Public invited to preparedness talks May 2, May 8

Eugene-Springfield Community Emergency Response Team volunteers will provide two training opportunities for the general public in early May.

“Wildfire Ready – Ready Set Go” on May 2 at 6 p.m. will present an overview of wildfire evacuation preparedness. The May 2 presentation is open to the public as part of the CERT First Thursday training program. The sessions are held at Eugene Springfield Fire Station #2, 1705 W. 2nd Ave.

The presentation will share information about the Lane County alert system, and other ways that you can obtain the latest evacuation information.

Lane Alerts allows fire, police, and other emergency response agencies to issue alerts to residents in the event of severe weather, fire, flooding, hazardous materials, need for immediate evacuation, civil danger, local area emergencies, and missing persons. In the event of an emergency, alerts will be delivered to you at the contact information you provided, including telephone, text messages and email. 

Emergency management professionals seek to alert the public about evacuations in three steps:

• LEVEL 1 – BE READY: You should be aware of the danger that exists in their area, monitor emergency services websites and local media for information. This is the time for preparation and the precautionary movement of people with special needs, mobile property and (under certain circumstances) pets and livestock. If conditions worsen, emergency services personnel may contact you via an emergency notification system.
• LEVEL 2 – BE SET: You must be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. This level indicates there is a significant danger to your area. You should either voluntarily relocate outside of the affected area or, if choosing to remain, be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice. You may have time to gather necessary items, but doing so is at your own risk.
• LEVEL 3 – GO: Leave immediately. Danger to your area is current or imminent and you should evacuate immediately. If you choose to ignore this advisement, you must understand that emergency services may not be able to assist you further. DO NOT delay leaving to gather any belongings or make efforts to protect your home. This will be the last notice you receive. Entry into evacuated areas may be denied until conditions are safe.

Note that the Eugene area has experienced extreme weather and fire conditions under which a wildfire has grown and moved so quickly that the initial alert issued was: LEVEL 3 – GO NOW.

To quickly identify areas that may require evacuation, Eugene Springfield Fire has developed an Evacuation Zone map for the metro area, and encourages residents to “Know Your Zone.”

The presentation will also encourage you to prepare a prepacked “go bag” containing any items that you will need in case you must leave your home for an extended period of time. It is often useful to include physical or digital copies of important documents.

For those with pets or livestock, evacuation requires some additional planning and may require evacuating earlier than others.

The program will be presented by CERT Southwest District Lead Thomas Price.

Thomas will also present Map Your Neighborhood activities at the Churchill Area Neighbors general meeting May 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Churchill Estates Retirement Community, 1919 Bailey Hill Rd.

The Map Your Neighborhood program recognizes that in a disaster, the people most likely to save you will be your nearby neighbors and co-workers. This program encourages nearby neighbors to meet one another to discuss potential events, to become familiar with any special needs neighbors may have during a disaster or evacuation, and to practice neighborhood surveys and conduct radio drills in advance of an event.

The Churchill Area Neighbors general meeting May 8 will also include tabletop exercises. Tabletop exercises are a type of discussion exercise designed for small groups sitting around a table. They allow the group to consider a simulated scenario and discuss how how they might respond to that situation.

Eugene neighborhoods have collaborated to produce three evacuation tabletop exercises relating to different disaster scenarios: wildfires, a hazardous materials train derailment, and inundation flooding caused by upstream dam failures.

For more information, see the CERT website, the Churchill Area Neighbors website, or your local neighborhood association.

Other informational and preparedness meetings this month, courtesy Ready Southeast:

• May 2, 11 a.m.  OSU Extension Fire Program Not all Flame is the Same: Oregon’s Diverse Fire Ecology. May is Wildfire Awareness Month, and the Oregon State University Extension Fire Program would like to take you on a journey of fire throughout Oregon. In this webinar, a team of regional fire specialists will share diverse stories about how fire has shaped Oregon landscapes historically and currently. Understanding fire’s role in the place you live can help you become better prepared for fire and smoke, and more aware of your local ecological setting.   Who should attend? People who are just becoming acquainted with wildfire concepts and may not be able to distinguish between different vegetation types or the ways that wildfire varies across the state; and practitioners who may not have a background in fire/forest ecology. Free registration, https://beav.es/cL3
  
• May 2, 6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.  Santa Clara Community Organization general meeting. Public Safety in our Neighborhood, Madison Middle School cafeteria, (875 Wilkes Dr., Eugene). Public safety is more than just policing. How do the providers work together to keep us safe? Where are the gaps in the services? Who falls through the cracks and why? How can we help? A conversation with Eugene Police Dept., Lane Co. Sheriff’s Office, CAHOOTS, Mobile Crisis Service of Lane County and Western Lane Crisis Response. Google Meet joining info: https://meet.google.com/vsd-ngow-ipe . Please note that remote viewers will not be able to participate in the meeting.
  
• May 9, 9 a.m. Introduction to Violence Prevention Strategies and Resources. Educational seminar series aimed at enhancing community preparedness and resilience. This series is hosted by IOEM with collaboration from the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Albertsons Companies.
  
• May 9, 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Lane County COAD Meeting: OHA Public Health Equity Grant Discussion: Learn about our $155,000 grant to strengthen and expand the capabilities of the Lane County COAD network, leading to improved public health outcomes during disasters. The funding will allow us to staff a Coordinator position full-time to assist with outreach, MOU development, and membership training and support! Share your thoughts on how to best support our community.
  
• May 9, 2:30 p.m. Severe Weather Collaborative, led by Laura Welsh, Sarah Koski and Kristen Hutchinson. Contact Maria for a virtual invitation.
  
• May 15-17: Oregon Resilience Summit: The summit is designed to explore topics aimed at fostering resilience in our communities and tackling challenges together, such as: Cultural Use of Fire & Indigenous Ecosystem Resilience, Care for the Caregivers: A Special Mini Retreat from The Hearth and Trauma Informed Oregon, Incorporating Underserved Voices in Decision Making & Rebuilding, LTRGs, C/VOADs and other Models of Multi-Sector Partnership and more.
  
• May 15, 10:30 a.m. Join Justin Singer, FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System’s representative, for a presentation on the role of IPAWS in disseminating alerts that you, as Alert Originators, create. 
  
• May 16, 8 a.m.  EARTH EX Live is an opportunity to hear about disaster consequences from experts in different critical infrastructure sectors. EARTH EX Live’s second offering of 2024 will bring together panels of experts from three sectors – Electric, Communications, and Health to play out their take on a Black Sky Event Scenario that is presented to them. Enriched with tailored video “injects,” this unique event will offer a window into the thinking of a remarkable group of experts at a time of unprecedented, civilization-scale threats. Participating will explore the unique risks – national and global resilience opportunities associated with extreme threats. The live exercise will be hosted as a large-scale, international webinar, with viewers worldwide participating by submitting real-time questions in “chat mode,” which will be added to the expert’s discussion and addressed online by EIS Council’s subject matter experts.
  
• May 16, 11 a.m. Third Thursday Tips – Important Documents. This webinar will focus on the importance of having paperwork and documents ready to go in case of an emergency or disaster. Having complete paperwork one can access after an event makes all the difference when applying for assistance. This includes household, financial, and medical documents, emergency contact info, and photos/documentation of valuables. Join us to learn more!
  
• May 18, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Disaster Preparedness Fair at the Upper McKenzie Community Center.
  
• May 28, 2 p.m. Lane Regional Resiliency Collaborative monthly networking series, focus on ESF 6 – Mass Care.