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C E R T – ified FROM SCOTTS BLUFF COUNTY

COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE

TEAM

UPCOMING EVENTS & TRAINING

Scotts Bluff County CERT Team training meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 7:00PM Location: Elks Club Scottsbluff, NE

Jul-Aug-Sept 2009 Vol. 12

IN THIS ISSUE 1 CERT received $500

1 CERT received ATV

1 Websites

2 CERT Activities

3 Tornadoes, Rain & Hail

4 Basic Emergency Kit

EMBARQ PRESENTS TONI AMAYA WITH $500.00 CHECK

Check out these Websites: Panhandle Citizen Corps Network Website www.citizencorpsnetwork.org (access by Internet Explorer…may not come up on Firefox) CERT Event Calendar website http://www.citizencorps.gov/citizenCorps/eventCalendarMap.do Citizen Corp: http://www.citizencorps.gov Citizen Corp Newsletter Archives: www.citizencorps.gov/news/enews FEMA: www.fema.gov Information regarding disaster preparedness. www.ready.gov/america/getakit/familyneeds.html

CERT-ified is published quarterly—January, April, July and October with “Special Editions” from time to time. Deadline for submitting information is the last Monday of the current quarter. Send all information via email as word document attachments or Jpeg to Editor, Marie “Jeanie” Knudtson at cert_nl@yahoo.com

MEMBERSHIP FEES:

Annual Dues are $15.00 for CERT members. (March 1, 2008 to March 1, 2009) Those families that have more than one CERT member will pay as follows: 2 members = $22.50; 3 or more add $5/pp Mail dues to: Randy Olson, 5401 Oriole Drive, Scottsbluff, NE 69361

Toni Amaya received a $500.00 Check from her employer, Embarq, for her time in volunteer services with the CERT program. Toni chose to give it to the CERT team. Thank you Toni! Picture: Toni Amaya and Randy Olson, CERT Treasurer.

Bruce McCracken, manager of HorizonWest Implement, donated this ATV to the CERT team. Thank you Bruce! There will be an ATV safety class for anyone that is interested in operating the ATV. If you don't take the class you won't be able to drive it.

CERT GETS A NEW PIECE OF EQUIPMENT

Randy Olson (center) and Gregg Sell (right) take ownership of ATV from Bruce McCraken.

Highway Clean-up Dates Meet by the sign at K-Mart

July 14 (Tues) at 6PM Aug 08 (Sat) at 7AM Sept 15 (Tues) at 6PM

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CERT TAKES TO THE ROAD! Once again members of CERT are walking the ditches between 27th Ave and Sugar Factory Road, picking up trash along Hwy 26. A big thank you to the 8 members that were there Saturday June 6th and the 11 members who came out Tues. July 14th.—we finished in 50 minutes. Come join us Saturday Aug 8th. And Tues. Sept. 15th.

OFFICERS 2008-2009 Dale Brown President Heather Hardin, Vice President Toni Amaya, Secretary Randy Olson, Treasurer TRAINERS: Randy Kleager Randy Olson Brandon Atchison BOARD OF DIRECTORS Doug Rupp-2009-2010 Jamie Scholtz-2009-2011 Jennifer Hoevet-2009-2012 PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER Fiona Libsack CITIZEN CORP COORDINATOR Bob Hessler

The First Annual Nebraska CERT Conference was held in Scottsbluff on May 1st and 2nd

For agenda details please see page 4 of last quarters newsletter.

CERT CLASSCERT CLASSCERT CLASSCERT CLASS: : : : There will be a CERT class at WNCC on September 11 - 12. If you are wanting to take the

class or know someone that wants to take it, get signed up real soon or confirm you are taking the class because this one will fill up fast with college staff so let me know. Bob Hessler

May 16th CERT members were called upon to help at the Western Nebraska Community College graduation ceremony. CERT members directed traffic and assisted with handing out programs. June 13th A going away dinner was held at the Randy Kleager farm to say good by to Dan Kinney. June 16th there was a training on Documentation given by Peg Wolf from WNCC. She warned against using abbreviations because there could be many meanings. She stressed the need to be very careful in what we write down so that we do not make accusations or assumptions. July 8, 2009: At 6PM the call went out that a dorm had collapsed at the college and CERTs assistance was needed. The college CERT team and the Scotts Bluff County CERT team combined their efforts to get all the 50 injured victims out of the building in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Thanks to everyone that showed up for this drill. It was hot, sweaty and uncomfortable sometimes but you all performed well.

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TORNADOES, RAIN AND HAIL MAKE THEIR PRESENCE KNOWN IN OUR AREAS

Intense storms moved through the Scotts Bluff and Goshen County areas on June 10th and June 14 producing tornadoes, flooding caused by the rain and ping pong to softball sized hail. The sirens went off and sent people for cover several days in a row. I was among those that grabbed the cat and ran down the basement. My husband grabbed his prescription medications. Then I came to the realization that in spite of my CERT training, IF this tornado hit our house I was not really prepared. So I am now prompted to write this article. If you have taken the CERT class, you learned that you need to be able to survive for 72 hours. Yes, I have a box for both my husband and myself with food that would allow us to get by—probably—we haven’t actually tried it out, thank goodness. I have my CERT backpack with its contents down the basement. I have my emergency survival kit secured in the basement (basic and additions specific for our family) but because we use some of the personal items on a daily basis…prescription medication and checkbooks for instance…those items needed to be gathered up. As I sat down the basement with the radio on my lap listening to the reports I began thinking about what was NOT there. The list on the next page says a complete change of clothing. If we would need to survive for at least 72 hours, it would be nice to have more clothes. I thought about all of my projects that I was currently working on in my office that had paper files but were not backed up in my computer. It was the things that we use on a daily basis, located throughout the house, that we did not have time to grab when we went to ground. My husband ran back up to get his laptop just in case. That’s what you should do, right? So what have I done to remedy the situation? I’ve re-analyzed what we have down in our “tornado shelter”. I’ve added 3 days of clothing to our basement shelter. I now have a portable file box in which I keep my current projects, check books and financial records, upcoming travel arrangements and confirmations, etc. sitting by my chair in my office. Now if the siren goes off, all I have to do is grab the cat, the file box, my purse and run. I might suggest that you keep your prescription medication bottles all together in an easy to carry box and keep them in the kitchen rather than the bathroom. Assuming that your path to the basement is through the kitchen. My best advice is NOT to wait until the siren goes off. You should start your mental preparation the minute you get the Tornado Watch. I know, we live in an area where our watches are numbered in the 500’s and we get lackadaisical. But you may not get a Tornado Warning in time. What needs to be gathered up? Is it consolidated for easy transportation to your shelter area so that you don’t have to run to various rooms to get it? The above scenario assumes that you will be at home when the sirens go off. But what happens when you are at work or out shopping and the sirens go off? Obviously we are not going to gather things up and take them to the basement every time we leave the house. So we need to re-think how we can best handle this situation. IF your house was hit by a tornado while you are away from home, what is irreplaceable? Remember that other buildings and businesses may be damaged also. Banks, Pharmacies, Doctor Offices, etc. may be destroyed so backups placed in safety deposit boxes may be destroyed or not available. Yes, your medical prescriptions are on file with the Pharmacy but if the building is destroyed, it will not help you. Same with records from the Dr.’s office. It’s things like this that we just never think about. Face it. We can’t second guess and think of everything. We can only do the best that we can at the time. We have practice drills responding to the emergency after it has happened. But maybe it would be interesting to have a drill where you get this call: “Sirens are going off. A tornado is touching down (in a specific area). Take cover immediately.” In about 10 minutes you will get another call that the drill is over. Each person is asked to do the following. 1. When you get the call, seek shelter immediately regardless of where you are. 2. After the drill, write up a report on how you reacted. Were you able to gather up what you needed on your way to shelter? Were you caught off-guard? What can you do differently? Come together as a group and discuss the drill…..It’s food for thought.

Tornado Cloud A flooded out garden & yard Hail piled up like snow drifts.

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Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed.

READY AMERICA http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/kit-print.html

When preparing for a possible emergency situation, it's best to think first about the

basics of survival: fresh water, food, clean air and warmth.

Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply Kit:

• Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and

sanitation

• Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food

• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra

batteries for both

• Flashlight and extra batteries

• First aid kit

• Whistle to signal for help

• Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place

• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation

• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities

• Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)

• Local maps

• Cell phone with chargers

Additional Items to Consider Adding to an Emergency Supply Kit:

• Prescription medications and glasses

• Infant formula and diapers

• Pet food and extra water for your pet

• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account

records in a waterproof, portable container

• Cash or traveler's checks and change

• Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov

• Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-

weather climate.

• Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes.

Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.

• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part

bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water

by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented,

color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.

• Fire Extinguisher

• Matches in a waterproof container

• Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items

• Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels

• Paper and pencil • Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children

Editors note: Add a bucket with a lid to use as a toilet (in case you don’t have one) and toilet

paper. Zip lock bags of all sizes. A camp stove & propane bottle would be nice if it’s safe to use

one.