CERT-LA - 2001 Fall Refresher

CERT Los Angeles

2001 Fall Refresher

Reported by Richard Wood

Biannual Refresher Saturday is always somewhat of an adventure. The day started with a large quantity of overcast, some of which reached the ground. In the fog, the mist, and the early morning damp, we began to congregate. Of course there was the contingent which did not read the cover of their newsletter, which would have brought them to the Warner Brothers Ranch property, which is a ways up Hollywood Way. Instead, we found the Warner Brothers Tower, and in its shadow, at gate 4, we waited for a while. Good navigational skills and a few questions asked of the right person did set the errant folk in the right direction. With plenty of time, we arrived in the proper place and went through the Warner Brothers Security Check with minimal time lost. One must give those men credit; they did the job in a minimum amount of time.
		It was 39 days since the largest civil disaster in the history of the United States. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were the largest single-day loss of life on American soil in our history. It was therefore fitting to put a patriotic theme in place for this refresher. The Honor Guard presented the colors in proper form, and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all present.
		Under the grey skies, beneath the towering buildings along Riverside Drive which are home to many offices, banks and businesses, the words seemed to be said with more feeling than I remember them being said on prior refresher days. I think in some ways we all tended to view this refresher as something deeply moving, deeply necessary in a way we may have imagined, but had not yet felt as reality.
	Captain Lee's "39 Days Ago" set the tone and voiced the dedication I'm sure many of us feel, especially now, after the recent events. 39 Days Ago 39 days ago a war was declared on United States soil. This act of terrorism resulted in the single biggest disaster in American history.
	There is always the possibility that similar events might occur in the future, whether by act of terrorism, or by natural event. The meaning of Disaster Preparedness has taken on greater significance than ever before. Never has the need for preparedness been so great or so urgent.
	We have all been watching the disaster workers in New York. At some point in the future, we will become them. It will be us searching and rescuing. Us restoring order to the chaos.
	Us caring for family, friends, neighbors and fellow workers. We are no longer husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, students or workers. We have become soldiers in a war against disaster, whether natural or an act of terrorism. Let us take a new and harder look at what we are doing here today.
	Let us recommit to learning and doing our best. Let us prepare for the task that inevitably lies before us. On September 11, 380 Firefighters, 130 Police Officers, and 18 EMS workers lost their lives.
		May we have a moment of silence.
Once the soft and gentle silence was broken, we divided into the teams to which we had been assigned. Instead of counting off as we have in the past, we found our team assignment on the map and schedule which we were given at the sign-in table. Of course, some people traded with some others to keep some family or team integrity. FF/LPM Stacy Gerlich, of course, knowing full well that many of us had done this, commented on it.
	The rest of the day pretty much was filled by drill. Since we had a 'neighborhood' very like some of the ones we live in around us, it was almost easy to forget that we were on a movie set, and that this was drill time, not reality. I, for one, found myself being carried via litter to the Victim Treatment Area. After a 200-lb 'litter bearer' fell on my ankle, I thought twice about being a victim; I'd much rather remain a rescuer, thank-you-ever-so-much. Others were also victims for a time. Careful inspection of the accompanying picture shows that no portion of a living 'victim' was under the concrete slab, but I still shudder at the thought. That hard heavy slab looks very close to soft living tissue. Real close inspection does show that the 'people' dressed as volunteers are non-living dummies.
	This is a picture you better take a real careful, close look at. You might never see this again. Just why Captain Lee wound up wearing this particular shirt I do not know, to be truthful, but I cannot imagine that he would ever intentionally merit the wearing of such attire. The fit is not all that bad, however, and it does make our Illustrious Captain stand out in the crowd.

We did not get to take many pictures of the day's activities, since Warner Brothers insisted we leave our cameras at home. That did not prevent us from having a very full day. The American Red Cross gave a good overview of their activities and how we might fit into their activities. One of the Red Cross volunteers had just returned from a 3-week assignment at the Pentagon, so the presentation was quite timely. Participation in our local chapters of the American Red Cross might be an excellent opportunity to keep our skills up, to apply our training, and to help our community.

Being on the nozzle end of a fire hose is always an adventure. This time, instead of the calm instructive tone usually employed, we had a friendly competition. Two teams squared off to roll out and connect two hoses, attach the nozzle, charge the line, and advance on a row of cones. This activity went pretty well, most things considered, but I trust Firefighter Paramedic Stamp was rather happy that it was a relatively warm day, since one team managed to douse him pretty well.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power presented some ways to deal with downed wires. Their booth had a scale model of some houses, a truck, and some high voltage wires, one of which was down. The demonstration was with 12,000 volts, if I remember correctly, which demonstrated the arcing danger inherent in downed lines. One thing I learned from the demonstration is that the voltage spreads out over the ground while seeking the normal equilibrium. This creates a difference of potential over small distances on the ground. Our living body parts have a lower resistance than the ground, so we need to either hop away or shuffle away. It is the choice of looking like a bunny or shuffling like one has severe back problems. That's okay, though. The alternative is being dead. Not the kind of alternative I like.

Incident Command structure governed all of the day's activities, which centered on the lawn you saw in the pictures above. Search and Rescue teams scoured the buildings we had available, Medical teams evacuated the victims to the Treatment Area, and the Incident Commander and his staff kept everything and everyone in a coordinated effort.

The end of the day found me rather tired of foot, and a little sore of arm, but otherwise quite happy. There are many worse ways to spend a Saturday. The nice thing is, we will probably get to spend this kind of Saturday at the Warner Brothers Ranch next year. Warner Brothers was quite impressed by those of us who live in the "suburb of Burbank" known as the City of Los Angeles, and invited us back to make this an annual event. I, for one, am looking forward to that.

	updated: 22 October 2001