Red Cross (etc) Emergency Shelters

Has anyone ever actually been to one of these? What are they really like?

A recent thread indicated that what you bring could be confiscated. I'm not talking guns & knives, but useful things like granola bars and blankets. Is this true?

How do they operate? How do they feed everyone? What do they use for toilet facilities? Water? Power?

Just an overview of what it's like is all I'm looking for. Just curious, as I am not likely to abandon my pets for some reheated macaroni & cheese and a collection of screaming kids and complaining teenagers.

Sue

Susan, I was a volunteer for American Red Cross for many years. You will get fed at any shelter run by the ARC. Shelters are generaly in schools, churches, National Guard Armories and fairgrounds.
Any place that has space for a lot of folding cots and kitchen facilities. Shelter sites are picked ahead of time and factored into the overall Disaster Plan, so the School next to the chemical factory won't get picked. Some times shelter items like, cots, blankets, water, MRE's etc are pre positioned at the shelter site. Any other services such as medical aid, bottled water give away, etc are co-located. Shelter Management is a speciality within ARC with trained people to do it. For practice setting up a shelter is worked into disaster drills ,weekend "mini university" training days and apartment house fires also provide some practice. ARC actually has a well thought out training program. Initially you may get MRE's or food from local restuants, agreements with local restuarnts are made ahead of time. Life in a shelter is not great, but if it's your only choice it's O.K. No pets, alcohol, drugs or guns and not much privacy. And usually no showers. Generally, if you really don't need to be there, don't be there. Meals will also be driven out to the affected area in the ERV's (special ARC trucks). So people can eat while working to clean up their places. It takes time to get Mutual Aid from nearby ARC into the area, so PSK, BOB and 72 hour kits are essential. You might be told that you can't bring in a whole bunch of stuff, but nothing gets confiscated. As a matter of fact, ARC can only give out food that they have prepared. So all the cookies etc that nice people bring to the shelter get eaten by the ARC people, can't give it to the public since ARC doesn't know how it was prepared. The shelter people are happy when people show up with their own sleeping bags, flashlights, toy for child, etc. Hopefully the shelter has power or a generator, if not it's lanterns and flashlights. Whatever restroom facilities are there or porta potties. All these things go into sellecting shelters before hand and working the location, size, facilities available and access into the overall plan. Thigs tend to improve at a shelter as more aid arrives and people leave. That's what comes off the top of my head. Good question, thanks for asking.

Dave

Thank you very much, Dave! That's just what I wanted to know. It would have to be a drop-dead last resort for me to use a shelter, but it's really nice to know what to expect.

Sue

Last resort for me too. I'll take the MRE's, bottled water, etc. But, I'd rather live in a tent in my backyard.

Dave

Dave,

Does the ARC search anyone or their belongings? If I had a handgun, knife, and pepper spray and they were never visible would there be searches or metal detectors to try to find weapons?

Thanks!

The "No Pets" rule rules out that option for us. We're not going anywhere without our pets, a dog, a cat, and a box turtle. I understand the reason for the rule, however. We'll stick it out in the car. I'd rather be there than in a shelter, anyway.

A friend of mine insists pet vaccinations are a conspiracy hatched by pharmaceutical firms. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> I have "discussed" this with her until I ran out of breath. I got nowhere. Go figure.

Has anyone else run into this kind of attitude?

-- Craig

I will probably get some flame for this but I'm going to say it anyway. It's important for people with small children to think of bug out, shelter and other similar situations realistically. I really like my dog but if comes down to abandoning the dog to do what's best for my two year old son, then, well, good luck dog, you're on your own. I would not hesitate or second guess that decision. When it comes to my little boy's safety it's an easy decision. Just my opinion of course.

Oops! Point taken. If you have children, of course, it's a different story. Your kids come first and they should. They are your legacy.

We don't have any kids. We are, as they say, "childfree" by choice. Our pets are our kids. Well, we spoil them just like they were kids, anyway, except we don't have to pay for college!

-- Craig

The Shelter mangaement people have their hands full. If you have a prohibited item that is seen, you will be asked to leave. The Police may asked to "assist" in your departure. ARC isn't interested in searching people or confiscating stuff. There is too much to do, if someone is a problem they will be dealt with. If you can drive to the shelter, items could be left locked in your car. I've never heard of metal detectors being set up. There is just way to many other things to do that actually help people, especially in the initial stages. You can always just show up for the food and water and leave. People have been known to take turns doing this to avoid bringing in a prohibited item.

Dave

Is it possible / useful for someone with no training to volunteer once at the shelter? I'd feel useless just sitting around. I mean, if nothing else, I can take out the trash or something.

I looking at my last post I would like to emphasise that I'm really not trying to be a jerk. I just want people with kids or eldery family members or others who truely depend on them for their safety and survival to think about the possibility of having to make that choice. Again, I'm not trying to be a jerk and I do love my dog (just not as much as my son). In my specific situation my dog also has a much better chance of surviving without my help than my son ever would, although that isn't really the point here.

The point is that I would just hate for someone to devise an unrealistic plan with no contingency plan and then realize that they have to make that difficult decision after the SHTF or while it is hitting the fan. Best to deal with the harsh possibilities ahead of time IMHO so that you can react quickly, concisely and accurately when placed in an emergency situation. This applies to lots of tough decisions and moral judgement calls that may need to be made in a survival situation especially large scale natural or man-made disaster situations. The possibility of abandoning a pet is really just one example.

Short answer is NO. It's far to late to train anyone to do anything usefull at that point. All the trainers are busy"doing" . Generally names are taken and afterwards everyone is contacted and training is set up. ARC gets flooded with well meaning people after every disaster, just not much you can do with them at the time. That's why trained people are flown flown in from all over for large scale disasters.
So if you are interested, contact your local Chapter and get started. I was able to get some good training at the Chapter and Mini Universities ,went to a couple Expos and even got to spend a week at The Ca. Specialized Training Institute. They actually flew a guy in from NYC to talk to us for 1 lecture, then he flew back. I can also recomend the FEMA self study Emergency Response to Terrorism as well as free publiucations from FEMA.
FEMA
Po Box 2012
Jessup, MD
20794-2012
Ask for FEMA Publications Catalog

Of special note : Emergency Response Guidebook 8-0660.
This allows you to look up chemicals by the placard # on trucks. Nice for long drives, and usefull to see what gets trucked thru you area.
OK, that's probably enough from me.

Dave

I wonder what items might be "prohibited." Being a flashaholic, I have enough trouble finding room on my person to carry all the SureFires, Inovas, and Photons I want to have with me.

Don't own any firearms. The biggest thing I carry is my Victorinox SwissTool R/S. People might have a problem with my Mouse Lite from Blade-Tech , but I can't imagine they would. I rarely use it in public, it looks non-threatening, and its blade is less than two inches long.

-- Craig

Prohibited items. Guns, alcohol, drugs, pets. I don't think a SAK in your pocket would be a problem, unless you were waving it around. On the other hand, someone that shows up with a sword, battle axe and spear might be a problem. Flashlights (like most items in a BOB) are fine, they actually lessen the burden on the shelter.
Dave

I wish I HAD a sword, battle axe, or spear.

Now THAT would be cool. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Wouldn't that kind of thing to a shelter, though.

When you say drugs, I presume you mean the illegal sort. The kind you see in 1970s cop movies. I have plenty of prescription meds for my daily headaches and migraines.

-- Craig

That is exactly how I feel. I will do everything I can to save my birds and spiders, but my kids come first. I just found out I am having another grandkid. My kids are my legacy, they come before me and always will.

I would sacrifice my life to save my kids and I would hope that one of my animals would do the same if they were given the chance. I would risk my life to save one of my animals if it were in harms way. We are a big family but the kids are always number one.

I am sure there are things you can do in the shelter to help out, if not gather up some of the kids and play games to keep them occupied. That will also get you in with the parents and they will help you out anything you need when they can. You can also read to the elderly people. Candy and I helped a neighbor out for a while a couple of years back because we are kind people, after he died the lawyer called and said he put us in his will. We didn't think much of it until he told us we got a house, car and a whole lot of money. It was cool of him to do that but we never knew anything, we thought he was a poor old man with no family.

I think I probably come into the "jerk" category. I am not sentimental about animals. I would never risk my life, or anyone else's, to save a pet.

(I keep cats; they're pretty independent.)

I think maybe it is more a question of reasonableness. I have invested a certain amount of time, money, and care into my dog. He serves a useful purpose (goes out into the cold water to get the birds I shoot), and he is a companion. I would, based on my need, take a certain risk to save his life. I would expect the rest of the family to do likewise, mindful that our needs exceed those of the pet.

I agree with you. My dog and I have a deal. I provide food, water, shelter, and attention, and in return he barks at intruders and licks my face. I can't imagine any circumstance where I would abandon him voluntarily. Of course if I am injured that is another matter. In that case I would have to rely on my family and friends to take care of him.

Ever notice that in the movies no matter what the disaster is and whatever horrible fate awaits the humans, that the family pet always survives?

Regards, Vince

Considering the number of people who don't take proper care of their pets under NORMAL circumstances, I have no doubt of the great numbers that would be abandoned in an emergency.

Sue

Don't doubt that may will be abandoned

I took the RC shelter manager series of classes, even if I'm only expected to do radio comms. We were told "ONLY service animals" (they don't have to be dogs - I've seen a service pony - not kidding) This has lead us to throw some real twists into some of our drills - service dogs, etc - the most fun was "service elephant" - made THAT shelter manager do a double take, and think on his feet