be a larger version of the wrench turn off, or it may operate with a large wheel and gear.

Are any of the valves locked?

Naturally, if a gas valve is locked, no one except the operator may be able to access it. In a widespread emergency (earthquake) this could be an added problem.

In the Northridge Quake of 1994, managers of an affected mobile home park saw that gas escaping through the streets was being ignited by cars of residents evacuating the park. Unfortunately, management was unable to break the lock to turn off the gas at the main so it continued to fuel these fires.

4. What procedures are in place for shutting off the gas?

In an emergency,

• Who is authorized to shut off the gas?
• Which valves are they authorized to shut off? Remember, the gas utility probably “owns” the system up to the meter; you, as property owner, own everything on the house side of the meter.
• What training do these authorized people receive?
• How likely is it that authorized and trained people will be on hand in an emergency, when immediate action may be required? In a widespread disaster, Fire fighters may not reach you immediately; representatives of the gas company may also be delayed, perhaps indefinitely.

In the deadly 2010 explosion and fire in San Bruno, California, it took the gas company over 60 minutes to get the gas shut off!

5. What exactly are the dangers associated with natural gas?

The gas distribution system has thousands of miles of pipeline that operate safely nearly all the time. However, when there is a failure, it can result in a dramatic explosion and fire. Failures result from the following:

• Pressure. The first concern of the system operator is to maintain the appropriate pressure in the system based on the size of the pipes and the number of connections to it. (The more connections, the more pressure needed to deliver the gas.) As communities grow, and more connections are added to the system, the Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (MAOP) may need to be adjusted.
• Pipeline failure Leaks and breaks occur when old pipes fail due to corrosion, improper welds or joins, improperly installed equipment, too much pressure – or as the result of natural events such as an earthquake.
• Leaks Just because your system is old doesn’t necessarily mean it is in danger of failing. And just because a gas leak is detected doesn’t mean you are in imminent danger. However, when a leak is identified, you need to act quickly and decisively. What you need to be concerned about is a build-up of gas around a leak or as the result of gas “migrating” to an area where it gets trapped, such as in a basement, under a house, etc.

CERT Action item #1: Learn the signs of a gas leak and know how to respond. Start by reviewing this Emergency Plan Guide Advisory, and then research and distribute gas line safety bulletins that you can get from your own local gas utility.

CERT Action item #2: Find out how often and what kind of system testing (pressure, cracks, etc.) takes place in your area.

One of our most effective guest speakers was a representative from the Fire Department who talked about the various gas lines in our neighborhood. (We have the usual mains and feeder lines PLUS a high-octane aviation fuel line running beside our community.) See if you can set up a speaker from your own fire department or local utility.

Your invitation will cause that Fire Official to update his or her knowledge about your neighborhood, as well as remind your neighbors to be more alert. Every bit of knowledge helps!

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

Looking for more information on gas lines? Check out these Emergency Plan Guide Advisories:

• How to recognize a gas leak and what to do when you find one.
• How to turn off the gas to your house.
• Find gas pipelines in your area.

Want to get a reminder once in a while to help you stay tuned in and up to speed on the latest preparedness issues? Sign up for our Advisories, below.  They are free.

Last week’s article about “extra” items for a first aid kit inspired me to use the topic for our monthly neighborhood emergency planning group meeting.

The meeting turned out to be . . .

Another good meeting idea!

Here’s how it went.

Procedure

1. First, I invited our neighbor Theresa, who is a Registered Nurse, as our featured guest. She brought along her own first aid bag as a “show and tell.”
2. Second, so we’d have something to compare it to, I bought a brand new first aid kit (cost around $10) at the hardware store down the street (photo).
3. Third, as a reference, I printed out the Red Cross’s list of “20 basic first aid items.” Everybody got a copy.

As Theresa pulled out an item from her bag, we checked it off the Red Cross list and then looked in the kit I’d bought to see if it was included.

Results of the Comparison

Number of items

The new kit had about 60% of the items suggested on the Red Cross list.

Quality

The bigger problem: nearly everything in the kit was in miniature! Packets were tiny (one squeeze, and the ointment would all be gone), gauze squares were tiny, gloves were tiny. We all laughed, in particular, at the roll of adhesive tape. Take a look at it in the photo, bottom right. Really, it’s about as big around as a quarter and weighs less!

Missing from both the list and the kit

Here are the items that Theresa had in her kit that were not in the kit AND were not on the Red Cross list:

1. Antihistamine ointment
2. Liquid skin
3. Duct tape
4. Flashlight
5. Plastic bags
6. Dust mask
7. Eyewash
8. Phone number of Poison Control center
9. Whistle
10. Sunscreen
11. List of medicines currently being taken

And finally, one last item that our group felt needed to be in there:

12. Extra eyeglasses

Shocking finale

Attendees had been invited to bring their own kits to the meeting, too. One guy had his neatly packed into a fishing tackle box. One neighbor shared her pet first aid kit.

What shocked me, however, were the people who admitted they didn’t have a kit in their car. And there were a couple of people who said they didn’t even have a kit in the house!

The reason it’s shocking is because this is our neighborhood emergency group, supposedly tuned in to being prepared!

Lessons learned

Emergency preparedness starts and continues with the basics.

• If you have a first aid kit, check on its contents and “top it off” with more supplies. Use the lists above for suggestions.
• If you are missing a kit, build one from scratch or buy an inexpensive one, like I did, and add more supplies.
• If extended family members don’t have kits, buy up a supply and hand them out for Father’s Day or Mother’s Day or Christmas! Or without any explanation other than, “You need to have this!”

I looked for a better kit. I found one at Amazon that looks pretty good as a starter. I like the way its clear pockets fold out to make things easy to find. It costs about twice as much as the one I bought at the hardware store ($19 instead of $9), but instead of “77 items” it advertises “121 items.” Again, you’ll want to add some extras, but this kit would be a good start, particularly for the car.

Here’s the direct link: AAA 121-Piece Road Trip First Aid Kit

Don’t let something as simple as not having a first aid kit turn an accident into a real emergency!

“Friendly but Forceful” Action item: Take care of your first aid kit/s right away!

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. What first aid items haven’t been mentioned in this article?  Please share your recommendations in the comments box so we can all benefit.

You have three first-aid kits, don’t you? One in the house, one in the car, and one in your emergency backpack?

You can buy a reasonable pre-built kit for around $20. But, as always with pre-built collections,

Are your first-aid kits well-stocked?

• First, your kits should have high-quality items. I’ve read so many reviews that mention scissors that won’t cut or tweezers that don’t tweeze!
• Second, contents should match your own level of medical knowledge. For example, some pre-made kits contain actual surgical equipment – probably useless and even dangerous for the untrained.
• Third, your kit should have room for any specialty items that fit your family members, your climate and potential natural emergencies. For example, you may need to add sunscreen, water purification tablets or insect repellent, given where you live.

Extras that may make the difference.

Spend some time reading the list of items contained in several of the ready-made kits, and you may get some good ideas for extras. Here are a few to consider.

Liquid bandage

As the name suggests, this liquid can be applied to small cuts or wounds. It quickly dries, holding the cut together or covering the wound with a tough “skin” that protects the wound from dirt, is flexible and waterproof, and antiseptic to boot. (Won’t stick if applied to wet or bloody skin.) This pack has four bottles.

New-Skin Liquid Bandage, First Aid Liquid Antiseptic, 1-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 4)

Tampons and pads

If you have a cut that needs more than a band aid, a pad gives you something solid to apply pressure against. As for tampons, obviously they could be used to plug a puncture – and the string can serve as the wick for a long-lasting emergency light if you have oil as a fuel. Head to your local drugstore to pick up the sizes and style you want. If they aren’t packaged individually, you can always put a few into a plastic bag and then into your kit.  Be sure to use the unscented versions. 

Hand sanitizer wipes

We’ve all used “wipes” after eating messy food – and discovered that some are a lot better than others, and smell better, too! Still, in an emergency, probably any reasonable sanitizing wipe would be better than nothing. Individually packed wipes can be tucked right into your first aid kit. A small plastic bottle of hand sanitizer could work, too. I’ve used Purell and liked it.

Individually wrapped: PURELL Sanitizing Hand Wipes Individually Wrapped 100-ct. Box
Small, 2 oz. bottles: Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer, 2 Ounce (Pack of 12)

Ace bandage or “self-stick” bandage

In rough terrain, an ace bandage can keep your turned ankle functioning. A standard ace bandage needs safety pins or special clips to keep it secured; the “self-stick” version looks the same but sticks to itself just like cling wrap.

Standard bandage with clips: ACE Elastic Bandage with Hook Closure, 3 Inches (Pack of 2)
Self-stick version: ACE Self-Adhering Elastic Bandage, 2 Inches (Pack of 3)

Adhesive Tape

Taping gauze over a wound takes precision. If you mess up, drop a piece, etc., you can go through the provided supply very quickly. My recommendation – add another generous roll of 1 in. tape to your kit so you won’t run out.
Durapore Medical Tape, Silk Tape – 1 in. x 10 yards – Each Roll

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. While you’re thinking about First Aid kits, you may want to review this Advisory about the dangers of out-of-date medicines.

At Christmas, some of my neighbors bake cookies and deliver them to the local fire station. They are duly thanked. But last month, our fire department showed their appreciation in a whole different way.

They used our streets and houses for training!

Getting familiar with our community

Non-standard hydrant

First Responders always have to get used to our community. It has narrow streets and smaller-than-regulation fire hydrants, not to mention an impossible house numbering system.

So last month, when they had a recruit who needed training, they gave us a call.

Could our neighborhood CERT group host a training exercise?

Well, of course we could!

With only two days’ notice, we pulled together a team, sent out a flyer to everyone warning them to stay out of the way, and when the engines pulled in on a Friday morning, we were ready.

• Our CERT member posted at the gate saw them enter and notified the entire team via hand-held radio.
• Block by block, turn by turn, we tracked them and reported in.
• When they arrived at the “subject house,” our team members set up a traffic management system, meant to keep residents’ cars – and residents on foot — from getting tangled up in the hoses.

Traffic hazard

Things went well! The recruit passed his test (locating the hydrant, attaching the hoses, pulling hoses around the corner and across the street, etc.). Our traffic management proceeded without incident, and radio communications worked perfectly. (One of our members acted as Net Control, accompanying the Incident Commander in a golf cart.)

At the end of an 90 minutes, the fire department had rolled everything up and were gone.

Then, later that same day, they called to ask if they could come back the following week and do it again!

Benefits of working together

Working with our local fire station crew this way has so many benefits.

First, they learn more about the neighborhood and will obviously be able to respond more quickly and confidently to the next emergency.

Second, they got to see our CERT team in action – and they voiced their admiration for the way we were organized and for the help we gave them.

Finally, we got to know those crew members personally, and they got to know us. Nothing can substitute for this personal connection.

Plans for future training exercises

Now that we have had this experience, we will be inviting other stations to take advantage of our “training facility” when they can.

It’s a way to position our CERT group positively in the eyes of the First Responder community, and it gives us a way to reinforce our preparedness message to our neighbors, too. Not to mention the all-important radio practice!

Have you ever hosted a training in YOUR community?  Who initiated contact? How did it go? Let us readers know!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

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A Fantastic Resource for your Neighborhood CERT Group

I try to keep feeding you with real-life stories about our neighborhood CERT group – what we do to attract volunteers, what works, what doesn’t. This is another chapter in the on-going saga.

And this one is a real success story.

Visit from the Fire Department

Last fall, at the first meeting after the summer break, our Homeowners Association invited the local fire station to send over some firefighters to talk about what to expect in the case of an earthquake. A big quake had hit Sonoma, in Northern California, just two months earlier, so everyone remembered the fires and the devastation, and was eager to talk about it anyway.

Slide Show

Since I was in charge of the agenda as President of the HOA (!), I took advantage of the situation.

First, I prepared a slide show for the fire department.

• I used current news photos interspersed with a few other choice examples of failed foundations, street collapses and trashed home interiors.
• I included special slides customized for our type of housing, our age group, etc.
• I customized the slide show with THEIR logo and contact info.

The plan worked perfectly.

Result: Over 100 residents of our community showed up for the meeting.

While they came to see the firefighters, not to hear about emergency preparedness from our CERT group, they got our message!

Training session for the Fire Department

Then last week, the Captain of that local station called us, and asked if they could hold a training session for new recruits here in our community!

I’ll be writing more about how the training session went. The point of this Advisory — if you reach out to your local fire station, you are likely to get an enthusiastic response.

Make it easy for them

Response from your local fire department is likely to be even more enthusiastic if you –

• Take the time to create an engaging and useful presentation for them – and give them the chance to edit and practice it. (As it turned out, the Captain we had been working with wasn’t able to make the meeting, so he passed the slide show on to a colleague and HE became our speaker. Smooth.)
• Put them on the meeting agenda right up front, so they don’t have to wait through any business.
• Provide a question and answer period. By and large, firefighters are eager to educate the public, and this is a great opportunity for them. Our crew brought handouts for everyone.

Naturally, planning with firefighter teams is tricky, because wherever they are, their radios are blipping and buzzing, and they could be called away at any moment.

And the main challenge, as always, is pulling together a large enough crowd to justify the crew taking time away from the station.

In our case, we have a community that is used to assembling for a monthly HOA meeting. You may need to combine forces with a local school or local church to find the right facility and attract enough people. But if you can, I think you’ll find both the crowd and the firefighters to be appreciative of your efforts.

And ultimately, lives may be saved. That’s really the point of it all!

Action Item: Set up a presentation from your local fire department for your group. Let us know how it goes!

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Are you trying to build, or maintain, a local CERT group? Let me know in an email, and I’ll be sure you get all my tips for organizing.

. . . Give Us Pause for Concern.

Last week the British Intelligence MI-5 issued its warning about the renewed threat of terrorist attacks on so-called “soft targets.”

Classic Soft Target

This proclamation, against the backdrop of the savage attack by two minimally-trained terrorists with automatic weapons on the French tabloid Charlie Hebdo, got my attention . . . especially since it warned of growing risks of attacks in the U.S.

But, real as the terrorist threat may be, it is only one of many threats against soft targets!

So what are soft targets and should we really be worried?

Soft targets are basically any person or location that isn’t protected by armed guards or official security. The school at Sandy Hook, the two off-duty British soldiers and the school in Pakistan are all soft targets. Your grocery store, gas station, your church and even your own home are all soft targets by definition.

And, yes, we should be concerned and vigilant.

San Francisco rampage

In the U.S., widespread availability of assault weapons means that mentally-ill people are all capable of becoming potential “terrorists.”

On July 1, 1993 in San Francisco, California, Gian Luigi Ferri, a 55-year old therapist, burst into a law office at 101 California Street and began shooting with two automatic weapons, killing eight people including a receptionist and a secretary, and wounding several others.

I knew “John” Ferri. I actually met him on three occasions. One of these was to sever him from a counseling assignment with a young relative of mine who “didn’t feel comfortable” with him. Neither did I after a fifteen minute conversation.

But neither did I suspect that years later he would become a mass murderer.

A more recent threat

That series of events, together with a number of workplace killings, made me particularly concerned for the safety of one of my daughters, a senior human relations executive who has been tasked with laying off several dozen employees since the 2008 financial meltdown. I worry about disgruntled employees “snapping” and returning to their workplace to “get even.”

For every real terrorist event, we can expect half a dozen of these “domestic violence” events. Does the fact that they are to be expected make me feel any better? Not really.

More precautions, increased vigilance

With terrorist incidents likely to increase in the future, there’s every reason to take all normal precautionary measures while increasing our vigilance. If you work or live in a high-risk target area, a healthy dose of paranoia might even be in order.

So, what’s the bottom line? The more progress we make in containing terrorism on the various battlefields of the Middle East, the more we can expect isolated, one-off incidents of attacks by one or two would-be terrorist actors. MI-5’s Director, Andrew Parker, pointed to what he called “the growing gap between the increasingly challenging threat and the decreasing availability of capabilities to address it.”

Of course we here in the U.S. are less likely than countries in Europe to be hit this way, but only because we are not as close or accessible to the thousands of militants coming and going between a battlefield and an adjacent country.

In response to this threat, here at Emergency Plan Guide we’ll be taking another look at physical security devices and related protection equipment. You may want to follow these periodic reviews to see if any resonate with you.

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Don’t miss our upcoming reviews of security equipment. Be sure to get on our Advisory mailing list.  Sign up below.

We have spent a lot of time talking about the various emergency radio choices that are available — solar/crank-powered for receiving emergency communications, and hand-held walkie-talkies for keeping in touch. We even did a video about workplace communications — you’ll see the link below this post.

But when you’re caught on the road . . .

But, it’s clear that we need to address the reality that few people caught on the road or away from home will be carrying their solar/crank-powered emergency radio with them — and their walkie-talkies won’t do them much good, either, since those are limited in range.

If you stay in the car, you’ll probably be able to get emergency news and weather reports on your car radio. But if you have no radio,

Or if you have to start walking . . .

You need a reliable alternative.

The only one we have found that is consistently reliable, affordable and the right size is the Ambient Weather WR-090 Emergency Pocket AM/FM/WB Weather Alert Radio with Digital Tuner and Flashlight

You can gauge the size of the radio by seeing it in the photo, in my hand.  In the photo, the antenna is fully extended; when you store it, of course, you’ll retract it into its 2-inch antenna stub  (shorter than my thumb).

When you select the weather band mode, there’s a red LED ALERT feature (right under the screen), and a clearly marked button on the side turns on a reasonable built-in flashlight.  (Photo insert)

This powerful gem is powered by three replaceable, AAA batteries. It only weighs 4 ounces (including the batteries) and

Easily fits into a pocket, purse or glove compartment of the car.

Most alkaline batteries have a shelf life of ten years. We recommend, however, that the batteries be changed at least once a year, depending on the frequency of usage and exposure of the unit to excessive heat, etc.

As with any battery-powered electronic device, you always want to have extra, fresh, replacement batteries on hand. We prefer the premium Duracell Quantum or Energizer equivalent high-density core. These premium batteries deliver full power longer than the standard models. When you’re dealing with emergency-related devices, you want the best quality, most dependable power available.

(Store extra batteries in your Commuter Kit. )

We personally have three of these units, one for each of our two cars and one for the kitchen drawer.  You’ll feel better if you have a couple of them handy, too. Here’s the direct link to the radio at Amazon, which is where we get ours.

Joe Krueger
Emergency Plan Guide

If you’re interested in radios, here are three more resources:

• For communications at work, check out our Resilient Business Video #2:  http://youtu.be/_x1JFTjfOCg
• Radio Reviews
• Radio Reviews, Updated