Preparedness Info & Resources
for Individuals & Families

Consider :

In a major emergency, it might be several days before vital services are restored.
In a major emergency it is unlikely that emergency response services will be able to immediately respond to your call.
Blizzards/Ice-storms have caused power outages for days;
- snow-covered vents & improperly used generators & heaters cause numerous CO2 hospitalizations;
- medical emergency teams blocked by snow-covered roads have found themselves unable to offer assistance;
- road crews unable to keep up with the onslaught of snow & ice have been stretched to their limits.
Generally speaking, people who have learned what to do to prepare for emergencies before they occur, are much more likely to escape injury or death to themselves and family, or property loss, during an emergency.
When compared to a well-informed citizenry empowered to make individual preparations and provide for the safety of their own families and neighbors, government at any level is severely limited in effectiveness.
Expect, and plan, to be on your own for at least the first 72 hours of an emergency.

We hope you will use this website to get and keep informed, and to prepare yourself and your loved ones for sustaining yourselves until help arrives. What we've tried to do is to develop a resource area bringing together relevant materials from a variety of sources--as close as we can get to a one-stop-shop for info you'll find useful. Many links will take you to other sites, some are LEPCs in other states who have done a tremendous job with their materials, others are organizations like the Red Cross, or government sites. Some links will be downloadable PDF or MSA(r)Word documents.

When does an event become an emergency? Becoming informed.

The line between "event" and "emergency" can be a gray one. Basically, an emergency can be considered an event which threatens significant damage or loss to life or property . An event can become an emergency within minutes, it can involve a state, a county, a neighborhood, just your family. Not having a family plan, not knowing your child's school emergency plan, not knowing the emergency plan at work can all turn an event into more of an emergency than it was originally.

Learn about the plans that affect you and your family--work, school, town; maybe even at the state or federal level. Consider getting involved in your local emergency committee, or at least learning what they're doing. Perhaps you can help in some way. Or join the fire department, or the rescue squad; maybe CERT, or the Red Cross. A CPR course and basic first aid can help in untold ways.

The key is the Emergency Plan --short & sweet, or detailed & extensive-- make it , periodically review it , update it , and get to know it well . The Plan will tell you who to call, what to do if calling is not an option, where to find various sorts of assistance (before, during, and after the event), and how to be your own help until professionals arrive. Keep in mind that if phone service is down, and cell phones as well, it could be helpful to have other means of communication and/or a distant 3rd-party who can summon aid if they are unable to make contact.

Start with a simple basic plan, an outline if you will, then take a bit from one place or list and a bit from another, and fill in the outline 'til it fits. And don't try to do it all at once, break it down into chunks you can handle. Before you know it, your plan will be done. Be sure to include testing & reviewing as part of the Plan. It won't work if it's perfected then left to gather dust way up on the tip-top shelf, behind the oatmeal

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