Arlington's County-Wide
Emergency Response Preparedness Planning
Link to FEMA's Emergency Planning and Disaster Supplies
Link to FEMA's National Security Emergencies
Dept of Homeland Security - Preparing Makes Sense
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS IN ARLINGTON
Update
as of February 11, 2003
Friday's raising of the national terror threat level to "High" highlighted the need for emergency preparedness information and resources. One of these valuable resources--the 2003 Northern Virginia Guide to Emergency Preparedness--will be delivered to Arlingtonians this weekend.
Subscribers to the Washington Post will find the Guide in the Sunday advertising packet (often delivered on Saturday); non-subscribers will get a copy of the Guide in the mail on Friday. The color-printed wrapping of the packet will clearly indicate that the Guide is enclosed. PLEASE KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE GUIDE AND HOLD ON TO YOUR COPY.
Talking about the Guide, County Board Chairman Paul Ferguson said, "While the federal government sets threat levels, people look to local government for guidance and support. The new Northern Virginia Guide to Emergency Preparedness is a valuable tool, not only as a planning resource, but also as a 'keeper' that can be pulled out and consulted when an emergency is imminent or has just occurred."
The 16-page color publication provides residents, visitors and employers and employees with a comprehensive guide for preparing for emergencies. It includes tips on creating an emergency supply kit, making financial preparations, preparing for extended loss of power, and planning for the special needs of children and senior citizens.
In addition to the hard copies being delivered this weekend, the 2003 version of the Guide is now available online at the County's Emergency Preparedness Web site at www.co.arlington.va.us/emergency. This site offers an abundance of useful emergency information including a "Whom to Call" list, frequently asked questions about bio-threats and other terrorist activities, and links to counseling and support resources.
The Emergency Preparedness Web site is also a source of information if specific threat or target details become available, especially if they are associated with Arlington or the Washington metropolitan area. This information would also be made available on Info31, the County's cable television station (Comcast Cable channel 31).
The Guide is a regional effort sponsored by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission. In addition to Arlington, the Commission is made up of the following local governments: the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park; the counties of Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William; the towns of Dumfries, Herndon, Leesburg, Purcellville, and Vienna. Dominion Virginia Power, Fairfax County Water Authority and Washington Gas provided additional funding for the Guide.
Update
as of December 4, 2002
While the structure of Arlington’s Emergency Preparedness Plan has not
changed, the content has changed enormously.
The events of September 11th challenged preexisting
assumptions, and the County has responded to these challenges!
Arlington’s First Responders and County government are responsible for
a wide array of security needs – our transportation infrastructure, our
communications infrastructure, our utility infrastructures, our water supply,
our economic well-being and the personal safety of individuals at home and play,
children in school, people at work.
The task is daunting, particularly since Arlington has an “all
disasters” approach to emergency preparedness.
Among the disasters for which Arlington must be prepared are snow and ice
storms, windstorms, tornadoes, flash flooding, explosive, biological, nuclear,
incendiary, chemical events – accidental or intentional.
(These are ranked in order of probability.)
Under the auspices of the Civic Federation, several citizens offered to
help the County with the “citizen education” portion of the effort. An Ad Hoc coalition was formed – the Civic
Federation, Red Cross, Chamber of Commerce, United Way, CAAR, etc. – to
discover what resources existed and how efforts could be organized without
duplications.
From this effort came the Public Preparedness Planning Group, organized
by County Manager Ron Carlee to bring greater focus to the problems intrinsic in
preparing a population for the unexpected.
Throughout the summer of 2002, this group worked on a mission for a
permanent organization. In
September of 2002, the County Manager announced the formation of the Citizens
Corps Council, the first in the State of Virginia.
The Governor invited this group to Richmond for the announced
organization of Virginia Corps.
The Citizen Corps Council has a coordinating body and four distinct task
groups: Education (of the various
elements of the population), Volunteers (effective programs and utilization of
trained and untrained volunteers – at the site of disasters and in
neighborhoods), Communications (what technology exists to warn people of a
potential or actual disaster – similar to the sirens of old); and Resource
Management. The Chairs and Vice
Chairs have met and will have an official meeting with the County Manager on
December 10th. Representatives
of organizations and individuals with specific talents or interests are invited
to work on the task groups that should begin formal meetings in January.
CERTS
(Community Emergency Response Teams)
Disruptions often prevent First Responders from reaching the site of
disasters quickly. To fill the gap,
teams of citizens have been trained to provide on-site assistance until
professional help can arrive. The
formal title is Community Emergency Response Team or CERT.
This is a FEMA program that originated in California to respond to
earthquakes and spread to the East Coast for hurricane response.
In September, Governor Warner’s staff asked the citizen leaders on
emergency preparedness if an all-disasters CERT team could be started in
Arlington. Working with the Fire
Department, the first CERT team began its training in September and graduated in
mid-November as a pilot program.
CERT teams in Arlington are neighborhood and civic association/homeowners
association or apartment/condo building and business based.
Beginning in January, teams of 10 to 15 people from these locales will be
trained in general disaster awareness, medical operations (bleeding, breathing,
shock and triage), fire suppression, light search and rescue, the psychology of
disaster, and terrorism. The
trainers are from the Fire Department. Eight two-and-a-half hour training sessions are held over an
eight-to-ten week period. The first
CERT, in the Fourth Police District, is already planning its continuing
education, beginning with neighborhood communication systems (including those
that work without electricity).
Once trained, CERT team members will have official identification and
equipment that will help them response to disaster situations.
To support a CERT team, and to facilitate mutual aid, response and
recovery within our communities, neighborhoods need a structure within which to
work. Patterned after the old
Neighborhood Watch program, with block captains, awareness of strengths and
weaknesses, a new model is being developed by the Civic Federation to insure
that maximum strength can be brought to bear in an emergency.
The Model is designed to be flexible and build upon existing individual
neighborhood practices/structures. Among
the components of the model are offerings of:
·Personal
preparedness training – kits, plans, improving neighborhood communications;
·DHS
(Department of Human Services) Training – identifying and learning to help
those who might need special assistance in an emergency, including, but not
limited to, the elderly, those with disabilities, children alone, (including
pets separated from their owners, although not officially part of DHS training);
·Police
Training – combining aspects of Neighborhood Watch and the Citizens Police
Academy to train residents in disaster response;
·Neighborhood
Preparedness (building upon individual/family preparedness and including CERTS.)
YOUR KIT
No
one can be effective in an emergency if plans have not been made for their
family’s well-being – not teachers, businessmen, police, doctors or anyone
else. Get things ready at home
BEFORE an emergency occurs.
The bare essentials:
·
Water
(one gallon per person per day, 3 to 7 days)(include pets)
·
Flashlight
·
Battery-powered
radio (NOAA weather radios are programmed into the Emergency Alert System and
can be programmed to local geographic areas)
·
Extra
batteries
·
Non-perishable
food
YOUR PLAN
Have
a communications plan – a long-distance contact all family members would call
if you are separated from one another. Have
e-mails. If local phone lines go
down and local cell lines are jammed, long distance often will work.
Have a card with this information written on it that each family member
carries at all times.
Have meeting plan – if you are separated from your family and cannot
return to your home, where will you all meet?
Where will you meet if you must evacuate for a fire (local)?
Where will you meet if you must evacuate for a chemical spill?
If you have children who go to school outside Arlington, do they have a
safe house near their school where they could stay?
KNOW YOUR NUMBERS
Post
emergency numbers for Arlington County in a prominent place.
UNDERSTAND YOUR UTILITIES
Know
where your main cut-offs are for water, electricity and gas.
Remember that once the gas is turned off, only a professional can turn it
back on – so listen to the radio for instructions on whether or not to do so.
The information on disasters and disaster planning is constantly changing, as is the technology that accompanies it. This information is not all-inclusive, but it’s a start for being prepared for the unexpected.
UNDERSTAND WHAT TO DO IN EACH TYPE OF DISASTER
There are no hard and fast rules, particularly about the B-NICE disasters (biological, nuclear, incendiary, chemical and explosive). The most important thing to do is listen to the radio for instructions. HOWEVER, there are a few basic points that everyone needs to know.
Shelter in Place: This
means you’ll be safest staying where you are inside – home, work, church,
school. Listen to the radio for
instructions as to where to go (up for most chemicals, down and under for
tornadoes, etc.)
Evacuation:
This means leaving the site of the
disaster – a few yards in case of fire; a few neighborhoods/miles in case of
chemical incident. There is little
chance Arlington as a whole will be evacuated, although the County is looking at
the old plans calling for evacuation to West Virginia!
Community Disaster Preparedness web links
Emergency Preparedness Family Disaster Kit
Return to Bellevue Forest Citizens' Association Home Page
Copyright © 2000, BellevueForest.org, All Rights Reserved.