The Wildfire Evacuation Drill on July 27 turned out to be quite a learning experience. The first thing I learned, from FHA Emergency Services Chair Flo Hoylman, was that I needed to register and create a profile on Alert Marin to get notices of future evacuations. Fortunately, Flo had tipped me off in advance about this particular drill, but now I’m on Alert Marin as well as Nixle. When it comes to fire safety, I don’t want to take any chances.
The drill site, on the tennis courts at MLK school, was ringed with booths where various organizations offered reams of helpful handouts
The American Red Cross provided home fire safety checklists, and a volunteer discussed the importance of cleaning out our dryer’s lint trap regularly to avoid flare-ups. He recommended a gizmo called the Webster Duster, which is available at Goodman’s.
Get Ready Marin handed out 52-page household preparedness manuals.
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) was promoting their team training program. Flo has been able to have these training customized just for our community, so watch for announcements of future trainings.
Fire Safe Marin offered an Evacuation checklist, and the Salvation Army was out recruiting disaster relief volunteers. The lieutenants I spoke with told me they’re planning to offer services to anchor-outs.
There was even a pamphlet from FEMA on preparing your pets for emergencies, a flyer on what boaters need to know about tsunamis, and a diagram of a twin-bucket emergency toilet.
If you didn’t attend this drill, most of these resources can be found on the Sausalito City website which contains a library of information resources to help you prepare for a disaster. But don’t forget to sign on to Alert Marin to get notified of the next evacuation—either a drill or the real thing.