Cosmic Echoes…by Rich Fleetwood

Archive for the ‘Emergency Management’ Category

[ Reading time: < 1 minute ]

I had my first live radio interview tonight, and was on the American Voice Radio network for 2 hours this evening. I was interviewed by Michael Lehman, and the topic of the day was family preparedness.

I’ve got the show right here. Just click the player button below and listen to the entire show…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Rich

[ Reading time: < 1 minute ]

I did not lose any friends or relatives in the attacks of 9/11. However, I do have friends that lost many very close to them. I pray for their ability to remember those they lost, and keep those memories alive…

“On a remarkably clear morning five years ago, New York City came under attack. This video memorial, taken from footage shot by eyewitness David Vogler, shows New Yorkers waking up to that grim reality. Crystal Morning tells the story of September 11th, 2001 through fire and ambulance radio calls, the 911 call of a trapped World Trade Center worker, and the lens of local resident who saw an explosion while walking to work”

[ Reading time: 2 - 2 minutes ]

Shane Connor of Ki4u.com, Nukalert fame, and other great prep sites asked me to convert this video into an online presentation.

In this video, Steve Jones of Physicians for Civil Defense, interviews Kirk Paradise, of Huntsville, Alabama Emergency Management and Madison County EMA. A very good discussion of what the recent history of the national fallout shelter program looked like, what was accomplished, and who was mostly responsible for the fallout shelter program in the United States falling apart because of decisions at the highest levels of government to not shelter our population.

This video goes into detail of what a city or county can do with data left over from the federal studies, and create a workable shelter plan for most of it’s population, before fallout shelter is needed. In the case of Huntsville, they are downwind from a nuclear power plant, and if the plant were to be attacked by terrorists, a fallout situation would be a very real issue.

Unfortunately, this 24 minute video had to be cut into three pieces, due to YouTube’s 10 minute video time limit. No problem. Below are all three videos in the proper order…Enjoy!

Rich

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

[ Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes ]

This evening, I took my wife out on a date. This one we planned for a few days in advance. It was a fun evening…filled with facts, video, pictures, fun, laughs…and deadly serious work.

We both went to the Weather Spotter class held on our college campus here in Riverton, Wyoming, with Chris Jones of the National Weather Service (now a good friend after 3 years) leading a great evening of VERY educational information for folks who, among other things, just like to be part of an active community wanting to help their neighbors.

This spotter school is the second one I’ve taken (the first one was in Spring 2004), and was even better than the last time. The college class room was crowded, with close to 30 folks showing up from all over the county, and even some from neighboring counties.

The class earned Spotter cards, which contain the info we need to report troublesome weather in our area of the state. Most threats we’ll see here are occasion thunderstorms, outflow boundaries, a rare twister or two, straight line winds (86 miles an hour last August), flash flooding from spring runoff in the nearby Wind River Mountains, and the good old Wyoming winter weather.

A quick look at the web found the Skywarn homepage, the very interesting Storm Spotter Guides Online!, the National Weather Service Skywarn info page at Weather.gov, and more. Interested in looking for a local class? Click there and find your state, for a list of upcoming classes you can attend.

What does a Skywarn Spotter report?
Although all reports are welcome, the National Weather Service is particularly interested in the weather elements described below.

Weather Phenomena	Call The NWS if…
Wind	50 mph or stronger
Hail	3/4 inch (penny or dime size) or larger in diameter
Tornado	Any tornado or rotating cloud
Flooding	Any significant amount of water in normally dry areas
River Flooding	Any river rising above their normal bank level
Heavy Rain	Rain rates of 1 inch per hour or greater And – Rain greater than 1 inch in 24 hours
Heavy Snow	Call while snowing at a rate of 1 inch per hour or greater And – Call with total snow fall if >= 1 inch when the snow ends
Low Visibilities	Visibility less than 1/2 mile due to fog, dust, rain, or snow
Freezing Rain	Any freezing rain

Do something good for yourself…and something good for your community. Become a certified weather spotter for your area.

Rich

[ Reading time: 1 - 2 minutes ]

One of the big problems we’ve seen in the US, and just as much around the world, is how to obtain needed items (food, water, shelter, etc) in disaster areas. The best thing to have on hand in times of extreme distress is enough cash to get the basic survival needs covered…as frugally as possible. This can always be mitigated to a NON need if you are prepared with a 72 hour kit, bug out bag, or a safe place that is already stocked with those same basics of survival.

Here is a excellent article posted on The Simple Dollar blog a couple of weeks ago. Give it a read, and see what you can apply to your life to make the future, however safe, or not, at least a little easier.

Rich

[ Reading time: 2 - 2 minutes ]

This story was front page news for many of the nation’s largest newspapers this Sunday morning. I’m afraid I have to agree. The US has NEVER been prepared for ANY nuclear attack…terror, all out assault, or anything in between…except for our leaders. They have PLENTY of shelters for themselves.

Just none for we taxpayers…

THAT sucks…

Link to source…

U.S. unprepared for nuclear terror attack, experts say

12:44 AM CST on Friday, March 2, 2007
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Although the Bush administration has warned repeatedly about the threat of a terrorist nuclear attack and spent more than $300 billion to protect the homeland, the government remains ill-prepared to respond to a nuclear catastrophe.

Experts and government documents suggest that, absent a major preparedness push, the U.S. response to a mushroom cloud could be worse than the debacle after Hurricane Katrina, possibly contributing to civil disorder and costing thousands of lives.

“The United States is unprepared to mitigate the consequences of a nuclear attack,” Pentagon analyst John Brinkerhoff concluded in a July 31, 2005, draft of a confidential memo to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We were unable to find any group or office with a coherent approach to this very important aspect of homeland security. …

“This is a bad situation. The threat of a nuclear attack is real, and action is needed now to learn how to deal with one.”

Read the rest of this entry »

[ Reading time: 5 - 8 minutes ]

I thought it would be a good idea to present some info on what you can do to prepare yourself and your family in the event of either a natural or a man-made disaster. The following web sites can get you started.

http://www.ready.gov/
http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=14
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=36
http://www.redcross.org/
http://www.scouting.org/pubs/emergency/index.html
http://www.adcouncil.org/campaigns/homeland_security/

Check your town/city and/or county website for local response plans. Typically, emergency management, if not a seperate department, falls under the local fire department’s responsibility. Also check for your state’s response plan.

Community and Family Preparedness
http://www.fema.gov/preparedness/community_prepare.shtm

Community Emergency Response Teams (Get formal training on how to help your family and your community in the event of a disaster.)
http://www.citizencorps.gov/programs/cert.shtm
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/certfaq.asp
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/overview.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_emergency_response_team
(If you’re interested, do a search for your local/nearest Community Emergency Response Team.)

Canadian Center for Emergency Preparedness (Gotta remember my Canadian friends.)
http://www.ccep.ca/
http://www.emergencypreparednessweek.ca/kit_e.shtml

Animals and Disasters (For the pet owners.)
http://www.fema.gov/preparedness/animals_and_disasters.shtm

Specific incident preparedness information. (If you’d like more, just do a search on a specific type of incident and preparedness. Hurricane Preparedness, Earthquake Preparedness, etc.)

Dam Safety
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/damsafety/

Earthquakes
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/earthquakes/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/prepare.html
http://www.lafd.org/eqauto.htm

Extreme Heat
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/extremeheat/

Fires
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/fires/

Floods
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/floods/

Hazardous Materials
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/hazardousmaterials/

Hurricanes
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/hurricanes/
http://hurricanes.noaa.gov/prepare/

Landslides
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/landslides/

Multi-Hazard
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/multihazard/

Nuclear
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/nuclear/

Terrorism
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/terrorism/

Thunderstorms
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/thunderstorms/

Tornadoes
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/tornadoes/

Tsunamis
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/tsunamis/

Volcanoes
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/volcanoes/

Wildfires
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/fires/wildfires.shtm
http://www.firewise.org/

Winter Storms
http://www.fema.gov/hazards/winterstorms/

Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness
http://www.fema.gov/preparedness/csepp.shtm

Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program
http://www.fema.gov/preparedness/repp.shtm

Emergency/Personal Survival Checklists
http://www.dola.state.co.us/oem/PublicInformation/72hrkit.htm
http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/weather/776961/detail.html
http://www.gov.ns.ca/emo/AbsPage.aspx?id=1064&siteid=1&lang=1
http://survivalcenter.com/
http://www.machartownship.com/checklist.htm
http://preparedness.com/traveschec.html
http://www.lacofd.org/mini_survival.htm
http://www.prepare4disaster.com/checklist.htm
Etcetera…

Websites where you could acquire personal/family survival supplies:
http://www.cert-kits.com
http://www.uscav.com
http://www.actiongear.com/
http://beprepared.com/default.asp
http://www.equipped.com/
http://www.emergency-preparedness.info/personal_kits.htm
http://www.survivalinc.com/
http://www.firstaid-supply.com
http://www.bestglide.com/
http://www.safetycentral.com/
http://www.quakekare.com/
http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/
http://www.urbansurvivaltools.com/
http://www.safetyservicesinc.com
Etcetera. Do a search on survial gear, military gear, military surplus, etc.

Also check out the LJ community “Making A Plan”.
http://community.livejournal.com/making_a_plan/profile