Alex Paul
Linn County can be prepared for emergency disasters, Anne Stein told representatives of local organizations Thursday morning, if private citizens can be trained to assist professionals in time of need.
Stein outlined the Linn-Benton Neighborhood Emergency Training program, the area’s version of F.E.M.A.
“The Citizen Corps was launched by presidential initiative after 9/11/01,” Stein said. “It is coordinated by F.E.M.A. under Homeland Defense. The local Citizen Corps are meant to help the citizenry be much more active in crime prevention, personal and community preparedness and disaster relief, response and mitigation.”
Stein has worked with the Linn County Sheriff’s Emergency Management Coordinator since before the Y2K scare of 2000 and has received training from the FEMA Oregon Emergency Management, Seattle Emergency Management and Portland Fire Bureau.
“Citizen Corps,” she explained, “is meant to be the glue which binds together all the groups which work in any area of emergency management, bringing together leaders of the relevant sectors of our communities to manage existing resources as efficiently as possible, to leverage mutually supportive endeavors and to catalyze new methods and organizational structures when holes are discovered in the fabric of our defense.”
Components of Citizen Corps include already existing groups: Neighborhood Watch, volunteers in police service, FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Teams, Neighborhood Emergency Training.
“We also plan to begin a Medical Reserve Corps to work with Public Health and the CERT/L-B Net teams,” Stein said.
Stein described a disaster scenario such as a major grass fire of subduction earthquake striking the area.
“Roads are blocked, bridges are down, power is out all over the county,” Stein said. “Homes are destroyed and people can’t get home or to work and are frantic to find their loved ones or can’t get to the vulnerable ones for whom they are responsible.”
But, Stein said, because local groups are prepared, volunteers gather at pre-designated areas and go out to secure their neighborhoods, rescue trapped neighbors, do preliminary First Aid, bring people to shelters and comfort one another.
“They know what can safely be done safely and communicate what is too difficult for them to handle to communities’ first responders and help to clear roads for evacuation,” Stein said.
Local planning is based on successful programs already in place elsewhere, primarily during the Y2K period just before New Year’s 2000.
“Many of us learned preparedness from civil defense practices, the Red Cross and our Mormon neighbors,” Stein said. “We also learned what hard preparation work could do to prevent a disaster.”
Proper training is vital, Stein said. In the Mexico City earthquake, some 800 person were rescued, but 100 volunteers died in the process of helping them.
Programs within Citizen Corps include:
L-Be Net: which divides community and rural fire districts into neighborhoods of 20-50 homes. Families are trained in safety procedures at community events, potlucks and meetings.
CERT/L-B Net: FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Teams provide training for individual and family preparedness.
Neighborhood Coordinators: They get to know and keep track of those who live in their neighborhood. They welcome new people, help them meet their neighbors and find out who might be especially vulnerable during a disaster.
Shelter and special needs: Trained by the Red Cross, they set up neighborhood shelters where persons can obtain warmth, shelter, food, comfort and company. They also check on the welfare of children, frail elderly adults, disabled people and those who live alone.
Light search and rescue: This group checks out buildings and learn how to rescue or call for help and equipment when necessary.
Damage assessment: Completes a preliminary assessment of damage and reports to city and county Emergency Operations centers and to the Red Cross.
Medical Operations/First Aid: Establishes first aid stations where those in need can be helped or transported where it can be obtained. Team members will be trained in CPR and First Aid.
Communications: Amateur radio operators and teams use four-wheel-drive vehicles, horses or runners to pass vital information among teams and neighborhoods.
Training is divided into three hour modules.
“People are trained to see to their families first and great emphasis is placed on knowing their personal and team limitations,” Stein said.
Teams works under the Incident Command System in the community or through the local fire district.
Individual team members must log in at their volunteer deployment center to be covered by insurance and worker’s compensation.
Stein said she is seeking a local sponsor for the CERT program in Sweet Home. At Thursday’s meeting, representation was from the City of Sweet Home, Cascade Timber Consulting, Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Wilderness Village and others.
Persons who would like to learn more about this program can contact Mikayla Rossiter, city code enforcement officer, at 367-5113.