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SIUSLAW VALLEY FIRE/RESCUE

DECEMBER NEWSLETTER
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MERRY CHRISTMAS - HAPPY HOLIDAYS
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DECEMBER 25, 2006

A CERT CHRISTMAS POEM
By Cal & Denise Crowe
 
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. My CERT Ready Kit was hung up with care, just in case a major emergency might be near. Everything was quiet, when what should appear, but a tsunami with water rushing everywhere. I wasn't worried not even a bit, for I had been trained for this sort of event. I put on my boots, grabed my hard hat for my head, and reached for my lantern next to the bed. Then out of the house in nearly a jiffy to help my neighbors who weren't doing so spiffy. I jogged to the clubhouse to meet other CERTS, who I found responding to rescues and nursing the hurts. May this be a lesson to all who worry and can't get out of their house in a hurry. Would you be fumbled and jumbled in the midst of confussion or would you like to be part of the solution? Just six weeks of CERT class will form you fine, in any emergency at your house or mine.
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CERT DECEMBER VOLUNTEER
 
One of the original founders of the CERT Program in Florence is the December Volunteer of the month. Luke Hewes was chosen because of his many years of service  to CERT. According to Luke, he helped start  the first CERT Organization in town known as FERT (Florentine Estates Emergency Response Team) which was later incorporated into the Florence CERT Program. Luke and his wife Betty came to the Florence Area in 1992 after retiring as Area Sales Manager for the soft drink giant Seven-Up in Phoenix, Arizona. He worked for Seven-Up for 35 years; responsible for advertising, marketing and sales. He started in New England before moving to Utah, California and Arizona. Luke said the Seven-Up Bottling Company started out as a family owned business (not his) which was later purchased by Phillip Morris and later by the company that makes Dr. Pepper. The Hewes have two sons. One of them has since passed away. Congratulations to Luke Hewes for all his volunteer work and dedication to the Florence CERT Program.
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2006-2007 CERT Board Members
 
Chair - Dayna Devlin
Vice-Chair - Phyllis Mauldin
Secretary - Debbie Golob
Treasurer - Jacquie Beveridge
Communications - Lon Bradley
Publicity - David Stoutenburg
Planning - Anne Machalek
Education - Jean Busby
Advisor 1 - Dave Davis
Advisor II - Nancy Ruch

ARTWORK BY DEBBIE GOLOB
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UPCOMING CERT EVENTS

Public invited to attend special meeting of Siuslaw Talespinners

  • What is a Toastmaster?  What is C.E.R.T.?  Although these terms are used often in our local paper many people do not really understand what they mean.  YOU are invited to attend the Siuslaw Talespinners Club meeting on December 18th from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue, 2625 Highway 101, and learn more about both organizations.  The theme for the meeting is emergency preparedness.  You will have an opportunity to offer your ideas and suggestions on how we can work as a community and interest more residents in emergency readiness and becoming a CERT member.  Attend the meeting and you will have a better understanding of how Florence is preparing for disaster response. 

This is a busy time of year for everyone so remember...you can't predict, but you can prepare!  As of January 2004, 50 states, three territories and six foreign countries are using the CERT training. 

Join us Monday, December 18, 2006, at 7:00 PM to learn more.  For additional information call Jim Perry at 997-6971.  Refreshments will be served following the meeting.

  • The CERT Board (Board Members) will meet Wednesday, December 13, 2006, 7 p.m. at the Florence Main Firestation downstairs (26th & Hwy 101). 
  • The Bi-monthly Overall CERT meeting (all CERT Members) will be held Wednesday, January 10, 2007, 7 p.m. at the Florence Firestation upstairs. The main agenda item will be a communications exercise.

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CERT NEWS FOR NOVEMBER
By Cal Crowe
 
A small tsunami was recorded along the Oregon and California Coasts recently. The surge reported Wednesday November 15, 2006 ranged from a slight 2.6 inches in Astoria to 44.1 inches in Port Orford, according to tide guages monitored by the West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska. Instruments at the Charleston Boat Basin and the South Slough Estuary south of Coos Bay surged about 3.5 inches that began at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 15 and reverberated through the Estuary like ripples across a pond for about 12 hours afterward. The small tsunami was triggered by an 8.3 earthquake near the Kuril Islands off Russia.
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Our sympathies and prayers go out to Coast Village resident and long time CERT supporter, Donna Kerns, who lost her son over the Thanksgiving weekend. 49 year old Joseph Kerns of Puyallup, Washington, was tragically killed in an accident which a Washington State compared to being struck by lightning, a falling tree fell on his pickup truck on I-90 north of Snoqualmie Pass killing him instantly and passenger, 22-year-old Alex Minneman of Puyallup who died on the way to a local hospital. Two other people in the vehicle were not seriously injured and included Kerns' 19 year old son, Abraham Kerns and 23-year-old Jonathan Burrell, both of Puyallup who survived the accident. Trooper, Jeff Merrill, said the tree that hit the pickup was over a 100 feet tall and two to three feet in diameter. Officers don't know why the tree feel or whether it was weather-related. There was snow in the area and the ground could have been softened by recent rains, but there were no strong winds at the time. The accident was reported Just before 7 a.m. Friday November 24, 2006 east of Seattle area summit.

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    Florence CERT Radio Regions and FRS/GMRS Channels

  1. Channel 1, (White): Sutton Lake Fire Station; east of 101 to Friendly Acres
  2. Channel 1, (Black): Dune City
  3. Channel 2, (Blue): Coast Guard Station: Kla-Ha-Nee to 35th to Highway 101
  4. Channel 3, (Green): Greentrees Ocean to 101, and then 35th to 9th
  5. Channel 4, (Gold): Old Town Fire Station Ocean to N. Fork south of 9th River, 9th north to 22nd, 101 to North Fork Road
  6. Channel 5, (Orange): Coast Village, E. of 101 between 22nd & Munsel Lake Road
  7. Channel 6, (Red): Florentine Estates incl. north of Munsel Lake Rd Friendly Acres
  8. Channel 7, (Gray): Main Fire Station EOC

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OCTOBER CERT BOARD MEETING
October 11, 2006, 7 p.m.
  1. Three new Board members selected which of the three vacant offices to serve

Training
  1. To qualify for grants, “Instant Command Training” is required
    • Tentative Training Dates:
      • November 8, 2006: IS100 training (2.5 hrs)
      • November 10, 2006: IS200 training (12 hrs)
  2. A backup plan is to be executed if the November “IS100 & IS200 Training” sessions fail to materialize:
    • In order to better our understanding of radio communication
    • We well implement a “Hands-on Radio” Training Session
    • Complete with Colors (one-syllable): Blue, Red, Purple (being the one exception instead of using Pink) …

Committees Formed
  1. A committee was formed to subdivide Florence according to population density. The purpose of this is to create emergency response teams
    1. The committee will meet 7PM October 19th at the Fire House
    2. Agenda to be covered:
      • Color coding each subdivision
      • Create a “calling” tree for communicating a “First Responder” condition to be used for training as well as for an emergency
      • Begin looking at a program called “VoiceShot” to automatically notify teams. This is what Florinteen is using.
      • Further develop the color-coding mono syllable concept of identifying each team
    3. A committee was formed to amend our Bi-Laws
    • To establish a minimum Board Meeting attendance pattern with the consequence of dismissal if not met
    • When a “Vice Chair” is vacant, all the current “Vice Chair” members will be required to move up thereby allowing the new member to fill the “Bottom” Chair position
    • Rather than elect a board member to an office, we will define a bi-law that allows the new members to choose among the vacant offices

Reports
  1. The program USA Watch will be explained by Dave Davis
  2. Regarding “Shelter Management” Dave is working with the Red Cross in Coos Bay
  3. Organizing a neighborhood CERT for Sand Pines is a work-in-progress (WIP)
  4. R-U-Ready class will be held October 28th from 10am to 1pm
  5. Yahats would like to have a CERT class
  6. Lakeside wants an R-U-Ready class as well as a CERT class
  7. Review of the September CERT potluck:
  8.  Everyone concluded it was an overall success
    • It was noted that the attendance was one of the largest

Board Communication

  1. The News Letter needs to be out 15 days prior to the CERT meeting and to include
    •  The minutes
    •  Everything posted to the Web
    •  Everything e-mailed to members
    •  mailed out to those who don’t have e-mail
  2. It was suggested that in order to save money on the mailing of the news letter, we could use post cards instead of a stamped envelope
  3. Discussed the effectiveness of utilizing an “Agenda” rather than a News Letter

Concerns
  1. There is a concern about our Gated communities with only one access that serves as both entrance and exit.
    • These Gated communities are grand-fathered in and are under no legal obligation to change
    • The most that can be done is for the Fire Department to write a letter of concern warning of them of their folly

Other
  1. Refreshments for the November CERT meeting as well as the meetings through March have been established.
  2. We need a list of Board phone numbers for each of the new members serving the Board     Secretary, Debbie Golob