Orlando, Florida Fire Department Pre-storm Hurricane Training Unit

Chapter 6, Part 3: Community Emergency Response Teams

Since Emergency Management can actually involve everyone from the White House to "your house", it only makes sense to develop a way to involve citizens in the system. Research studies after different disasters showed that the general public was not comfortable being "left out of the loop" when it came to the matter of dealing with disaster. They wanted to be educated in the steps to take and identified as an integral part of the system wherever it was appropriate.

CERT training was developed to answer this need as well as allow people to be more self sufficient and useful during a major event. A disaster can overwhelm emergency resources so quickly that citizens incapable of being self sufficient will suffer dramatically, and may not see help for long periods of time. CERT trained citizens on the other hand would be able to take care of themselves, and then help others until relieved by emergency responders.

By finding interested citizens, teaching them the important aspects of emergency management, training them in several basic skills of survival, showing them how to organize into a team structure and giving them a place in the system; additional resources have been created that:

Communicate more effectively by virtue of common terminology. Have a Better Understanding of the situation faced by emergency responders and City officials. Can work within a well defined Management Structure. Are able to formulate an Action Plan that coordinates strategic goals, tactical objectives and support activities. Understand Resource Management that facilitates application of available resources to the right incident in a timely manner.

One of the major goals of the CERT Program is to train citizens well enough over time that, when the situation dictates, these responders will be able to:

  1. Recognize the problem(s)
  2. Determine and prioritize the tasks to be accomplished
  3. Identify available resources
  4. Organize the team(s)
  5. Assign specific tasks
  6. Utilize first aid training and search & rescue techniques
  7. Stabilize the situation
  8. Document actions

Organizing Your CERT - Before An Event

Effective neighborhood disaster response is based upon a realistic plan that organizes and directs resident actions during emergency situations. Regardless of their size, all neighborhood preparedness groups have similar basic goals and work to develop the same capabilities.

Organization - A group's "territory" is defined by existing boundaries of some sort:

A group can be old or new, large or small, formal or informal, but it is the nucleus of coordination.

Education - Education and preparedness planning for every neighborhood resident is essential and the neighborhood group is in the best position to provide it. A bottom-up approach - starting with the individual and family and moving on to the block and the neighborhood - is one way to achieve results.

Information - The group collects information on individuals/families/businesses in its territory, and inventories the skills and resources of each person. This information is then shared and used during an emergency to improve the assistance available to everyone.

Responsibilities - A neighborhood group needs to assign responsibility for various response activities that are most important to that neighborhood. Even groups that are very small can divide up some of the most important and/or difficult activities - inventories and checklists, utility checks, fire suppression, first aid, etc. - to make sure they get done.

Training - Once responsibilities are assigned, the group can provide training so people know how to carry out their responsibilities. Neighborhoods can also hold periodic drills so everyone can work on skills and refine the overall plan.

CERT trained individuals that want to start a Neighborhood group can coordinate with Orlando Fire Department CERT Instructors as to the organizational methods, training materials and other information available. As the concept starts to grow, there will be more resources available to help in this area.

OFD will be structuring a handbook designed to help interested citizens form, train and drill a potential neighborhood group.

Where to Start?

Know your Neighborhood

Is there a Neighborhood Watch Program where you live? Can you identify the "movers & shakers" that make your neighborhood a nice place to live? Would you like to start small and just work with the people on your street that you know fairly well? If you know the kind of people that make up your neighborhood, you will be better able to determine the response and involvement you can expect. Don't be discouraged by a few people that can't see the point of your concerns! Remember, you became interested because the program was important to you and your family. There are plenty of others like you in the neighborhood. Start small, it will get big sooner than you would expect.

Once you get a core group, meet with them and share what you have learned. If CERT classes are not available to these people at the time, let them read your manual and see if they can receive parts of the training from the Red Cross or other agency for the time being. You wanted to be trained as a "Team Leader", this is your opportunity to assume that leadership role. Identify the skills available in the group you are working with and start talking about what they can do in an emergency. Share checklists and assign responsibilities to those that will accept them. Figure out a way to drill these people when the Hurricane season begins, people get more interested when the prospect of an event approaches.

If and when you hold group meetings, make sure you are confident that members will leave the meeting with knowledge they did not have when they arrived. People tire of groups and meetings when "it's the same old thing".

Refer to your manual and come up with subjects to discuss that could affect that group of people.

Get video tapes on various topics and have a discussion among the attendees on their views of the subject.

Invite guest speakers from relevant organizations.

Take one meeting to discuss the people in your neighborhood with special needs and what should be done for them before, during and after an event.

When you give an assignment (prior to an event), try to make it one that several people can work on together, people will get more done as a group working toward the same goal. Besides,under emergency conditions these people should be working in teams of at least three.

Always develop an agenda for the next meeting, and set time, date and location before adjourning. Make these convenient to all involved and try to keep meeting times under two hours.

Developing Teams

Thus far we have discussed getting people interested enough to get together and learn about the CERT Program and some of its considerations. An important thing to do early on is to start organizing teams. Identify Team Leaders and Team Members, people take pride in working as a team. Form the teams by pairing up those that can perform the duties to be accomplished immediately after an event.

Break down the duties of the teams into the following areas:

If Team Members volunteer for an assignment area, they will probably start thinking along those lines, and possibly even seek further education in those areas.

While these seven areas of consideration are the most important to a neighborhood group, don't be reluctant to review the ESF list and determine if some of your group might be well suited to handle some of the other functions. The list of ESF's is basically a checklist of its own and could be used to make sure you have properly prepared your neighborhood.

Identify, among the group, those people that would not be present during a Hurricane. Firefighters, police officers, nurses, and other emergency response personnel should be included in your group, but not necessarily counted on when disaster strikes. While they may be at home and able to help during a Tornado or other event, the warning available before a Hurricane may cause them to be considered "critical employees" by their employer and be required to maintain duties at work.

Leadership

A neighborhood planning group needs a coordinator, co- coordinators, or a steering committee. Each of the response teams should have a leader and team members. For each team and for coordinators, there should be established a progression of who will be in charge. For example, if a particular team leader is not present, who should take their place after a disaster?

NOTE: If your neighborhood group is not large enough to have full teams, it should have, at a minimum, an overall coordinator and leaders for each team.

Even if you never have enough active people to staff all the teams fully, keep your basic organization in place. Experience has shown that after a disaster, people will want to pitch in, and you will have jobs to which they can be assigned. Experience also suggests that not all your team members will be there immediately after the event, so make sure you have identified back-up leaders or know what jobs you can assign to other volunteers.

Organizational structure has no magic formula. An overly rigid structure can create problems for your group operations if you plan heavily for a Hurricane and a Tornado hits your neighborhood. A flexible approach allows each group to determine how best to solve its problems and meet the needs of the neighborhood.

Neighbors Who Don't Participate

It would be ideal to have all households in the neighborhood in the preparedness group before an event, because they will all be involved after the fact. However, some people will avoid your group for various reasons:

What To Do?

Keep letting them know what your group is up to and when the next meeting is scheduled.

Have various neighbors contact them to explore ways to draw them into participation.

Always provide for them in your plans for post-event activities.

Above all make sure they know they are welcome and encouraged to learn ways to protect themselves.

Team Duties

Steering Committee - The Coordinators, or steering committee, oversee the planning and preparations before an event, and act as an organizational focus for all the team activities after an event.

Before an event, the coordinators:

See that every household, whether in the group or not, has a preparatory checklist.

Have as many households as possible fill in a Skills and Equipment Inventory.

Assign people to teams in which they have an interest and expertise, and coordinate training and special projects.

Maintain a Special Needs list.

Plan and Schedule meetings.

After the Event, the coordinators:

Meet with Team Leaders as soon as possible to begin team response and keep track of the situation.

Assign new people to teams or other tasks.

Deal with unforeseen problems that come up.

Medical/Psychological Team - Since it may be awhile before help will arrive, this group will be identifying those that need medical help and treating them on the spot or moving them to a designated Treatment Area until help arrives.

Before an event, the Medical team:

Should look to enhance their members knowledge of physical and emotional first aid wherever possible.

Gather and store medical supplies and equipment.

Locate the nearest health care facility and how patients might have to be transported there.

Identify people with special medical problems that should be checked on immediately after an event.

Search & Rescue Team - These people should try to become familiar with the type of rescue problems they may have to deal with. The first people members of this team want to worry about are the other members of the team. Go to fellow team members' homes and make sure there is not a rescue problem there. As you move through the neighborhood determining your rescue problems, you may be able to gather other volunteers to help with your duties or assign them to other teams.

Before an event, the Search & Rescue Team:

Should identify the kind of rescue problems you could encounter in your area and equipment needed.

Practice search techniques, using the buddy system, in the dark or blindfolded.

Set up exercises with your group that allow them to practice the various patient carrys and the types of precautions to take when moving a victim.

Identify the extrication techniques you may need to employ using fulcrums, levers, cribbing & shoring.

Reinforce the building marking techniques you will use to show a house has been searched, what you found and where the utilities are located.

Safety and Utilities Team - This group will be identifying safety hazards, controlling utilities, and doing minor fire suppression after an event.

Before an event, the team should:

Work on learning the types of utilities found in your neighborhood and how they are controlled.

Map potential safety hazards in your area; storm drains, manholes, highly energized equipment, etc.

Set up a fire extinguisher exercise with a local distributor so team members can practice.

Determine the type of equipment necessary to perform team duties safely.

Communications Team - Since telephones are one of the first utilities to fail after an event, this team will focus on identifying backup systems that allow them to communicate with the outside world.

Before an event, the team should:

Identify all forms of communications that exist in the neighborhood.

Locate those in your area that have HAM or CB radios and set up procedures for networking.

If you can't find a HAM or CB operator in your area, locate one outside the area that will be willing to work with your group.

Contact Orange County Emergency Management and arrange to invite a member of ARES or RACES to your next group meeting so all can learn their purpose.

Shelter, Food and Water - This team's functions almost go without saying. 72 hours is the magic number, make sure your group has the provisions to last at least this long. Some people's homes may be uninhabitable, or damaged to the point they don't feel safe staying there. Others may just be low on food and water.

Before an event, this team should:

Identify the best kinds of food to store in the event of an emergency.

School others on the safest ways to store drinking water and how to store other water supplies.

Practice setting up a shelter in someone's garage.

Have a meeting that deals with the problems and solutions to having someone stay in your home or you in theirs.

Hold periodic cooking-out sessions so that people can learn ways to prepare food outdoors. Practice with the same equipment you would use under emergency conditions.

Schedule a neighborhood cookout at the end of the Hurricane season using the extra food everybody has been storing. Have each participant come up with their own "Urban Camping" recipes.

Damage Assessment Team - This team has a job with two distinct components. The Primary Assessment is the immediate need to determine which structures are damaged, which may hold victims, and which may pose further hazards. The Secondary Assessment is necessary to determine, for the City of Orlando, the "extent of damage". There is a pressing need for this estimation because it gets factored into decisions to ask for, and be awarded, state and federal disaster aid.

Before an event, the Damage Assessment Team should:

Have a meeting among team members to discuss the need for damage assessment and the proper use of assessment forms.

Develop and exercise the procedures teams will use to perform the Primary & Secondary Assessments.

Determine ways the team can learn more about estimating the amount of damage to a structure or the infrastructure.

Have the team learn the various forms of disaster relief available to homeowners and businesses in the area. Include some of the "mitigation" efforts your group might consider, like Flood Insurance and understanding homeowner's coverage.

Special Needs Team - This team has an important function prior to an event and a critical function after the fact. Knowing ahead of time where those are that have special needs is paramount to the safety and survival of those individuals. After the event, these may not be the only people that show up with special needs.

Elderly, small children, and those with disabilities are just a few of the challenges this team will face. Other consideration, however, needs to be given to those with a language barrier, those with low incomes that could not afford to take proper precautions, and even homeless people may look to you for help.

The key to preparedness in this area is to map out the locations of all those residents you expect will likely need help, and make arrangements to account for them and give assistance after the fact.

Before an event, the Special Needs Team should:

Develop a mapping and symbol system that all understand and are willing to use.

Learn to use the "Special Needs Worksheet" and modify it to fit your needs. Encourage those that need to complete them to fill out everything and note any special details.

Identify all those, in the area of responsibility, that will need to be checked. Find out from them if there is any special equipment or medication they need and/or how long they can be without.

Locate those that live alone, determine what measures they expect to take prior to a storm.

Where will they stay, who are their relatives and how can they be contacted, will someone need to procure extra medications or food and water for them beforehand.

Invite a specialist to a team meeting to discuss the problems, solutions and precautions to take for some of the known "special needs" residents.

Try to include the local Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troops in your preparatory arrangements. These groups want to be involved and could be a great resource if someone has to run to the store or pharmacy in advance of a storm.

In summary, the overall idea is to be ready to take care of yourselves and your group. Forming teams and holding meetings will make the preparatory functions much easier and more interesting for those involved. It does not do anybody any good to talk about dealing with the aftermath of an event without having people with the training to respond, and that took the precautions and made the arrangements to be ready.

Storm Tracking

The changes we have seen in technology over the years have been very beneficial to the science of tracking Hurricanes. We can now see them forming from the satellites we have circling the globe. One drawback might be that in order to get a good look at them, we have to fly an airplane into the center of the storm to take readings of the storm's activity. But, without the technology, we would not be able to study them the way we do.

Once a satellite sends back a picture of a Low Pressure Area that shows signs of circulation in a counter-clockwise motion, a "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft is dispatched to the area to determine the status and potential of the disturbance.

CERT trained individuals should make it a habit to be aware of what the weather is doing in the Tropics. If you have cable television, and watch the "Weather Channel", you should know that at approximately 45 minutes past the hour you can watch the "Tropical Update". This feature runs during Hurricane season, beginning in June and ending in November.

This short report will allow you to keep abreast of any abnormal weather activity occurring in the Tropics. Satellite photos let you see what the meteorologists see and you can hear what concerns or opinions they may have. If there is any kind of disturbance out there that is important for you to consider, the Tropical Update will report it for you. When there is a storm worth noting, this report will also give you coordinates and other important facts that will allow you to track it and take appropriate actions.

CERT members should track ALL storms!

Warning

As the disturbance moves into warmer waters it gains strength and may develop into a tropical storm, a rather common occurrence. As the storm moves westward and nears land masses that could feel the effects of the storm a Tropical Storm Advisory or possibly a Tropical Storm Watch will be issued. The timing of these statements depends on where the storm originates and how fast it moves toward land. In the event that certain land masses will no doubt be directly affected, the Weather Service will issue a Tropical Storm Warning. Areas within the warning area should expect tropical storm conditions with winds up to 74 mph.

As it travels across the Atlantic the storm can feed off of the warmer waters and start to develop high altitude clouds around the center of circulation, and ultimately form an "eye". As the storm intensifies, the eye will become more well defined and visible on radar images. Once these conditions exist and the winds exceed 74 mph, we have a Hurricane.

As common as severe weather and tropical storms are to Floridians, and certainly to those in the Caribbean, the Hurricane is the one weather system that will catch the attention of even the most casual observer. These cyclonic low pressure areas can grow to monstrous proportions and their effects can be felt over an area as large as 500 miles in diameter. Severe effects of the storm will often be felt 5 to 50 miles from the center. The major killer in these systems is the storm surge along coastal areas where 9 out of 10 Hurricane related deaths occur. The balance of Hurricane fatalities will generally be caused by tornadoes, high winds and flash flooding.

Once a Hurricane forms, Hurricane Advisories will be posted in any area that has even a remote chance of being in the path of the storm. Because these storms can be so erratic in their movement, the National Hurricane Center in Miami will use computer models to try to predict the path during the next 24 to 48 hours and issue a Hurricane Watch for any land areas that could be affected during that time. Residents of these areas are urged to begin taking preparatory actions.

The movement of the storm is generally in a West-Northwest direction, but that can be changed by other weather systems the storm encounters.

Low pressure areas can take the "tops" off the system a Hurricane has developed, and this can have debilitating effects on the progress the storm has made. In some cases these low pressure "collisions" have rapidly downgraded Hurricanes to Tropical Storms or even less.

High pressure areas tend to "steer" Hurricanes like one large "bubble" bumping up against another. Hurricane Andrew had indications of moving farther North along the Florida coastline until a high pressure area moved down from the Southeastern states and kept the storm from a more Northerly course.

As the course of the storm becomes more specific, weather professionals can begin to assign percentages to the potential of it hitting a designated area. At this point the National Hurricane Center will issue a Hurricane Warning to areas that could feel the effects of the storm within the next 24 hours. Residents of potentially affected areas will be warned to complete all preparatory measures and seek shelter. If some cases a tropical storm, that has formed close to Florida, will turn into a Hurricane. Under these circumstances you will not necessarily get the advance warning you need to take all precautions, so it is important that you have many of your preparations in place at the beginning of the Hurricane season.