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Solar Power for Emergency Preparedness

Solar Power for Emergency Preparedness:

Being CERT-trained, we all have a better appreciation for being prepared for the unexpected.  We all know to store food and water and medical supplies to get us thru the first few critical days following a disaster, but have you thought about storing electricity?

As we have seen in the news recently, it is often the extended duration of power outages that can cause the most distress and inconvenience.  Some folks have generators, but it’s not the most efficient use of potentially scarce gasoline to burn fuel to run a few lamps or charge a phone.

Those that know me know are never surprised to find that I’ve added another  new technology/gadget/tool to my inventory.  Allow me to introduce Goal Zero. I have been keeping an eye on portable solar technology for some time, watching it mature and become more affordable.  Goal Zero is a Utah-based company that truly embraces the ethos of living off the grid but still using all our personal technology.

  This is the Lighthouse lantern.  It has a built-in battery that can be charged by AC adapter, car 12V, hand crank, or solar panel.  Here it is shown recharging from the Nomad 7 portable solar panel.

Besides providing six hours of light with a fully charged battery, the Lighthouse has a USB plug (how cool is that!)  The battery is, as shown here, strong enough to charge an iPhone.

Here is the Nomad 7 solar panel.  This panel generates 7W of power and also has its own USB plug that you can plug your smartphone into and charge directly from the sun.  This panel requires direct sun for best performance.

Here is the Goal Zero Escape 150 kit.  The Escape 150 is the tall unit that looks like a Thermos bottle.  It contains a large lead-acid battery (150 W-hrs) that can be charged from an AC adapter, car 12V or from the sun.  The panel generates 15W of power, uses more advanced solar cells and is completely weatherproof.  I have been using the panel indoors to keep the Escape 150 fully charged and it charges in a wider range of lighting conditions than the Nomad 7.

Here you can see what the Escape 150 is great at doing, providing you a 110V electrical outlet wherever you need it!  Besides the 110 AC outlet, there is also a USB plug.  Here you see that I am charging my iPad using the AC adapter.  This unit can also power a laptop too.

In this photo, I have some Goal Zero LED lanterns plugged into the Escape 150.  These lanterns put out a lot of light and you can daisy chain up to eight lights.

As you can see, these items can be useful in so many ways outside of a disaster scenario.  Goal Zero items can be found at Costco (only when they have a show), REI and Amazon.

Mira Mesa CERT Newsletter

Good morning and Happy Halloween!   Here is the News:

NO TEAM MEETING THIS MONTH—We will have a meeting in December meeting which I will cover later in the News.

Hour are due—Please turn in your hours for October by the end of this week.

Academy 28 Graduation—This Saturday, 3 November.  We are looking for volunteer victims as well as Administrators for the graduation.  Check out Carie's email for 19 October, she covered it well.  Registration for victims closes tomorrow, admins on Friday.  If you find someone on Friday who wants to help us as a victim, shoot me a note right away, we hardly ever have too many of these, and chances are I can get them in.  Sign up here:

https://apps.sandiego.gov/ereg/cert/register.php?id=528

December Meeting—I'm going to work something out with the Senior Center to meet there somewhere around our normal date in the week of the tenth.  This one will be primarily an orientation for our new recruits (if we have any, I don't know yet), so if you have some experiences you would like to share, or a well-stocked go-bag you can present, show up and help me out.  Those of you who are fairly new know that this is an important step towards bringing the new people into the family.  I will get this posted to the website as soon as I have a solid date and time, you should see all of the info in next week's News.

That's all for this week, stay safe

-Steve

Mira Mesa CERT Newsletter

Good morning, here is the News:

Team Meeting—Jennifer and I have talked, and unless somebody really needs meeting this month to qualify for DSW, we're going to pass on November.  This meeting was originally scheduled for Thursday, 8 November to avoid another weekend meeting.  I'm sure that at least some (I hope a lot) of you are attending the Refresher the following Saturday as I am.  I will ask for input/interest level late in November about a December meeting, we probably will do something since we're missing November.

Mira Mesa Town Council Meeting—Those of you who are hooked up to the MMTC news probably noticed that CERT is giving a disaster preparedness presentation at the next meeting and I imagine you wondered who is actually doing this.   I'm the lucky speaker as it turns out.  I understand that I'll have about 20 minutes of a 2-hour meeting, and that's if the representative from SDPD doesn't show up to talk about the same thing and goes too long.  She/he will most likely be armed, so not much I can do about that.  I think you all know that I can do about 2 hours on preparedness if I start talking right now, so it's a challenge for me to stay under 20 minutes.   If you have never been to a Town Council, it can be really something.  Here's the agenda for this one:

http://www.miramesatowncouncil.org/mmtc_meetings.htm

Yep, they really try to get all that done.  They used to try to keep it to an hour, but I think they gave up on that over  year ago.  John Ly, Carl De Maio's very capable aide almost always shows up to listen to enthusiastic complaints about shopping carts and such, and there are always a few reports from our Supervisors or Representative's offices.  The volunteer groups rarely have much unless it is somehow a special month for them.  All in all it's a small town council grinding through a small town's business, if you ever had an interest in local government it could be pretty interesting.  Starts at 7:00, and they tend to get going right on time.

Refresher—If you believe you are signed up for the 10 November Refresher and you did NOT get an information email and ALSO a start time email from Carie, contact me immediately.  OK, some of you need to look in your SPAM filter first (you know who you are, I know who you are), but if you don't have those emails we have a problem that needs to be addressed now.

Academy 28 Graduation—We are looking for volunteer victims as well as Administrators for the graduation.  The victims can be family, friends, anybody willing to invest some time in our cause.  Administrators and Logistics Assistants need to be CERT.  Starts early 3 November (Saturday).  Carie did an awesome job summarizing what is needed and what you need to do in her email on or around 19 October.  I can't improve on it any, so please go back and review it (I'll send you another copy if you need one).  We all know graduation is a giant undertaking and a powerful learning experience for our new Candidates.  It's quite different being on the other side of this, if you have some time please consider giving us a hand, it will be very much appreciated.  Here's the link to sign up as an Admin, for the Victims sign-up see Carie's email:

https://apps.sandiego.gov/ereg/cert/register.php?id=528

That's all this week, questions, comments.........

-Steve

Mira Mesa CERT Newsletter

Good morning, here is the News:

Team Meeting— Tomorrow Night.  Wednesday, 10 October, 6:00—7:00pm (expect this one to run a little over).  We will meet at our rally point.  Please bring a camp or folding chair of some sort if you have one.  Our rally point is in Mira Mesa Community Park, on New Salem just East of Camino Ruiz. more or less between Fire Station 38 and the Rec Center.  We will talk briefly about the meaning of "rally point" and how we will use that place in the event of a catastrophe.  Then we will work through the newly introduced FEMA course on Firefighter Rehabilitation.  This is the sort of thing some of us might get involved with in a wildfire situation, so I want to walk through the basics and discuss how we might establish a rehab station on the fly if we had to, or work with an already existing station.

Here is a link to the Participant's Manual.   It is NOT required that you read this before showing up, I kicked it in just in case somebody is interested.

https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6360

DSW Card—If you believe that you have qualified for your first DSW card, or you need to renew, please contact me immediately.  Deadline for September submissions is this Friday, and I won't be able to do a lot for you past this Thursday, so consider NOW to be the last minute.  If you are still fairly new to our organization and you really don't understand the whole DSW thing, PLEASE drop me a note.  You only have one year after your graduation to qualify, and any one of us can tell you that goes by fast.  You cannot be a member of CERT without qualifying for DSW.  It's really not that hard.  Let's talk.

All for this week, please join me in hoping that the heat is gone for the year.  We could really use to dodge this bullet.  Questions, comments, you know how to find me.

-Steve

Mira Mesa CERT Newsletter

Good evening, here is the News:

Team Meeting—Wednesday, 10 October, 6:00—7:00pm (expect this one to run a little over).  Let's meet at our rally point.  Some of you have not been there.  Our rally point is in Mira Mesa Community Park, on New Salem just East of Camino Ruiz. more or less between Fire Station 38 and the Rec Center.  We're going to work through the newly introduced FEMA course on Firefighter Rehabilitation.  The real thing is a four-hour class, so we're going to condense it a bit.  Basically after firefighters work a certain period of time, they need structured rest and recuperation.  This is a lot like treating for heat exhaustion, which I went over in the News last month.  Hydration, electrolyte replacement, cooling down and rest in the shade are the basic components.  Ideally an evaluation by EMS is included.  This is the sort of thing some of us might get involved with in a wildfire situation, so I want to walk through the basics and discuss how we might establish a rehab station on the fly if we had to, or work with an already existing station.

If you feel like a little light reading, download and look over the Participant Manual for the class before you show up:

https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6360

There are several interesting modules in this new offering from FEMA.  We'll be taking a look at some of them as time permits.

Telephone Tree—I finally have this distributed.  I'd like to run a practice before the end of this month, sometime after the Team Meeting, we'll see what works out.  Several of you have asked me about text alerts, and I have been promising it for ages.  Hopefully soon, it's a very effective tool, and I really want to use it.

All for this month, questions, comments, you know how to find me.

-Steve

Mira Mesa CERT Newsletter

Good morning, here is the news:

Hours for September—Please turn them in by this Friday, 28 September, unless you are signed up for this Sunday's Hose Loading class, then I will need your hours THAT NIGHT.  If you volunteered for Stair Climb, or took the first hose loading class, either is good for Continuing Education credit, DO NOT forget to report those hours or you will not get your CE credit.  Yeah, I'm being just a little strident here.  These opportunities don't come down the pipe as often as any of us would like, don't waste one.

Hose Loading—This class is now closed.  Looks like the temperature will spike on Friday, but still 86°.  A decent hat is a must, sunscreen, plenty of water, you know the drill.  You will be outside and actively doing things for most of the class.  There is a LOT to cover, so plan for it to run over by about 1/2 hour.

Refresher—The County  Office of Emergency Services (OES) is sponsoring a Refresher  Saturday 10 November.  No details yet, this is just a calendar placeholder.  If you just got your first DSW card in the last few months, you should seriously consider taking this Refresher.  A Refresher is a complex undertaking, so they don't come along very often.  Count on this taking up most of the day.  Although the County is sponsoring it, you MUST sign up through our website:

https://apps.sandiego.gov/ereg/cert/courses.php?grp=SDFD+Refreshers

For each two-year period starting from your graduation date, you need one refresher to re-qualify for your DSW card.  Any questions about this, please drop me a note.

DSW applications—If you believe that you have qualified for your first DSW card this month, or you are coming up for renewal, drop me a note TODAY so we can start the process.

Team Meeting—In October the tenth falls on a Wednesday.  We've got the Senior Center scheduled, but we might move to the rally point.  Mark your calendars, I'll have more soon, promise.

Telephone Tree—We could use at least one more volunteer for this, during a callout it would be your job to call about six Team Members and accurately relay a message you would get from me or our leadership.  I'm going to update our rosters for this next week, so if there have been any changes to your contact info in this last year please let me know.

All for this week, questions, comments, you know how to find me.

-Steve

Shockey Fire Road Closures

@SanDiegoCounty: Shockey Fire Road Closures: Shasta Way@Hwy 94, Tierra Del Sol@Hwy 94, Jewel Valley Road@Hwy 80. http://t.co/cJfsHMhy

Mira Mesa CERT Newsletter

Good morning, here is the News:

Street Fair—Thanks to all who came out for this.  Not a single no-show despite the heat, and everyone was right on time.  We've got a great crew here.  Special thanks for Jennifer for putting on the wound care demonstration.

Team Meeting—In October the tenth falls on a Wednesday.  We've got the Senior Center scheduled, but I'm pretty sure I promised several people we'd visit our rally point, so this might be the one.  More on this as soon as I've completely gotten over Street Fair.

Hose Loading—I attended the first session last Sunday (I know, right after Street Fair, sanity does not run in my family).  It was awesome.  Very well organized by Ben Vernon, who put a lot of personal equity into getting the equipment for this.  By "equipment", I mean three Fire Academy engines, one for each of the kinds of hoses we needed to learn about, so we rotated in three groups.  Near and dear to my heart was the fact that EVERYONE got hands-on with each of the hoses; you didn't watch, you packed hose.  Yes, there was indeed some physical activity, but our Firefighters have developed techniques for handling the hose that are real back-savers.  If you listen to them and do it their way, you'll be fine.  I actually thought the most difficult part was getting back out of the hose bed by climbing down the steps they have installed.  These steps are installed where it is possible to put them, not where it makes sense ergonomically. Watch out for them, and try to watch how the Firefighters do it before you try it.  What made this class really great was the amount of detail presented in little sidebar talks, where they told us how things really got done.

If you weren't there, PLEASE try to make the session on the 30th.  It will be a crime if we don't fill every slot, and I'm very much afraid that we will be needed in this capacity sometime this Fall.

Here is the detail:

Date/Time: Sunday, 30 September, 10-12noon (not really, it takes at least 2 1/2 hours, plan accordingly).

Location: NTC  You meet briefly in 89B, then right out to the engines.

Sign up here:

https://apps.sandiego.gov/ereg/cert/courses.php?grp=Continuing+Education+Opportunities

Best learning experience you have had in a long time, trust me, and it's good for Continuing Education.  If you have any questions about the class, especially the physical activity, drop me a note.  Can you tell I'm cranked up about this?  Git in there!

All for this week, question, comments, you know how to find me.

-Steve

Mira Mesa CERT Newsletter Sept 11th

Good morning, here is the News:

Street Fair—We've still got some slots open, particularly in the afternoon, but if morning is what you have, and you are available, please drop me a note.  It is going to be HOT, predicted temperature 93 degrees, so good sun protection is a must, including a hat, hopefully something more than a baseball cap.  That said, if you plan to do the cribbing drill with us, sandals are not an option for you, and all things considered it would be best if you wore solid shoes anyway  if not your boots.    If you think you are working at the Fair, and you DID NOT get a note from me yesterday assigning you a time slot, let me know now.  Here is the detail on the event  again:

Mira Mesa Street Fair

Date: 15 September 2012

Time: 10am—5pm

Location: Camino Ruiz between Mira Mesa Blvd. and New Salem

We are usually very close to New Salem on the East side of the Street.  We've got some skills practice scheduled in wound care and rescue cribbing.  We'll be showing the Public how to load a patient in a litter, and how to properly size and wear a dust mask.  We will also be working with the Mira Mesa High School Air Force ROTC, a great group of highly motivated young people.  See you there!

It's Hot Out—I was going to include this in the Fair instructions, then I thought it might be better to share with the whole Team.  With this kind of heat, we all want to be on the lookout for signs of heat-related illness in others.  The Street Fair is a great example, where we will interact with a lot of people who paid no attention at all to the forecast and did not prepare adequately.  The following information is excerpted from articles by the great folks at Mayo Clinic, who put a LOT of good stuff online, and I highly recommend their website as an information source.

In general, heat related illnesses are categorized as either heat exhaustion or heat stroke.  Heat exhaustion  can become heat stroke, heat stroke is the more severe of the two.  Here is a rundown of symptoms:

Heat Exhaustion

·         Faintness or dizziness

·         Nausea

·         Heavy sweating

·         Rapid, weak heartbeat

·         Low blood pressure

·         Cool, moist pale skin

·         Low-grade fever

·         Heat cramps

·         Headache

·         Fatigue

Heat Stroke

·         Rapid heartbeat

·         Rapid, shallow breathing

·         Elevated or lowered blood pressure

·         Cessation of sweating

·         Irritability, confusion or unconsciousness

·         Feeling dizzy or lightheaded

·         Headache

·         Nausea

·         Fainting

OK, let's give this the CERT reality check.  We won't know anything about their blood pressure, might not be able to get a pulse, and in that heat, we all look and feel like we've got a fever.  So I'll be looking for dizziness, nausea, cramps, headache and fatigue.  In addition, heavy sweating and cool, moist pale skin indicates exhaustion, whereas a lack or cessation of sweating indicates a move to the more serious stroke.  Heat stroke is also indicated by an elevation in body temperature that should be noticeable even when the Patient is in the shade.

WHAT TO DO, get them out of the sun, at Street Fair use our classroom, even if we're having a class in there (Jen and I won't mind, trust me).  Cool them down, and I mean COOL, don't freeze them.  Give them cool water to drink if they can consume it, loosen tight clothing, apply cool cloths and fan them with something to get the air around them moving.  Get them to lay down if you can, and elevate the feet.

If your patient does not respond immediately, or you even suspect you might be dealing with heat stroke, call 911.  Better to pull the pin on this early, don't make the Guys start the race from way far back.

I look at everybody who doesn't have a hat on when it is this hot.  Children can be susceptible also.  Oh, and pay attention to yourself for these signs, they sneak up slowly.  Get in the shade and cool down.

Occasional Rant—It really doesn't seem like 11 years, although some of the memories have faded.  When the radio voice first mentioned that it looked like a plane had hit the World Trade Center, I told my Wife "I hope it's a small one", tops on the list of stupidest things I've ever said.  I'm still angry about it after this many years, and I still want justice, but I remember vengeance and justice are two different things, and a person's faith does not describe his/her politics.  In CERT we fight this battle every day, preparing against an enemy brought by Nature or our fellow humans.  Today is a good day to remember that what we are doing is serious, and has a greater purpose.  I am proud to serve with you.

-Steve

Top Notch CERT in Sacramento

Top Notch CERT in Sacramento:
We were at the California Capital Airshow yesterday and Sacramento CERT was there to provide first aid service.  As you can see in the photo, they have a very impressive ambulance-like response vehicle.  After chatting with them, I was even more impressed by the fact that they have TWO of them!  Sacramento also uses trailers which are larger than what Belmont or San Carlos has (no photo but we did see one on the freeway)

Emergency Signals Post Added

Hi Mira Mesa CERT members!

I have just added a new post regarding emergency signalling to the Back Channel CERT blog.

Your thoughts and suggestions are welcomed.

TJ Walters

Mira Mesa CERT Newsletter

Good morning, here is the news:

Continuing Education—Both sessions of the hose loading class are still open:

https://apps.sandiego.gov/ereg/cert/courses.php?grp=Continuing+Education+Opportunities

The time has now been set at 10am—12pm, Sunday 16 September and Sunday, 30 September.  Both sessions will be held at NTC.  There is some physical activity involved with this one.  Basically we will be learning how to properly re-pack the hose on a fire engine.  Normally the pumper's Crew would do this, during a wildfire disaster we may be called on to take on this task while the crew rests.  It's a simple but vital job that helps to keep our firefighting assets focused on fighting the fires.

And now let's hear from Captain Obvious; it's hot out.  It's been hot for awhile.  Despite the moisture, this kind of heat leads to very dry brush that has not burned off for over 5 years, and quite a bit of it longer than that.  Let's all hope we dodge this issue one more time.  If we don't. we need to be ready to help.  That's what we do.  I'll look forward to seeing you there.

Street Fair—Thanks to all who have signed up for a shift.  We can always use more, so if your schedule has firmed up and you can put some time in drop me a note.  I hope to have a plan in place by the end of the week, and I should be able to assign specific time slots and publish a working demo calendar.  One of the things we'll do differently this year is prominently feature our demo schedule in front of the booth, probably on a white board so we can change it if we need to.  This will encourage people to come back to us for a demo.  Not exactly a new gimmick, but a really good one.  Here is the detail again:

Mira Mesa Street Fair

Date: 15 September 2012

Time: 10am—5pm

Location: Camino Ruiz between Mira Mesa Blvd. and New Salem

We are usually very close to New Salem on the East side of the Street.  We've got some skills practice scheduled in wound care and rescue cribbing.  We'll be showing the Public how to load a patient in a litter, and how to properly size and wear a dust mask.  We will also be working with the Mira Mesa High School Air Force ROTC, a great group of highly motivated young people.  If you find at the last minute that you can put in some time with us, but you aren't on our schedule, that's OK, let me know when you can work any time before the event, we'll slot you in someplace.  We're going to have a great time folks.  See you there!

That's all for this week.  Questions, comments, you know how to find me.

-Steve

Mira Mesa CERT Aug 28 Newsletter

Good morning, here is the News:

Street Fair Sign-up—The Mira Mesa Street Fair is Saturday, September 15, 10am—5pm.  OK folks, we could REALLY use a few more people for this.  Your support and commitment is what makes this our most successful recruiting effort, and I can guarantee you'll get some training in that you can use.  New Academy grads, if you don't have your DSW card and equipment yet, don't let that stop you, tell me about it and we'll work something out.   I can also schedule some practice sessions if you want to help but don't feel comfortable doing a demo in front of a crowd (to be frank, don't worry about it, the crowd won't really know if you are doing it right or not).  If you have never been to the Street Fair, you want to see this, it's pretty amazing.  We'll have our CERT trailer and at least one cabana set up.  Typically they put us at the top end of the fair, on Camino Ruiz East side, (north bound) one slot from the end.  Engine Company 38 gets the end slot, because they occasionally have to leave for a callout.  Members of the Mira Mesa High School Air Force ROTC will be helping us with demos again this year, these young people are a real inspiration and fun to work with.  Join us, we'll have a great time.  Please commit soon, I really need to have an event plan and demo schedule drafted by the end of the week, and I need to know who I can count on.  This counts as a Team Meeting for September.

There is no sign-up for this on the website.  Drop me a note, let me know when you can make it (morning or afternoon is good enough, we'll get to specific time slots soon), and if there is a particular demo with which you'd like to get involved.  Let's work together to grow our Team.

Situational Awareness—I'm copying in a note from our Program Manager Carie DeMarco, about an article she came across last week.  It's tough reading, people died, and it did not need to go down like that.  Those of you who have been around for awhile have heard me rant on about situational awareness often enough. Here the hazard is electrical, but it could have been any one of a number of things, collapsing building etc.   In this case, one cool head with a strong flashlight could have saved lives.  Maybe not all of them, these things go down fast, my point is, you don't need super strength or advanced rescue skills to make the difference.  Here is Carie's note:

When I read through the article below, my heart leapt into my throat…this is my biggest nightmare for any volunteer or Good Samaritan.  While CERT training teaches how to help others, the bigger part of the training is to help you keep yourself safe. 

For anyone who took the October Mira Mesa Haunt Search and Rescue CE the past two years and were upset that they were “tricked” and “killed”, here is a real-life lesson of nearly that exact scenario happening (please read the whole article).  The electrocution element of the drill was not put in to “trick” participants, but to present them with a real danger that asked them to think outside of the norm, to be on the look-out for hazards that are not totally obvious.

When considering what we do, danger is real.   I would not be doing my job if the training only focused on the obvious.  Volunteer Safety is always paramount!  Please, always be aware and careful!

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/23/13433684-2-good-samaritans-electrocuted-trying-to-help-car-crash-victim?lite

Thanks and have a good day,

That's all for this week.  Last month at our meeting we discussed putting together a three-day deployment bag, how is everybody doing on that?  Questions, comments, you know how to find me.

-Steve

Mira Mesa CERT Aug 21 Newsletter

Good morning, here is the News:

Street Fair Sign-up—The Mira Mesa Street Fair is Saturday, September 15, 10am—5pm.  This is a great opportunity for us to recruit some new Members and practice fundamental skills together.  Yes, we'll do some cribbing if we have enough people.  We can also practice wound care, carries, I'm up for just about anything, if you want to try it let me know.  Don't really want to do the demos?  It's not required, just man the booth and talk to people.  This counts as our Team Meeting for the month.  We're doing two-hour time blocks because experience shows that it makes the most sense, but if you have a special requirement we can work that out..

There is no sign-up for this on the website.  Drop me a note, let me know when you can make it (morning or afternoon is good enough, we'll get to specific time slots soon), and if there is a particular demo with which you'd like to get involved.  Let's work together to grow our Team.

All for this week.   I'm not going to miss the hot weather.  Stay cool, be ready.

-Steve