Preparing for an Emergency

Are you prepared for an emergency? What would you do following an earthquake? How would you react to a fire? What about a medical emergency? When Emergency Preparedness is mentioned, many people’s eyes simply glaze over. And yet, on a regular basis we hear about exactly these types of events. The difference between events on the news and our current situation is that the news situation is most likely not impacting us directly – at least not yet.

Irrespective of the likelihood of an serious emergency event impacting you and your family, it is important that you take some action to prepare for an event we all hope never occurs. A manageable amount of effort now, that you can easily do in stages, will pay big dividends when an event occurs and you are prepared.

Let’s take a look at a few scenarios – they range from fairly trivial to more extreme. Ask yourself what you can do to now anticipate, and then deal with, these situations:

Power Outage

It’s the middle of the night and the power has just gone out, not an infrequent occurrence living on the Ridge, think back to the last time it happened. You might not even notice it at first but eventually you will. How do you react if it is a few hours, a few days, a week or more? How does such an event impact your household? What will you do? What is impacted?

Water Emergency

You go to the sink and the spigot is dry. Similar types of questions as with the power outage – was this a planned outage, has a water main burst (we have had those types of events), or is there something more serious going on? Think back to the power outage for a second, if there is no power, how will this impact the water system (short answer, we can handle short term events, but remember that electrical power drives the pumps.)

Phone Emergency

You pick up the phone and there is no dial tone. Is it that pesky squirrel eating through the lines again? Is there something going on with the phone company equipment down on Bennett Valley Road? If you have VoIP service e.g. Comcast, Ooma, Vontage or some other provider, is your network down? Does your cell phone work? Some people on the Ridge have good cell service, others have next to nothing? Do you only have cordless phones – no power may mean no way to call. What do you do when you are cut off from phone service and you have an emergency or simply you want to resolve your phone problem?

Medical Emergency

Someone at your house has just had an accident or serious illness. What types of situations can you handle on your own? Who do you call to respond if it is beyond your control? Back to the phone or power situations above, how do you respond now? Should you always call 9-1-1 or is there a more appropriate number to call? Is there a difference between calling 9-1-1 on a landline and a VoIP line or cell phone (short answer, yes)?

Location Emergency

You’re at home and you have household members at school or work. Irrespective of the nature of the emergency, how do you communicate? How do you get everyone together? How long might this take and where will the meet up occur? Have you established a designated meeting place with your family members?

Earthquake

They don’t happen often, but we are close to a major earthquake fault that will have a significant quake sometime in the foreseeable future. What do you do when the quake is happening? How about immediately after? The likelihood of a community like Bennett Ridge being a priority for emergency response is fairly low. That is not to say emergency responders wouldn’t try, but more than likely, higher density areas will receive the attention for search and rescue, restoration of power, water and phone service. How do you survive if the Ridge is cut off, and how long should you plan to be on you own?

Fire

We live in a beautiful wooded environment with the fire station only a few miles down the road, and there are fire hydrants around the Ridge. Still what do you do if a significant fire is approaching the Ridge, or your home? What if the road down to Bennett Ridge Road is blocked, how do you get out? If you can get out, how do you drive down the road if the smoke is so thick that you can’t see beyond the front of your car? If you are evacuating, what do you take with you and your family and what do you leave behind – important papers, prescription medications, valuables, pets and animals, computer files? Think about how much time you might have to evacuate as you answer these questions.

It’s Up to You

Obviously, all of the above are not regular occurrences, and the most serious ones have fortunately not yet impacted us. Some of us have dealt with major emergencies, while many have never dealt with any of the more significant situations. Either way, all of the above are emergencies we may confront while living on the Ridge. The Bennett Ridge Community has done more than most communities to prepare for all of the events above. As a community, people have been trained, an emergency organization structure is in-place, and even some key supplies have been stockpiled. Whether you’ve personally dealt with any of these emergencies, we all have to consider the possibilities and assess our situations before something happens. But the ultimate responsibility is on each of us to consider the questions above and plan for how we would deal with the various scenarios to keep our families safe.

Still when it comes down to it, there are things that each of us can do to prepare for the inevitable emergency.