If Los Altos suffers a significant disaster (think earthquake or fire raging from the hills) residents may be on their own for 72 hours or longer. Fire department and police first responders will be busy assisting schools, nursing homes, and other densely populated areas. Who will figure out if your neighborhood is damaged and has injuries and who will place 911 calls when the cell towers are down?

Volunteer CERTs, hams and Block Action Team (BAT) leaders in your neighborhood are trained to be the “help until professional help arrives.” They are there to assist YOU in case of an emergency and communicate with the city and county and summon 911 resources.

These volunteers recently held a neighborhood emergency drill to practice their skills. They assigned an incident commander, set up a command post, and deployed teams on Arbuelo Way and Valencia Drive to survey building damage, injuries, hazards (eg downed electrical wires) and road blockage from written scenarios. They completed a preliminary safety assessment (PSA), communicated 911 situations using “walkie talkies” and Ham radio, and then submitted the damage/injury/hazard information to a site that in a real emergency would be connected to the city and the county emergency operations centers. Our outstanding Fire Department and Police Department visited the drill answered questions from participants (Thank you, first responders!).

The BAT, CERT and ham volunteers are part of Resilient Los Altos (RLA), a fiscally sponsored project of the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation (LAMV-CF) – see resilientlosaltos.org for more information or email resilientlosaltos@gmail.com.