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CERT Meeting Notes for May 14, 2002

Twenty-six members attended the May meeting to discuss the CERT Exercise from the previous night.

The general consensus was that the exercise went very well… it met all the main objectives of mobilizing the team, thoroughly checking the whole community by Zone for "damage," and reporting to a Command Post that was using a new radio system set up at the tree. Another plus was that the exercise identified several areas where we need to work to improve our effectiveness. The list below contains many of the comments from the critique. The comments are not presented in any priority order; they are simply presented for reference for future activities.

Comments…

We should all give ourselves a mutual pat-on-the-back for the team effort in pulling the exercise together and making it happen.

The larger radio at Command worked very well. So well in fact that a vote was taken and passed to purchase the gear.

It was proven that it is absolutely essential for the person running the Command radio to have an assistant logging the information. (Thanks go out to volunteer Dennis Doorneweerd, non-CERT member, but big CERT supporter, for his help.)

The polling of the Zones by Command worked well too. But, valid concerns were expressed as to whether Zones should have one contact person reporting into Command or whether individuals in the Zones should report in. Many people liked the idea of having one contact per Zone report to command, but that Zone contact person would have to have an assistant monitor the Zone frequency while he/she reported to Command. The idea of an assistant to the Zone contact produced concern about tying up personnel who should be out canvassing. So, to make a long discussion short, if Command polled slowly, the Zone contacts would know that they have 5 to 10 minutes to talk with their team members before Command got back to them.

Zone members felt it was very important to have an assembly spot where they could gather, see who was available, and dispatch from there.

Wherever possible, the "buddy system" worked, especially for monitoring both Zone and Command frequencies.

Radio transmissions should be done slowly, clearly, and concisely.

The Zone Checklist is an important tool for logging all information. Things happen too fast to depend on memory.

In anticipation of future activities, everyone should learn more about the other Zones. When dispatched to other Zones, some people had a tough time getting around because of their lack of familiarity.

The Zone maps are not clear about where the Zone boundaries are. It was generally felt that if one wandered into another Zone and found a problem, by all means report it.

As a practical matter, any life-or-limb items should be reported first.

Radio earpieces are a real plus, especially voice activated ones. Radio Shack has a good one made by Jabra.

You can never have too much detail on the homes in your Zone.

Perhaps the Zone maps should be reworked to apply more resources to the more heavily populated areas.

We really need street addresses on the taxiway side of homes, not just for CERT but also for general safety and security.

Consider changing the Zone identities to alpha designations instead of by number. With alpha designators, when a team member calls in, they will say "delta 404, beta 317, etc." This call method would allow Command to know where the person is reporting from, especially if they are dispatched to another Zone.

We need a better Command Center map, one that can be marked on with a grease pencil.

When designing exercises, we should try to be more realistic in our descriptions of damage, rather than simply saying damage found. Also, the tags weren't very effective.

Even though this was just an exercise, we should have thought a little more about our own personal "safety" by wearing not only the CERT-issued gear, but long pants and sturdy shoes/boots, etc. If this had been for real with debris in the streets, we probably would have been walking the community rather than carting or biking.

Other Items Discussed…

Two of our medical team experts, Gerri Hudak and Ray Gage, are preparing emergency medical kits that will at minimum be stored in the CERT POA cabinet and perhaps placed in other areas of the community in case the POA hangar is trashed. These kits will be more than the tape and gauze we will be carrying in our packs. These kits will have additional items in them that trained emergency personnel can use when our basic first aid treatments prove inadequate.

Charlie Clark is working on a design for a large tracking board to be used by Command.

Dave McCarthy and Capt. Ed Hickox will present to the Safety and Security Committee the idea of having a Spruce Creek siren installed to alert citizens of impending weather dangers. Sirens are used effectively in other golf course communities in FL to warn of lightning or tornado hazards.

Ten CERT members went to Universal Studios to participate in a mock disaster. They will give a videotaped presentation the proceedings (Ed made the tape, so don't be too hard on him) at our June meeting. If given the opportunity, we will plan to send ten more next year.

 

 

John Stratton reviewed where we've been and where we are going with our training…

We have all had Volusia County CERT classes.

We did a basic radio exercise.

We have had backpack/equipment show and tell.

We have Field Manuals containing relevant documentation.

Jennie Weber from Volusia County gave us a short first aid presentation.

We had our recent Hurricane Damage Survey drill.

We will plan on doing…

A full first aid module with Jennie in the fall.

In November / December, another mock disaster drill using staged scenarios where we have to triage, first aid, and perhaps do search and rescue with cribbing exercises.

A fire-training module early 2003.

A surprise mock disaster drill before hurricane season, 2003.

Chief Gullespie, head of Volusia County CERT, observed our drill. He was very pleased with the efficiency and professionalism demonstrated by our members. He encouraged us to continue to practice so that when the real thing comes, we won't be learning on the job.

Chief Gullespie feels that one of the biggest dangers to Volusia County is a hazardous material spill. Untold amounts and types of hazardous materials travel though our area by rail and I95 everyday. To help us be better prepared for one of these emergencies, Chief Gullespie is willing to hold a HAZMAT (Hazardous Materials) class this summer here in Spruce Creek if we can get 10 or more people interested. Please contact Susan Stratton if you'd like to participate - 304-6128 or email to sprucecreek@netzero.net .

Chief Gullespie is also willing to hold a night CERT class… if you have any friends or family members interested in a night class, please contact Susan Stratton - 304-6128 or email to sprucecreek@netzero.net .

Special thanks to Doris Kennedy for the use of her hangar and to Lorraine Wahl, President, SCPOA, for her participation in the exercise and follow-up meeting.

 

Looking forward to seeing all of you CERT members who haven't "flown north" at the June meeting. I will send out a meeting reminder for those of us who are calendar challenged.

Regards,

Susan Stratton