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posted 01/26/2012 Dear Booster famiies,
I am very protective as to how we use this website and its message should pertain to sports, but I am breaking this rule just this once!
Weston Emergency Procedures
Our Need for Volunteers
We are looking for volunteers to help our Town respond to emergency conditions such as we have experienced in the past few months. We hope you will be able to help.
As we’ve learned from our last two “weather related” events in Weston, when we go for extended periods without power, many people in Town suffer due to the lack basic necessities – such as water, heat and electricity to power the devices on which we all rely.
We need to be prepared, should we experience similar (or worse) conditions, to help the Town and each other. Our plan is to find “neighborhood captains” who can help identify problems arising in their immediate area, as well as check to see if their neighbors, particularly those who are elderly or have special needs, need assistance. The neighborhood captains can, in turn, report on conditions and needs to Town Hall. We also need to know in advance those Townspeople who have indicated their availability to man our comfort station (which is where the Town provides water, showers, food and recharging capability) or a regional shelter if necessary.
By preparing in advance, we can at least mitigate the effects of these very difficult conditions.
Please indicate your availability to help in an emergency by responding to this email. Send your response to Ken Edgar at
. Please also include your address in your response and indicate if you can be a neighborhood captain or help man the comfort station. We will get back to you, as we gather a critical mass of volunteers, with more details on how this new response system will operate. We have over 3800 households in Weston, so we will need many volunteers to cover the Town. If you have additional questions about what it means to be a neighborhood captain or comfort station volunteer, please see the applicable below notes.
DESCRIPTION OF NEIGHBORHOOD CAPTAIN
We envision a neighborhood captain as an individual who is monitoring his or her neighborhood and neighbors during an emergency of moderate duration, such as we’ve had twice in the past several months. (Long-term emergencies; e.g. pandemics, nuclear events, etc. are outside the scope of this initiative.) The neighborhood captain would be a source of information for the Town as to conditions in his or her neighborhood. So, for example, if a tree is blocking the road the captain would report that to Town Hall, rather than having multiple calls made by the many people who saw the tree. This would alert Town officials without unduly tying up the Town’s resources.
The neighborhood captain can also be a source of information for his or her neighbors, so that the Town can convey neighborhood-specific information to the neighborhood captain who can forward it to affected neighbors.
Here are some specific activities that we have in mind for neighborhood captains:
Pre-Emergency Steps:
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Alert neighbors that you have been designated as their neighborhood captain.
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Gather contact information from your neighbors – cell phones and email addresses, and assure them that this information is only to be used in case of emergency.
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If possible, note situations of special need (disability, very elderly, etc.) that might need additional attention in the event of an emergency.
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Note for yourself in advance any potentially dangerous conditions that might need to be monitored in the event of an emergency (e.g. is there a particular area in your neighborhood that is prone to flooding?)
During an Emergency:
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As best you can, assess conditions in your neighborhood, and report them to Town Hall, to help them have the best overview of the situation.
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Check on the status of your neighbors.
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Identify special needs for your neighborhood or individuals within your neighborhood and if the Town needs to be alerted to them, do so.
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Serve as someone whom your neighbors can alert as to dangerous conditions, and pass these on to Town Hall.
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Pass on information that is neighborhood-specific from Town Hall to your neighbors.
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Assist in directing help, should it be needed, from the Town to your neighborhood (e.g. food deliveries, if access is blocked).
Since we cannot anticipate the nature or severity of an emergency, the above description may not be complete, and some of this, of course, we will refine as we experience (hopefully not) more emergencies.
One thing we do know from our past experiences is that we need to be prepared to help ourselves because the Town cannot, given its personnel and resources, fully respond to emergencies without our help.
MANNING THE COMFORT STATION AND REGIONAL SHELTER
During the two emergencies that have occurred during the past few months the Town has maintained a comfort station to provide water, shower facilities, heat, and some food. We need volunteers to man the comfort station for the following purposes:
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To guide visitors to the proper facilities.
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To keep track of the number of people using the facility, in order to give the Town an indication of need for the station.
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To help distribute food, water and otherwise ensure that the station is operating properly.
In the past we have manned the station with two volunteers at a time, in three-hour shifts from 6AM to 9PM. Obviously, the need for volunteers will vary depending on the severity of the emergency.
With regard to the regional shelter, this is a facility that can accommodate overnight visitors, and will most likely be maintained in a town other than Weston. We may need to provide volunteers should our residents use the shelter. The requirements for volunteers and their duties would be established by the shelter.
Ken Edgar
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