3RD QUARTER 2015

ELMA / WEST SENECA

ELMAEdward R. Sauer Emergency Manager(716) 652-7635oem@elmanewyork.com

MEETINGS - 7:00 PM2nd Wednesday of MonthTraining and meetings are at the Elma Senior Center unless noted.

Elma Senior Center 3007 Bowen RoadElma, NY 14059Web: www.elmacert.org Facebook: Elma Community Emergency Response Team, Inc.

WEST SENECAJohn GulloEmergency Manager(716) 558-3238jgullo@twsny.orgMEETINGS - 7:00 PM3rd Monday of the monthTraining and meetings are at the West Seneca School’s Ebenezer BuildingW. S. School Ebenezer Bldg. 900 Mill RoadWest Seneca, NY 14224Watch website and Facebook for training and meeting locations. Web: www.wscert.netFacebook: West Seneca Cert

SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 2006 3RD QUARTER 2015

by Amy Thompson

Regardless of the type of emer-gency you may face or where you live, it’s important to know your neighbors.You’ve just moved into your home whether it’s an apartment, town house or house one of the first things to do should be to meet your neighbors. Why? Because your neighbors could be the difference in an emergency and are usually the first ones on the scene if there is a disaster in your neighborhood.Neighborly relations have de-clined in the U.S. since the 1950s. Not knowing your neigh-bor hood and having a lack of local ties is bad for crime and a community’s ability to organize. Besides someday you may need help or a cup of sugar or milk.Many of us know none of our neighbors’ names, it’s particu-larly pervasive among younger and lower-income people ac-cording to a 2010 study.“The biggest barrier is just a perception that we should not be involved,” said Keith Hampton,

associate professor of communi-cations at Rutgers University. “We fear having people intrude in our lives, but we also have to recognize ... (the) risk in not knowing the people around you.” With this it is important to respect boundaries.Introducing yourself if you’re new to the neighborhood, or welcoming a neighbor who has just moved in, is a good way to establish contact. Attending lo-cal social events is a great way to meet people. Check Town Calendars and Websites for up-coming events.Once you meet your neighbors and get to know them discuss a Neighborhood plan for emer-gencies. With the November storm last year while taking calls at an Emergency Operations Center we encouraged callers to check on their neighbors. I was surprised to frequently hear “I don’t know them”.If a disaster happens again and you have put together a neigh-bor hood plan you will know who should be checked on first,

BEING PREPARED FOR AN EMERGENCY BEGINS WITH “HELLO”

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if they are elderly or have medical problems or just might need some company to help get them through. Neighborhood maps and contact lists can help if any situation arises.Here are some ways to start connecting with your neighbors.Sometimes it’s obvious what we can do and oth-er times it’s not. We don’t have to make big ges-tures - small things can make a difference too. It might take a bit of confidence but it gets easier. Here are some ideas of ways to connect:If you regularly pass someone in your street start by smiling and saying hello. Find an opportuni-ty to introduce yourself. Tell them a little about you and what you enjoy about the area - then ask them what they like too. You could even invite them over for a drink or chat.• If someone new moves in close by make

them feel welcome. Take the opportunity to introduce yourself and offer to help with any questions about the local area. For example you could offer advice on where town hall is, youth recreational opportunities etc.

• If you’re new to an area, be sure to go round and introduce yourself to your neighbors. Tell them what brought you to the area and find out a bit about them and their lives. But respect boundaries too.

• Look out for ways you can help your neigh-bors and don’t be afraid to ask if you need support too. Giving support and receiving it from others often improves happiness and well-being and sense of belonging.

• Look out for opportunities to connect with people in your Local Community - for exam-ple a local event or festival or Community Service Club Meetings

MULTIPLE AWARENESSESby John Gullo

Today we speak of situational awareness which is to help first responders see the bad things com-ing in time to change the outcome. Consistent with that mission, I try to help responders un-derstand how various aspects of the job - from training, to human factors, to command compe-tence and everything in between – can influence situational awareness in high-stress, high-conse-quence decision making environments.Each dimension of situational awareness re-quires you to capture clues and cues, compre-hend those clues and cues into meaning and to predict future events. Let’s explore the three di-mensions of your situational awareness.PERSONAL SITUATIONAL AWARENESSThis is your awareness of yourself, your abili-ties, inabilities, knowledge, skill set, fitness, stamina, fears and phobias. This SA is the com-prehensive assessment of you, conducted by you. Technically, and I suppose literally, no one should know you any better. This should make you uniquely qualified to conduct an accurate assessment of what you are able to do. But there are a few things that can get in the way, namely, biases, assumptions and perceptions. As you as-sess yourself you have certain perceptions about yourself and your abilities.I have seen many firefighters (myself being among them) who have inflated their perception of their physical abilities in spite of their age and declining physical conditioning. The mind can get stuck on the perception of the 21 year old, physically fit specimen that you once were. Unfortunately, time has a way of eroding the physical abilities but the mind can cling to the mental perception of stamina that has long since departed.Some responders tend to be exceptionally gener-ous in their self assessments, thinking they know more than they can actually recall, thinking they can perform better than they actually can perform, and believing there is no incident that can beat them. These individuals have a flawed personal situational awareness and this can be dangerous for themselves and others operating at the incident.Personal situational awareness also includes an awareness of the individual’s role to be performed at an incident scene. It is one’s as-

Elma CERT toured the Mercy Flight facility during their July meeting.

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sessment of their familiarity with tools and equipment, ability to assess changing environ-mental factors, and the ability to remain calm and task-focused in a dynamic environment. In summary, it means knowing yourself realistical-ly, demons and all.TEAM SITUATIONAL AWARENESSThis dimension of situational awareness involves your assessment of your team, or company. The components of this assessment are the same only you’re evaluating fellow team members – their abilities, inabilities, knowledge, skill set, fitness, stamina, fears and phobias. You’ve heard it said that a team is only as strong as its weakest link. Team situational awareness ensures you under-stand, in advance, the strengths and weaknesses of team members before engaging in high-risk, high-consequence tasks.It stands to reason that the better you know team members the better you will be at developing situational awareness of the team. It’s hard to assess someone you don’t know very well. What do you base your assessment on? Assumptions perhaps. That can be OK so long as the assump-tions are accurate. Making assumptions of team members abilities can result in bad outcomes. This goes for both assuming their abilities are better or worse than they actually are. The only way to really know your team is to get to know your team. This requires an investment of time and it starts with communications. With time the communication develops a relationship and the relationship builds trust. Once you trust some-one, you can confidently put your life in their hands.Team situational awareness also means under-standing the role the team is supposed to play at the incident. It involves capturing clues and cues of the team’s role and environment, pro-cessing those clues and cues into meaning and making an accurate prediction of the outcome of the team’s performance. What will success look like when the team accomplishes the task? How long should it take for the team to accomplish the task? Does the team have any weak links that will require an adjustment?INCIDENT SITUATIONAL AWARENESSThe final dimension of situational awareness is for the overall incident. This ties all three to-gether. You assess yourself and your knowledge, skills and abilities (fairly, both good and bad) and form personal situational awareness about

the job you have to do. Then you assess your team’s knowledge skills and abilities (again, both good and bad) and form team situational awareness about the job the team has to do. Fi-nally, you form an awareness of the overall in-cident. What is the strategy? What is the role of your team in accomplishing the overall strategy? What is the knowledge, skills and abilities of other teams and commanders?It is very important to develop incident situa-tional awareness because no individual or team operates in a vacuum. Everyone’s role is part of a bigger strategy and awareness of everyone’s role helps improve personal and team safety. On occasion I have seen, heard and read about inci-dents where individuals and teams operate inde-pendently. Almost as though they have blinders on, they perform their tasks with little concern or awareness of the overall incident’s coordination.While it is command’s role to coordinate the overall incident, it is every responder’s role to develop and maintain personal, team and inci-dent situational awareness.NARCAN TRAINING

The Elma CERT hosted NARCAN Training at the Elma Senior Center in June at the Elma Se-nior CenterA Training by Erie County was held in July in West Seneca at Vigilant Fire Hall.Both Trainings were well attended

ELMA CERT AT CAR SHOWElma CERT group had an informational booth at the Annual Car show at Elma Town park. The team held a raffle for a Go Bag. Debbie, Sha-non Cindy with Winner are shown right.

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Sign up for Code Red to be notified of emergency situ-ations or critical community alerts.

ELMA Sign up for Elma Code Red : www.elmanewyork.comWEST SENECAwww.westseneca.net, wscert.net and facebook page

UPCOMING TRAINING & EVENTS CALENDAR

August4 National Night Out Elma - Elma Town Park West Seneca - Southgate12 Elma CERT meeting28 EMPact Hunter Safety

September9 Elma CERT Meeting15 CERT Training16 SMART - EOC Overview19 SMART - EOC Overview20 West Seneca CERT Meeting22 SMART New Members HAM Radio Class TBA

October10 Elma CERT meeting15 West Seneca CERT meeting17 SMART - ICS 200 CPR Class TBA

Check the West Seneca CERT and Elma CERT, Inc. websites for up-dates and upcoming events.Anyone interested in training provid-ed by SMART must pre-register at: www2.erie.gov/smart. Some train-ings may have prerequisites.* Restricted Enrollment

WATER OUTAGESby Pat Jakubowski

Although towns do our best to keep our system in top notch shape, things happen beyond their control and they do have wa-ter outages in the from time to time. They work diligently to keep the times as short as possible but we do need the community to be prepared if for some reason we have to shut off the water. We never know when or if a long term incident could occur, so your preparedness is necessary.1. Report a water emergency, such as a suspected water main break or water outage, call your water department. If after hours, weekend, or holiday, call 911.• You see water coming up from the ground or roadway• No water or sudden no water pressure2. Make up an emergency plan for your home or business, spe-cific to your needs whether health related or if you have pets or animals.• If on dialysis or have any other water depended health issue,

please let the water department know in advance, so they can help address any issues that may come.

• Have at least 1 gallon of water per person available at all times. Keeping at least a three day supply but ideally enough to meet your needs for two weeks. Also add any water needed for your animals and pets.

• Have a large clean food grade receptacle to be able to fill with water if there is a need to get water elsewhere

3. Once water is restored it may be cloudy or discolored• Cloudy water is air that is in the water mains. It is a good

idea to run the first water after an outage through an outside faucet. The other faucets can be opened slowly to allow the air to escape. Air will make a spurting or hissing sound as it escapes. Once water is flowing again allow the faucet to run a minute or two.

• Natural minerals in water tend to be riled up when they reverse the flow of water which can often occur during a break or construction. This is not dirt in the lines. It is safe to drink, bathe in etc. It is recommend not doing white or light colored laundry during these times.

• The minerals usually take a day or two to settle. If you still have milky or discolored water after a few days, call your water department so we can attempt to alleviate the problem.