Inside the Zombie Apocalypse

Somewhere in Cleveland, Ohio 4 days after Hurricane Sandy hits Northeast Ohio - You can smell the stale coffee in the air, the coffee machine has been running continuously since Monday morning. Public Information Officers (PIO) from various agencies are huddled over their laptops, fingers curled on the keys punching out messages for the general public. Cleveland Public Power is working on a piece about downed power lines. The mayor's office is monitoring their social media feeds. The Department of Public Safety is on the phone with the Fire Chief getting a report on what they are seeing. They are all collaborating together keep the message consistent. It is about quality, and volume. 5 voices are better than 1. This is all happening in real time at the Joint Information Center (JIC). These are the PR people of public service. Their job is to get information to all forms of media.

Press releases are sent to traditional media outlets, PIOs are engaging followers on twitter to monitor and disseminate information to those who are tuned in on social media. All of this is just one cog in the machine of public information. It gets bigger. 

Down the hall lined with photos of SWAT equipment is an even bigger room. Huge projection monitors are at the head of the room. One has an internal program to share information across agencies, the other the local news. On the left wall is another local newscast, on the right wall, CNN. This room is nearly empty except for a member of the Red Cross working her phone and checking in  on the various shelters scattered across the region. 

There is still a lot of work to be done, but everyone's left for a short few hours to take a shower at home, kiss their husbands and wives, and then will head back and continue to monitor the situations across the city. Where are power crews needed? Do we need to shift assets to a certain part of the city for security? What new crisis has come up that need to be dealt with?

When you are watching the news and you hear them say, "Officials say..." this is the room where all those "officials" craft what we are hearing, seeing, and even feeling. If there is a situation, they are on it and trying to solve what ever problem has come up. 

These are the silent partners of our safety. These are the unsung heroes that work late into the night working together to solve problems to help the boots on the ground. No one is in the EOC and working the JIC unless they can get things done. They are all decision makers, policy makers, and doers. The power outage on W 54th and the power outage on E 72nd, only enough crews to fix one, this is where the hard choices are made. 

Get Prepared -- #ReadyCLE

Erica over at CLESafety posted recently that she was at a conference and she was learning how to encourage people to being prepared. She shared a personal story; go read it. We can all relate.

 In keeping with this theme, having worked very close with a few local fire departments, I want to share my story, hopefully adding another voice to a very important conversation.

Quick trivia question: During a Hurricane warning in South Florida, what is the most purchased item at Wal-Mart? The answer at the end of the blog.

Be prepared. We all hear it; we all think about it; but rarely are we prepared. What does being prepared mean? It more than likely means many different things, but in reality, if an emergency happens right now, are you prepared to react? Something as simple as knowing CPR or the Heimlich Maneuver can mean you are prepared. I know both by the way. I keep my certification up with the Red Cross. If your kid is choking in a restaurant or not breathing, I am a good guy to keep around. I saved my oldest daughter's life twice just by knowing how to dislodge food from her throat. The summer is here, and thunderstorms are on their way. I too have a story about a tornado, and why when the tornado watches fly, I grab my shoes.

I was a small kid, can't really remember how old I was, I know I was playing little league baseball. I was spending the normal 2 weeks in July with my Dad out in Vermilion Township. He had two acres of property. It was great to get lost in the seemingly endless cornfields and pastures; also very very far away from pretty much anything. One day an early evening thunderstorm was booting up. The power went out rather quickly but not before hearing the tornado warning. My Dad and step mom ushered us to the basement rather quickly, but I didn't have shoes, a jacket, a flashlight, nothing. Just a t-shirt, shorts, and barefeet in a very very old dingy basement. I am talking the kind of basement that is just basically a glorified crawl space. It was a house built in 1890, it didn't have the nicest basement.

We emerged after what we thought was the worst of it. We ran outside to see the tornado heading away from the house and hitting the tree line on the corn field across the street. Debris was flying all over the place. It was about 500 yards away and moving quickly.

What would have happened had the tornado hit the house? I would have had to climb out of there without shoes to protect my feet.

Since that day when a tornado watch goes off, I grab my shoes. Last year when an early thunderstorm hit in North Ridgeville, I made my family put on their tennis shoes, and I grabbed the diaper bag, dog and leash, and we gathered near the safe room in the house; just in case. After the storm passed I knew there was major damage nearby, the scanner was going nuts. The house was secure, family was safe, I grabbed my camera and left to get photos of the damage.

Mostly out of curiosity I snapped pictures of a lot of damage. There was an RV that was blown over.  I stopped took photos of the whole thing. From all 4 corners, inside, and outside. Having a camera in an emergency can be an invaluable tool. How many times do houses blow over and stuff is strewn about? The City's job is to get roads open for crews to get into neighborhoods. If you can get photos of all your stuff all over the place, that would make filing an insurance claim easier. You have proof of what you might have lost before it ends up in a heap with all the other debris. With the shoes on your feet you should be able to get to relative safety without tearing up your feet.

Be prepared. FEMA has a great tool to help you. Use it.

Trivia answer: In Florida, the Hurricane preparedness plan has Strawberry Pop-Tarts in their survival kit.  Why? Because Pop-Tarts' packaging is water tight and has enough air to keep it buoyant in a flood. They can keep without refrigeration for an extended period of time and keep you nourished until a new food source can be secured. So when a Hurricane starts to head to Florida, Wal-Mart ships extra Pop-Tarts to their stores. (source: Business Acumen Training 2008)