Hurricane Expo - Orange County, FL

Today I attended the Orange County (Florida) Hurricane Expo. The county holds this preparedness event each year at the beginning of the hurricane season. The goal, of course, is to have a community knowledgeable in preparing for hurricane events as well as how to respond when the storm materializes.

Representatives of first responder organizations were there to present their capabilities. That included government safety departments such as police and fire, but also volunteer organizations such as the Red Cross, United Way, and local faith based groups.

In 2002 the White House announced the USA Freedom Corps initiative, which comprised three major federal participants: Peace Corps, Americorps/Senior Corps and Citizen Corps. I was familiar with the Peace Corps, and even Americorps and Senior Corps, but Citizen Corps was new to me. They were strongly represented at the expo, and drew a large group.  The crowd was attracted by the giveaways of course. For registering with them to receive periodic information on community preparedness a person was given their choice of a weather radio or a first aid kit. The radio was the identical to the one I had recently purchased (for over $40), so I chose the very comprehensive first aid kit. These were not cheap trinkets, but very useful items.

Local TV weatherman Tom Sorells presented hurricane info and answered questions

Nice first aid kit

So let me tell you a little bit about Citizen Corps since they were kind enough to give me this cool first aid kit. The purpose is rather broad in that they wish to use volunteer resources to strengthen homeland security. In an emergency it is typical for most people to ask, “What can I do”? The Citizen Corps, as used by Orange County, provides a means for these individuals to coordinate their efforts in advance to make their community safer and better prepared for disasters. The county provides education, training and volunteer opportunities. You may already be familiar with two such opportunities as they pertain to community security. Those are Neighborhood Watch and Citizens on Patrol (COPS). Two lesser-known community groups are Community and Business Emergency Response Teams (CERT/BERT), and Medical Reserve Corps (MRC).

CERT/BERT educates participants about disaster preparedness and trains them in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, and medical operations. MRC coordinates the skills of practicing and retired physicians, nurses and other health professionals who are eager to offer their services in time of extended emergency situations.

I suggest that you contact your county emergency management office to see what opportunities are available to you. Rather than sit back helpless in an emergency you can step up and be of help to your community. I am a member of the Orange County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, which acts as a communications auxiliary to the County Emergency Operations Center. Barbara is a volunteer at the Orlando Emergency Call Center (911). In the event of an extended emergency situation she would be called in to provide assistance to the trained 911 operators so that they can concentrate on the serious and life-threatening calls.

Orange County ARES (OCARES) was well represented

Emergency communications were demonstrated by OCARES

Since a number of the people who frequent this blog are RVers and frequently use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services such as SKYPE and Vonage, I thought I would pass on some information I picked up today. A 911 operator may not receive your correct location or phone number when using these systems. You should be prepared to give the accurate location information of the emergency. If your VoIP provider has a 911 service you must keep your location information updated as you move about the country. Your VoIP service may not work during a power outage or when the Internet fails or becomes overloaded. Have a backup notification plan in place.

This event was centered on our big summer threat, hurricanes. Other regions have their own similar risks such as tornados, flooding, severe thunderstorms, wildfires, and earthquakes. Be aware of the risks in your region, even if just passing through. Know the emergency response appropriate to the risks.

Barbara and I were awakened one night to the beeping of a truck horn while staying in a small campground in northwestern Alabama. We knew that was their signal of a tornado warning, not watch, warning. That meant that a funnel was spotted in the area. We also knew that the campground had a shelter, and more importantly where it was. Many, but not all, campers did retire to the shelter. Luckily, the storm was brief and produced no damage, but those that were not in the shelter would have certainly been unnecessarily subject to harm had a tornado or serious high winds struck the campground.  Give it some thought.