Here's our new "Refusal to Evacuate" doucument - we give this to people who refuse to evacuate before an impending river flood:


You have been advised to evacuate all persons from this structure due to an impending river flood. You have refused to do so despite being offered immediate transportation assistance and free shelter.

We now advise you that once flooding begins, emergency medical services, fire suppression and rescue services will not be provided, for the duration of the flood and possibly for some time after floodwaters recede.

Once flooding begins, your phone and electric service may no longer work. Your drinking water may be contaminated. The structure you are staying in may be severely damaged and may collapse. Your electrical system may become a lethal hazard when in contact with water. Toxic and/or flammable materials such as heating oil, propane tanks, kerosene, sewage, paint, pesticides, solvents and other unknown highly hazardous materials may enter this structure during flooding.

You will not be able to drive on the roads to escape later if you change your mind.
Your refusal to evacuate could lead to the loss of your life and the lives of others who may be in this structure.

You have been given this notice because despite these risks, you have refused to evacuate. We have made an extraordinary effort to give you the opportunity to evacuate and will make no further attempts. You are now on your own.

I don't even live near a river, but you wouldn't have to ask me twice after seeing the damage caused by flooding. You'd have hoped that people would have learned from Katrina. Perhaps it will be a final wake up.

You need to add something like:

Your refusal to leave may result in recovery teams having to collect and identify your body, along with the bodies of others within this structure. Raging flood waters can possibly rip the human body apart. In order to make identification easier, one Identification pouch, and 4 bracelets have been provided. The identification pouch goes around your upper arm, the other 4 are for your wrists and ankles. The one on your forearm contains a place for your drivers license and 2 cards for basic identification information (hair color, eye color, weight, height, etc...), next of kin notification, and the serial numbers of the bracelets around your wrist and ankles. Please give the filled out second card to the notifying official.

Veritcal Upper Arm (Arm)

Tyvek Brand serialized ID bracelets (Ankle)

Very Sobering!!!

Galviston suggested that those who stayed behind write their social security number on their arm with permanent. I wonder how many followed that advice?

Apprently not...

The river is coming up again...we're going to do evacuations (again)...this will be my third time through this is the last 14 months.

We're already hearing grumbles of "it's not a big deal" ....

We'd be ready, willing, and able to evacuate, should we be advised to do so, but we would not leave behind our pets. Some people laugh, but they are part of our family. Would you guys lend people like us a hand in that situation, or would we be on our own?

-- Craig

Hah, have them write their SSN on as many body parts as possible with a water resistant marker to aid in reassembly after the flood <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

The shin bones connected to the thigh bone ....


<img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Sorry, dude, we can't handle pets. Until you've been in a rescue situation, especially a WATER rescue situation, you have no idea just how hectic and hazardous it is - and how little room there is in the evacuation vehicles. If you have to take your pets, then you have to get yourself out. I know that I'd miss my cats, but I also know that in the event I needed to evacuate, I'd leave them behind, no question about it.
I know how strongly people feel about their pets, and more so if they have kids and a "beloved gerbil" or dog. But at the same time, my job is to save HUMAN lives first, and then, possibly, other lives (like pets). Not to mention pets are NOT allowed in a shelter.

So, yeah, if you refuse to go because we can't handle your pets, you're on your own. It's a cold calculus. I can accomodate you and your family, and your dog might take room that one more person needed to get out, so the dog goes. Not to mention the nightmare of two barking, fighting dogs in a boat or in an evacuation center.

No pets. That's the way it is.

I've always felt that waiting until the fire/flood/hurricane is at the door is a really stupid thing to do, but we see it all the time on the news.

If I leave, I'm leaving with a dog, 3 cats & 4 chickens. I'm not planning on going to a shelter. I'm not waiting until the last minute. I'm going to put my important stuff in the truck and I'm taking off.

What's so hard to understand ? Just get out of the way!

Sue

Hey Susan, you are about to turn 400! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I'm with you, though with over 50 feet elevation between me and the nearest river, looks like I'd be heading for the large hill behind my house (another 1000 feet up)

I understand your position. I also understand I'd be on my own.

-- Craig

I'm with you, Susan.

I'd be throwing our dog, carriered cat, and tortoise into the car, and heading out of town -- BEFORE the roads clog up and the stations run out of gas.

I would not leave my four-legged friends behind. A pet is a friend forever. I owe it to them to get ALL of us out of harm's way, quickly.

-- Craig

What are their chances on their own? Pets, I mean.

Martin,

Kudos to whomever thought that up and wrote it. It's about time that someone actually put the oness on people to accept responsibility for their own actions or lack thereof.

My hat's off to you and yours...

M <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

"What are their chances on their own? Pets, I mean."

I work with a local pet rescue. Pets left behind tend to have short lifespans. The usual owner leaves the dog or cat outdoors, and the dog is often chained or trapped in a chainlink kennel.

If they do happen to survive, the chances are excellent that they become strays. Most pets have no form of ID, no collar tag, no microchip. Many of them aren't used to catching their own food, although many cats can adapt and become semi-feral. Dogs that try to catch their own meal are often shot, or at least maimed until they die, as most states allow immediate shooting of any dog seen chasing wildlife or livestock. Pets that become strays usually fall victim to starvation, predators, more vicious dogs, & cars.

Many/most of the pets in America were acquired impulsively, fed the cheapest junk grain food the owner can find, are not spayed or neutered, and are basically treated like stuffed animals that have been discarded due to lack of continuing interest.

People who think they can leave their pets behind just to find them waiting for them on the doorstep wagging their tails when the family returns home have been watching WAY too much television.

Sue

Depending upon the situation, our team will rescue both pets and farm animals. We clearly place a higher priority on human life, but if we are able to perform a rescue safely for an animal, we will attempt the rescue.

We have successfully rescued two dogs, one over a quarry wall, on a ledge and the other in the middle of a winter storm down a sinkhole. Unfortunately, we have not been as successful with horses; one fell off a trail down an embankment, the other in barn collapse during a tornado. Both had to be euthanized due to the severity of the injuries, length of down time and safety issues.

It is always difficult deciding whether it is worth risking human life to rescue an animal, as no rescue attempt is without risk, but we carefully and with deliberation weigh the risk and what we can do to minimize the risk to our team members.

Certainly no one can fault any individual, Fire/Rescue Officer or team for deciding the risk to human life is not worth taking the risk of a rescue or if the resources are required or better reserved for human life safety.

Pete

Agreed.

Craig/Susan,

Hopefully you live someplace less populated than Houston, Texas. The roads out of town here were at a standstill on Wednesday even though Hurricane Rita wasn't predicted to hit until Saturday morning.

-Blast

I live in SW Houston and evacuated on Thursday with my 2 dogs. I left gas,food and water behind to make room for more them and would do so again.

Bob

Appreciate the wishes, but I live north of King of Prussia, PA. Google it if you want. If there's an accident on the major artery, Route 422, the entire area becomes a parking lot.

I can think of having to evacuate for only two events: (1) a fire in our development -- that already happened on a nearby street (more on that below), (2) or if a problem developed with the nuclear plant just up the road, in Limerick. Limerick Generating Station.

The fire was something to behold. The fire department had the entire development blocked off to cars. I work late, so by the time I got home, I was able to get home. The flames shot high into the air.

The whole unit, six townhomes, was evacuated. Found out later it was a murder-suicide. Some woman killed her mother and then used a lit match and her natural gas pipeline to blow the place up. Blew the roof off but didn't do too much damage to the adjoining units. The residents still had to live elsewhere for some time.

Yikes. Not a pleasant thought. I'm much more worried about a fire than I am about the nuclear plant.

My sister, who lives about 30 minutes down the rode and out of the Red (notice how it rhymes with "dead?") Zone for the nuke plant, said she'd take us (and our pets) in, so that part is done.

Now we're slowly (due to monetary considerations) building our kits with a view toward bugging in or even walking to my sister's.

-- Craig