Disaster Preparedness – Mt. Washington Jessica Neighborhood

05 Oct

DIY Preparedness Drill Saturday 10/11/25 10am – noon

This year we’re letting blocks decide how they want to practice what we’ve learned from Map Your Neighborhood and previous drills. If you haven’t already, you will likely receive instructions from your block leaders in the next week. The Drill activities within the Blocks can be decided by the individual blocks.

a neighborhood gathering site — Nob Hill Stairs Drill 2023

Some possible activities:

–You may use the 10am start to practice “Drop, Cover, Hold On” and then proceed to your Neighborhood Gathering Site (Please bring your MYN booklet)

–You may follow the initial Drop Cover Hold On with practicing the 9 steps of Map Your Neighborhood (which includes going to your Neighborhood Gathering Site).

–use the time to get to know new neighbors and update your contact lists and skills & equipment inventories

–follow the MYN response plan and form teams and walk your block looking for incidents posted on telephone poles (alternately, have envelopes with situations for your team to decide how best to respond.

–delve into a specific predetermined topic as a team (communications, disaster kits, planning for sheltering in place or evacuation, focus on special needs, or whatever you come up with that will strengthen your block in a disaster.

26 Sep

MWJN Disaster Drill 10/14/23

Our exercise focused on the Nine Steps of the Map Your Neighborhood program. MYN is based on knowing your neighbors, knowing who needs extra help and what collective resources your block has available to help ourselves in the first hour following a disaster. Find out more about MYN .

It was a fun time with our neighbors!

THE DRILL: Began at home: At 10am DROP, COVER, HOLD ON! Practice what to do in the first hour of a Disaster:

–Grab your Walkie-Talkie Radio. Turn to Ch 5 – Listen to Network, call & give your status

Get your MYN booklet and follow the 9 Steps:

Check your Household – Make sure everyone is safe.
Dress for Safety – Put on sturdy shoes, a hardhat or helmet, and leather gloves
Locate your Gas Meter – Know where it is and know how to turn it off if necessary (but DON’T turn it off for the drill)
Locate your Water Shut-off Valve – Know where it is and know how to turn it off if necessary (but DON’T turn it off for the drill)
Check that you have your HELP/OK sign with 2 band aids stapled in your MYN booklet
Place your Fire Extinguisher on the Curb – Dial should be green, invert, and shake for 30 seconds
before placing it in front of your house for neighbors to grab if needed for fire
Go to your Block Gathering Site – Where is it? Follow your neighbors.
Select a Block Drill Coordinator to organize teams based on the number of people and what each person prefers to do. Distribute vests, radios & tools. The Drill Coordinator may join one of the teams. Teams check the block for incidents.
After Teams complete work, Return to Gathering Site to share results

During the last hour all blocks convened in the “5 Points” intersection for a debrief session for feedback on what worked and what didn’t. Ben reviewed all the incidents and all the correct responses. Pierre also demonstrated how to shut off gas. And we had pizza! An educational and tasty event!

05 Jul

Radio Days – July 11-12, 18-19, 25 – Bring Your Radios

COVID-19 RULES: MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING REQUIRED

“Radio Days” refers to an informal, socially distanced walkie-talkie clinic from 10am – 2pm hosted in the driveway/garage at 909 Oneonta Drive. In preparation for the MWJN Radio Drill on 7/26, our radio team will spend their weekends between now and then helping you get your FRS radios working. Maybe the batteries are dead and corroded. Maybe you never learned how to turn it on or change the channel. Maybe you’re experienced with walkie-talkies at work but unfamiliar with how we use them in this neighborhood.

We’ll have some handouts and practice scripts and information about our Radio Drill on 7/26

Masks are not optional for Radio Days and will be provided if you don’t wear your own. There will be a sign up sheet for half hour time slots to minimize waiting times.

Don’t forget to bring your radios! If you don’t have one, we can provide one.

JULY 2020 SPECIAL – Donations of $30 will receive a pair of fully programmed FRS radios with charger. $15 will get 1 radio.

MORE OPPORTUNITY FOR PRACTICE: Every Sunday at 7pm on channel 5

05 Jul

Socially Distanced Radio Drill 7/26

Ben during the 2019 Drill – right before the sprinklers went off behind him

Every year we try to have a drill to practice our Map Your Neighborhood skills and sometimes to coordinate with our local Community Emergency Response Teams. The pandemic has made such team efforts unlikely and even unsafe. This year we will focus on Communications through a Drill using walkie talkies from our homes.

We won’t be going to our gathering sites but we can form “pretend teams” on the radio. There won’t be any incident cards to find, we’ll just discuss various possibilities over the radios.

Everyone stays at their home location, uses their radio
Block TEAMS check in with their BASE Operator (there are 22 of these)
BASE Operators check in with their HUB Operators (there are 5 of these)
HUB Operators check in with STAGING Operator (Only 1 of these)
Practice passing information through the network
Virtual Debriefing on Zoom or on FRS Channel 5

In a real disaster, being able to communicate with your neighbors is extremely important. We’ve been trained to do this by all going to the same place to coordinate a response plan. If something major were to happen during at stay at home pandemic, we would need another way to account for everyone. We have our contact lists, but if power were to go out and cell towers overloaded, our battery operated walkie-talkies would be a much better bet than phones or email/text

We will have several opportunities (see News and Events) to practice and get our radios in working order before the drill. If you don’t know where yours are, now’s a good time to look. Please plan to participate on Sunday, July 26 from 2-4 pm. What else did you think you were going to do that day??