services - Idyllwild Town Crier

Page 14 - Idyllwild Town Crier, March 26, 2009
Local volunteers meet in second disaster summit
By Marshall Smith
Staff Reporter
Town Crier Publisher-Editor Becky Clark convened
the second disaster summit on Wednesday, March 18, at
Buckhorn Camp. In a followup to the widely attended
Feb. 27 summit meeting, Clark invited local volunteer
groups and professional responders to discuss particular
local issues that would help compile a survival guide for
mountain residents to use before, during and after a
disaster. About 25 people attended representing a variety
of volunteer agencies.
Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council (MCFSC)
President Mike Esnard suggested at the start of the meeting
that attendees agree on a list of specific problems
or occurrences that could generate the declaration of a
local disaster “incident,” and these would become the
tabbed items for the reference guide.
Attendees differentiated between “personal” emergencies
and “communal” emergencies — those affecting an
individual, such as a medical emergency or a house fire,
and broader emergencies affecting a portion of or the
entire community. They distinguished between natural
disasters, man-made disasters and emergencies that are
strictly the purview of law enforcement.
The objective of the meeting,
as stated by Clark, is to produce
a mountain survival guide — direct,
simple, straightforward and
easy to use — designed primarily
for residents, and a sheet to
be posted in vacation rentals and
commercial lodging facilities to
inform and assist tourists in
emergencies.
In a polite and spirited exercise
of citizen democracy, attendees
arrived at categories the
guide will address — the “what
to do, not to do, who to contact”
in these suggested community
disaster events: earthquake, snow, wildfire, power outages,
biohazard, winds and flooding. Other tabs will include
law enforcement, preparation and medical emergency.
Although this list may be amended, Clark’s next
step will be to try to obtain funding for the guide. Although
intended as a public service, the guide, which
Volunteer groups attend a
disaster survival summit at
Buckhorn Camp on Wednesday,
March 18.
Photo by Marshall Smith
will be regularly updated and
published annually, needs a
funding base. Clark will seek
grant money so the guide is
not dependent on advertising.
That is the next step. Once funding seems likely, additional
meetings may be called or e-mail communications
made to work though specific content of the guide.
Marshall Smith can be reached at marshall@towncrier.
com.
Lent talks big picture; volunteers, local reliance
By Marshall Smith
Staff Reporter
At the March 12 Mountain Emergency
Services Committee (MEMSCOMM)
meeting, Riverside County Office of Emergency
Services (OES) Deputy Director
Peter Lent gave a PowerPoint overview of
OES’ mission and structure that included
restraints now being placed on OES by
the economic downturn. “We’re down six
positions,” said Lent. “We’re [concentrating
on] back-to-basic core functions of
what we can support.”
Rather than providing a source of comfort
to Hill-based attendees, Lent’s report
of budget cutbacks suggested the possibility
of reduced emergency assistance
during a disaster that blocks ingress/egress
of Hill roadways. Lent
further noted that with
a major earthquake,
interstates 10 and 215
would be closed, Riverside
County could be
cut in half, and water
resources could be interrupted
for up to six
months.
A l t h o u g h L e n t
stressed the county’s
leadership in disaster
preparation, county
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Personal preparation, stressed
Lent, has always been the most important
responsibility for those living in rural areas
like Idyllwild. “You must be prepared
to last seven to 10 days without outside
assistance,” said Lent. Volunteers in the
audience parried that the likely duration
of isolation will be much longer, and
that self-reliance and effective networking
among Hill-based groups is what volunteer
groups and Hill residents should be
working on.
High Valleys Disaster Preparedness
Team head John Wilson asked Lent if
OES could help offset the $500 this team
spent on propane for a winter warming
shelter during the December snow
emergency. “Not directly,” Lent replied.
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“Then local disaster teams are solely
dependent on their own funds” Wilson
asked. Lent replied that if local groups
request help, the county would dispatch
available resources. “We’ll do what we
do to get those resources in,” said Lent,
citing use of helicopters to transport aid
in the event of a major quake.
Wilson stressed how effective his
group’s partnering with CalFire Station
63 had been during the December snowstorm.
Mountain Disaster Preparedness
President Nancy Layton recounted
how difficult it has been to build
that kind of partnership with
Idyllwild Fire Protection District
(IFPD).
Marshall Smith can be reached at
marshall@towncrier.com.
“You [those living in rural areas
like Idyllwild] must be prepared
to last seven to 10 days without
outside assistance,” said Peter
Lent, Riverside County Office
of Emergency Services deputy
director.
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