Officials from 60 law enforcement, emergency response agencies and the armed forces met Monday July 23rd, 2007, to polish their skills in case a magnitude-7.9 earthquake should ever hit California.
The eight-day training exercise, which began Monday at the Quiet Cannon Montebello restaurant and golf course, involved thousands of members from Los Angeles and Orange County sheriff's and fire departments. It is part of a military operation, "Golden Phoenix," which will test communication channels of law enforcement agencies in case the big one hits.
During next week's training in the military's Los Alamitos base, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will place the call for help to fire departments, which will respond, confirming that they've received the call, sheriff's Sgt. Mike Castorina said.
Twenty communication channels will be used by law enforcement spanning satellite, cell phone, global positioning systems and data transfer.
On July 24, there were a series of emergency drills at the Rose Bowl, the Forum in Inglewood and a mall in Hawthorne involving 1,000 Marines playing the role of displaced civilians and angry looters.
The Red Cross and the sheriff's and fire departments were on scene to test transportation and personnel equipment. "The exercise will be as if we've been eight days into the situation," Castorina said. "We want to make sure everyone can get in contact with each other, so that we can begin to assist people in a major disaster."
Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mike said the training "gets the kinks out," added Capt. Mike Brown of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
I caught up with the USAR (Urban Search & Rescue) of Pasadena Fire and was embedded into their Pasadena Emergency Response Team for the past three weeks until today, July 25, 2007. I was involved in a series of 2 day classroom sessions in Disaster Preparedness, Mass Casualty Triage, and finally today I completed my Light Search & Rescue at the the Pasadena Fire Department training facility which involves 1 hour classroom and 4 hour real scenarios hands on in Urban Search & Rescue. 1 ladder, 1 Engine, 1 USAR special equipment truck, and 1 Paramedic units were on hand to conduct training while being also on standby for live calls from Verdugo dispatch even while we trained. Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) units are specialized and can be deployed Statewide as needed because they have specialized skills and equipment.
What I found out was that all Government Agencies (including Fire Dept) won't be able to respond for the next 3 to 8 days or more to "911" calls. Systems will be overloaded in a mass casualty event like a major earthquake. What local fire departments are working on are asking for volunteers from business and neighborhood groups and give them free basic training to be able to survive the first week of a major event.
Basically, what the plan suggests is for each office, neighborhood, and family to adopt a disaster preparedness program until the National Guard arrives. The training is quite intensive and the actual Search (meaning to look for) and Rescue (meaning to remove or extract somebody from danger) are two separate functions. Realistically, living in California a good part of my life, and having experienced the 1994 Northridge Quake, (I was living in the San Fernando Valley at that time), being prepared and trained is not a bad idea.
As what philosophers states, "Fear is just the abscence of knowledge". I urge you to try to pull together a group, (office, family, neighbors) and contact your local fire department. They would be more than willing to conduct the training needed. In the end, when you are trained, it relieves alot off the government agencies' shoulders for the first week after a disaster. Like a good boy or girl scout, be prepared. If you survive the big one, and you are able to crawl out, then what do you do next? Are you prepared for the next 72 hours or more on your own without government help: no phone, no electricity, fires and wounded all around, structural collapse in your own neighborhood? That is a very good question all of us civilians should ponder. Become part of the solution, not part of the problem.
(Jay Fermin ppp-usa)