Neighborhood Emergency Teams (NETs) are Portland residents trained by Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) and Portland Fire & Rescue to provide emergency disaster assistance within their own neighborhoods.
This includes specific training in Medical and Psychological First Aid, Triage, Search and Rescue Procedures, Management of Utilities in a Disaster. Building Damage Assessments and Marking, and Use of Radio's in Emergencies.
There are now over 2,000 trained and active NET volunteers across the city in 97 different neighborhood teams This includes a combined team for the neighborhood of Collins View, Marshall Park and Riverdale (CV//MP/RIV) that now involves 38 active neighborhood NET volunteers. Dr. Bob Fischer is the current Team leader of the CV/MP/Riv NET team and can be reached at drbobis@hotmail.com.
You can learn what you can do to help, especially by being prepared yourself, by visiting the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management web page
[PBEM].
You can find more about this program and its activities across the city, under the NET Resources items on that page, see Active Neighborhood NET Teams...
(Here's q direct Link to the
[Active NET Teams].)
The page you are reading now gathers the some of the important things about Collins View's NET in one place.
See the bottom of this page for a very instructive report on a (city-wide) exercise that was conducted on October 14, 2018.
Some NET Facts
FACT: Following a major disaster 95% of people are rescued by a neighbor.
The NET Program is predicated on the understanding that in a major disaster, the vast majority of persons are rescued or given critical aid by well-meaning neighbors and long before professional first responders are available. Neighborhood responders are also likely to be among those inadvertently injured in their attempts to help. The NET program is designed to give active neighborhood volunteers (we often call ourselves Pre-First-Responders) the skills that can best protect themselves as well as provide vital services to neighbors in need.
FACT: After a major disaster people will seek help and try to get help for their neighbors.
For Collins View, our team of trained Pre-First Responders plan to organize a staging area and First Aid facility in the parking lot of the previous St. Mark Church** on Terwilliger at 4th Avenue. The staging area will be used for coordinating medical triage, assessment, communications, search and rescue and other emergency response activities . This is also an area where the NET team hopes to identify other neighbors with skills, supplies and equipment that can be mobilized to help. The team hopes that all neighbors willing and able will plan to stop by the staging area to contribute what they can.
It is anticipated that this staging area will become active within 24 hours after a major disaster. (**2023 update: Staging area is now Riverdale HS Parking Lot.)
The staging area will be used for coordinating medical triage, assessment, communications, search and rescue and other emergency response activities.
What You Can Do: Register for Public Alerts
Public Alerts is a Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) program that sends urgent safety messages (stay inside, evacuate, boil water etc.) in the Portland-Vancouver metro area. News and information on major service disruptions (roads, transit, public health, safety, utilities, schools, weather) are sent to landline phones, mobile phones (voice and text) and email. To receive messages you must register at Public Alerts
Wireless Emergency Alerts — Depending upon the nature of an incident, safety information is also provided through Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on most mobile phones, Twitter, Facebook, TV, Radio, and on-line newspapers.
On iPhones, tap your Settings app, scroll to Notifications, and scroll down to Government Alerts. Turn on Amber and Emergency Alerts by simply tapping the slide switch. The slide switch should turn green. Notifications arrive in banner format and can be accessed by swiping down from the top of your screen and tapping on the Notifications tab.
On Droids, Emergency Alerts are a separate default application icon. If you do not see it on one of your home screens, search for the app in your apps location. The icon is typically a yellow triangle with an exclamation point in the center, and you can view alerts simply by opening the app on your phone.
What You Can Do: Prepare!
... Emergency Preparedness ...
Be part of the solution, not part of the problem!
Go Kit —
If you are forced to evacuate on a minute's notice, do you have a Go Kit packed with necessary medicines, cash, clothes, and important documents that are ready to grab and go? Most Go Kits are described as 72-hour Survival Kits and can be purchased or homemade as do-it-yourself kits.
[GO/STAY KIT page]
Stay Kit —
Do you have at least a week's supply of bottled water and food for your family and pets if you are sheltering in place? A comprehensive emergency kit can help you and your family to remain self-sufficient during a disaster.
[GO/STAY KIT page]
Assemble your Stay Kit —
Download and print the Family Emergency Supplies Calendar.
The calendar takes you through 16 weeks of preparation, a little at a time.
Please check it out.
[PDF]
Prepare Your Pets for Disasters —
See this page on [PETS.
Download and print this
[PDF]
Think about Water —
We take our wonderful city water for granted, but the supply or safety may be disrupted in an emergency. Chlorine bleach purifies water to make it safe to drink. The amount of chlorine bleach required to purify water is in this chart:
We suggest printing the whole fact sheet for reference.
Consider purchasing, placing, and filling a water barrel or two. Here is some helpful advice:
Water Barrel Report.
BEECN - Basic Earthquake Emergency Communication Node
The Basic Earthquake Emergency Communication Node (BEECN) site is Riverdale High School Parking Lot where a licensed ham radio operator will be stationed under a red canopy. When phone service is down and cell phone towers and networks are overwhelmed after a major earthquake or disaster, our ham radio operator is a critical link to the outside world of professional responders.
DID YOU KNOW? Collins View is the first neighborhood in the city to have a Structured Neighborhood Assessment Plan.
The CV SNAP project divides Collins View into eighteen (19) walkable sectors. Each sector is structured to help make searches more systematic and to help evaluate neighborhood needs after a disaster. Each sector has specific search routes marked on their respective street maps along with checklists for recording conditions and needs. Posted house numbers clarify and facilitate recording location-specific information.
However, trained Collins View NET members are only a fraction of our neighborhood population; thus, most volunteers offering essential skills and materials will be non-NET trained or certified. In spite of this, it is important to understand that untrained volunteers, even those unfamiliar with our streets, can efficiently and effectively perform initial searches and assessments of their own streets before assembling at the Riverdale HS Parking Lot staging area. This system reduces duplicating or omitting searches and provides concrete information rather than vague descriptions.
The reality of a massive earthquake-type disaster is that first responders (police, fire, ambulance) will be overwhelmed. Our Fire Station #10, is very enthusiastic about the Collins View SNAP plan. The specific information provided through our local NET chapter and our organized neighborhood self-help plan allows Fire Station #10 to focus their time, energy and resources where they are most desperately needed at a given time.
For folks in other neighborhoods who want to do their own SNAP assessment, here's a sector chart template, a sector chart without the streets or house numbers filled in.
Go for the Word Doc here: [SNAP sector chart TEMPLATE.doc].
Sector Maps and House Numbers
The Collins View SNAP sector maps & charts are available below and on our Nextdoor social network in the Group section under Neighborhood Emergency Team.
All neighbors are encouraged to print their sectors. Please print out your sector NOW; you may not have electricity to print your map after an earthquake, and this is a good item to keep in your Go Bag. Don't worry — printing these maps does not mean you are volunteering to perform the assessment walk after an emergency. It simply makes the charts available to those who do volunteer to perform initial assessments.
WARNING! The automatic numbers on the right (1, 2, 3, ..) may change if the maps are re-ordered here, or one is split in two, etc. For temporal reference only. 6/5/2017. This too may change.
2nd Ave:
Terwilliger to Palatine → 1st Ave → Alice
[We need to add helpful suggestions for downloading and printing Sector Maps on Mac vs PC.]
Consider These Tips
Start assembling or building Go Kits (72-hour kit for home, car and/or work), Stay Kit, food, water, CASH, etc. Strap down your water heater! Here are the things we have suggested that you do:
Make Family Reunification plans: decide where you will meet if your family is separated when a major quake hits. Consider damaged roads, bridges. If your home is uninhabitable what is the evacuation site to gather and evaluate. Remember that Riverdale HS Parking Lot is our staging Area.
Telephones: Land lines will be jammed, and cell towers overwhelmed. Voice may not get through. Use short SMS texts to tell your out-of-area contacts that you are ok. Text keeps trying, uses less data than voice. Be conservative with communication, for the good of the community.
Here is a great resource for community-wide disaster preparedness for all ages!
[KIDS]
EARTHQUAKE!
Is the danger of a major earthquake real?
Judge for yourself. Read this recent article about
[THE REALLY BIG ONE] on the New Yorker.
Then see this critical review on Slate magazine, which found very little to clarify:
[SLATE].
We can't prevent an earthquake — we can only prepare for one.
How can you prepare?
Make a safety survey of your home. If a major quake hit right now, what would injure you? Fix the hazard!
Tall furniture should be secured to wall studs.
Your hot water heater — possibly your only source for potable water — should be secured to the wall behind it.
Know where the gas and water shut off valves are and how to turn them off.
If you smell gas you should turn off the gas at the meter BUT only the gas company can turn it back on, so don't turn it off unless you smell gas.
Your home should be bolted to the foundation
Review the Red Cross Earthquake Safety Checklist:
[LINK].
To Prepare For 'The Really Big One', Test Your Kit is the title of a useful story on
[OPB].
URBAN WILDFIRE
What's the danger of an Urban Wildfire?
Climatologists reported that 2014 was the hottest year on record. The summers are getting hotter and the vegetation is getting drier each year.
(2023 is on its way — it exceeded the record in July !)
Accumulating brush on the hillsides becomes potential fuel for fires. A carelessly thrown cigarette, or a fire in a homeless camp, or a downed power line can all spark fires.
Strong winds coming out of the east and northeast could drive a fire up into the west hills very quickly.
How can the community be better prepared?
Everyone should be aware of Red Flag days when the danger of fire is particularly high.
Neighbors should be warned of imminent fire danger somehow.
Escape routes need to be identified and publicized.
Here are tips on evacuating your family:
[TIPS].
The Portland Fire Bureau also advises property owners to take steps to protect their homes. Among them are:
Creating a space around your home that provides a clearing of inflammable materials or vegetation. Remove invasive trees and shrubs, plant trimmings, firewood, fiberglass boats and recreational vehicles around the home.
Using fire resistant building materials, particularly roofing and siding as well as decking and pavers.
Landscaping with fire resistant plants.
For more information about wildfires and preventing and preparing for them go to
[Reducing the Risk of Wildfire] on the Portland Fire & Rescue site.
Collins View Firewise Community
Collins View has been officially recognized as a Firewise Community after meeting national criteria.
Check out the many details here: LINK]
