It's been a wet winter here in SoCal and I'm expecting a particularly bad fire season. I live between two green belts so there's a real chance of needing to evacuate to a shelter. I've been putting together an emergency kit based on the FEMA manual with the emphasis of evacuation from a wildfire or earthquake.

For those of you who have worked in the shelters: what made the difference, and what did you wish that the evacuees brought with them? I'm looking for a lessons learned, particularly from the 07 fires in San Diego.

Thanks,
Mark R

One of the best things you can get done when in a shelter is sleep. Not sleeping often means you leave the shelter exhausted. Even if they are giving it away; take it easy on the coffee.

Bring your own pillow. Most people have a decent chance at sleeping on a cot if they have the familiar feel and smell of their own pillow. This particularly true for children. Infants will often sleep more easily if you tuck mom's pillow in next to them. Just be very careful to keep an eye on them so they don't get smothered or tangled up.

If you find yourself in shelter there will pretty much always be some noise and disturbance, they might not actually turn off the light. To allow you to relax and get some sleep bring a sleep mask and earplugs. They are both available for short money at any drugstore. Bring at least one mask and three pairs of ear plugs for each person in your party. The plugs get lost and soiled easily.

If they allow OTC drugs and you are comfortable with using such things a bottle of diphenhydramine, generic benadryl, can be quite handy. Both for anti-allergy use and as a sleep aid.

Fully expect that if you go to a shelter that they will definitely Not allow illegal drugs or weapons. Most will not allow animals. Most are not equipped to handle medical needs. Most shelter offer nothing more than a safe place to stay, a cot, access to a bathroom. Do not expect them to watch or entertain your kids. Don't expect them to provide food, medications, or things you might need.

They may provide more than that, a lot depends on how much time and money they had to work with, but don't expect anything but the bare minimum.

Bring good manners, some common sense and low expectations -- it's a shelter, not a hotel.

I did hear that boredom is common, and one woman who brought a box of paperback books was quite popular in our last flood.

Some earplugs come as a pair on a string, so they're harder to lose.

Sue

I normally wear earplugs, so there's an adaquate supply already in the hygiene bag.

I'm an avid reader, so I'll raid my supply of paperbacks for stuff I can reread. I have, without exageration, several hundred of them.

I don't get along with most commercial sleep aides, but chewable Dramamine is powerful and short lasting.

Weapons is a bit of a gray area. There's no conventional firearms in the kit, but some of it may qualify as weapons. I always have a pocket knife on me (usually a SAK), and there some tools that would make for good weapons (crowbar, utility knives). I figure I'd have to leave the archery tackle behind.

I'm kinda cringing asking this, but musical instruments?

I've worked with Red Cross shelters a lot. For anything over a few hundred people sheltered, I wouldn't expect the shelter to provide anything more than a 2' x 6' piece of floor to sleep on. No cots. Nobody keeps that many on hand. Food should be provided, but be warned that it may be slow and not a great selection. It's hard to feed thousands of people on short notice and on a budget. Animals normally aren't allowed inside, but I've seen a lot of families keep the dog out at their car.

I'd bring bedding, including any air mattress, snacks, possibly whole meals, drinks, games, books, medications, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. It's essentially indoor camping. I wouldn't bring anything too valuable if possible. Security can be spotty at shelters and in the parking lots, especially if people are freaking out.

Boredom is probably the biggest problem I've seen in shelters. Most shelters don't fill up or explode into anarchy, but instead linger on for a week or three with a dozen families or less in them. The kids especially get bored quickly.

If the shelter is crowded, offer to volunteer. That should fight boredom, might get you a better spot to sleep with more space and less noise, and would help others.

I hate to say it, but volunteering might get you better food or at least some variety. Not because anyone buys better food for volunteers, but because people spontaneously donate meals to shelters and the policy normally is that they can't serve it to people (for safety reasons). Volunteers shouldn't eat it either, but it happens.

Most shelters (at least with the training I've taken) will not allow a pocket knife - sorry. I had a debate about this one with shelter management - I work with an organization that works at the shelters , but not the Red Cross itself (I HAVE taken the complete Shelter Managers course however)

To do MY job (radio comms) I NEED tools, screwdrives, pocket knive, cordage, etc - basically, we came up with "when I need it, I go to my truck, and GET it, and I'm escorted while I have it" - sort of like they deal with the kitchen staff - basically, I'm segregated from the normal shelter population - more so that the population can't take MY stuff. I always thought (given the 3-4 locations where I've drilled) we were better off in a staff room (for quiet, privacy etc), and we use runners and or a field telephone that is in my kit to the main shelter area. In that case, they just allow me to bring my box in, and keep it locked up there

Indoor camping I can relate to, I've done a lot of backpacking, including staging out of school auditoriums and other "mildly mitigated bloody great room" locations.

So it looks like my priorities should be creature comforts for sleeping (mask, earplugs, bedding), amusement (books, games, etc), and hygiene/otc medications.

What's the best way to deal with security? I'm less concerned with what insurance will replace and more concerned with documents, photos, and other intangibles that might go for a walkie. I know they're not obvious theft targets, but I've had some less obvious stuff consistantly stolen (e.g. flashlights whenever my car gets broken into).

My impression is that usually the emergency shelters set up for the "normal" disaster situation in southern Cal are underutilized. I imagine that most folks simply check into a motel, or stay with friends and relatives. I would keep going until I found a nice state or national park campground and hang out there. it would be far less regimented and stressful, but then what wouldn't be?

During the 07 fires I stayed at my parents place. The catch is they've almost had to evaculate during previous wildfires. With a half million evacuees hotel/motel lodging is out out the question, and any campgrounds that didn't burn were evacuated in 07.

Pray for the best and prepare for the worst.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2007_California_wildfires

"I would keep going until I found a nice state or national park campground and hang out there."

A good-sized earthquake in SoCal: overpasses down, power poles down, trees down, possible ground fissures and earth/road displacements ... I'll bet you wouldn't get all that far...

I live about 90 miles from Seattle and go there frequently for work. If a good shake hit while I was there, I figure it would take me up to two weeks to get home, because it would be on foot, with three decent rivers to cross. "Okay, guys, who's going to be the first one to test the foot bridge?"

As Lt. Gen. Honoré said after Katrina, "We need to prepare for the worst-case scenarios, not the best-case scenarios". Let's not be like governments!

As far as most of the people here at ETS, a community shelter would be the worse-case scenario but it's still a possibility. I cringe at the thought, myself.

Sue