Attendees – Bill Leininger, Suzann Leininger, Dave Heiser, Dave Shell, Tricia Lucia, Don Grant, Chief Lucia First – many thanks to everyone who replied to my request for volunteer availability over Memorial Day Weekend. There weren’t any big events, but it was good to know who was in the area in case something came up. Agenda: Announcements - Pala Resort Fire Safety Seminars, 02 June – attended by Dave Heiser – reported excellent collection of lectures. Next event in July, details to follow. - SDGE Brief to County CERT – described SDGE’s upcoming plans on fire danger conditions response – discussed vegetation mitigation; system enhancement (wooden poles to metal); disabling automatic switches during fires (these can reenergize lines after damage); having SDGE response teams staged around the county during high risk times for faster response; Emergency Power Shut Off Plan - Emergency Power Shut Off Plan - will only happen if all 5 of 5 weather/moisture criteria met. These criteria for various areas in the county are updated continuously at the SDGE website. Go go to: www.sdge.com; then “Learn about the 2009 program” in the right upper corner; then “Backcountry weather station information” in the right upper corner. The grid shows the status of the various criteria that could lead to emergency power shut off. Again, ONLY if all 5 criteria go to “Extreme Conditions”. The site is updated every few minutes. - There’s lots more useful info at this site on how to prepare (generator safety, for example) for emergencies, so it’s worth perusing. - Upcoming Events: - 20 June – San Diego County Fair’s Burn Run Expo, with fire truck parade at 1300. There’s a big CERT display sponsored by County CERT at the Fair that day. - August – Threat Assessment Class – dates and times to follow - SEPTEMBER – NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - 05 Sept – ***PMVFD BBQ*** – CERT will sponsor an education and recruitment (this is the Saturday of Labor Day weekend) - 15 Sept – Escondido CERT is starting a new Academy (training for new volunteers), if you know anyone who would like to get trained to be on CERT - 19 Sept – Proposed Date for rescheduled County CERT Day – we’ll be participating in an information distribution effort to increase public awareness on preparedness - October – Next County Exercise, sponsored by Imperial Beach CERT – dates and scenarios to follow Communications Update – Dave Heiser - Twitter Notification – for those that use Twitter (brief text messages), individuals can join a group for notifications about emergencies (PMVFD Emergencies, perhaps). Can be set up so any member can send an emergency message to all group members (“I see fire on South Grade mile marker 45”), so everyone knows right away. But, could lead to a bunch of false alarms or not so emergent messages. Alternatively, similar group could be set up with only authorized senders (Fire Dept Officers, for example) initiating messages, but could be a slower notification tool, since it has to get up the food chain before it will be sent. Great tool for getting notifications out to many people fast, but you need to ensure ONLY emergencies, and recipients have phone coverage. We’ll look at adding this piece into our growing communication plan. - Communications Field Rig – demonstration of mobile/portable communications kits that include car mounted or man portable options; antennae techniques; power supply options; “packet” data transmission (programs to send large quantities of data from a spreadsheet, for example). GREAT options for expanding coverage and reliability of communications. Training – First Aid – stopping bleeding – postponed to next meeting. STAY IN TOUCH – the PMVFD has an automated e-mail group for regular and emergency announcements. Additionally, the PMVFD has regularly updated announcements on the website. In the event of an emergency, this will be the place to get accurate updates about what is happening in emergency and safety services on the mountain. The website is www.palomarfire.org – you’ll see the recent announcements, and on the right side you’ll see where you can submit your e-mail to receive the regular updates, directly to your mailbox. This site and notification service is open to all community members, so encourage others to join. Next meetings – Saturday, 11 June at 0800 at PMVFD (1st Saturday is July 4th) - Saturday, 01 Aug at 0800 at PMVFD - Saturday, 05 Sep – BBQ CERT Booth and Event Support Bill Leininger PMVFD CERT Coordinator |