CHIMACUM — All County Preparedness Day, a free opportunity for the public to learn from and interface with emergency management leaders in Jefferson County, will take place today.
The event, presented in partnership between the Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management (DEM), NPREP and the Production Alliance, will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Finnriver Farm & Cidery, 124 Center Road, Chimacum.
NPREP, shortened from neighborhood preparation, is a partnership between the DEM and Local 2020, said DEM Director Willie Bence.
The event starts with coffee and pastries at 9 a.m. Eleven presentations will be split between four different areas starting at 9:30 a.m.
The Pavilion
At 9:30 a.m., Elizabeth Bindschadler of NPREP will present an introduction to preparing for emergencies.
“Readiness for emergencies is one of our basic fundamental presentations on how to get both yourself and your family (prepared), and then starting to get into getting your neighborhood ready,” Bence said.
The presentation will cover items to put into a disaster preparedness home and go kits.
Bence recommended people have kits in their homes that can help sustain them for anywhere from 72 hours to 30 days.
“Thirty days’ worth of supplies is quite a bit of stuff, and there may be moments when you cannot shelter in place,” Bence said. “In that case, something like a wildfire, where you have to leave, having a kit you can take with you that has some food, some water, maybe a change of clothes or two, a toothbrush and some deodorant to keep you feeling fresh, something that you can take on the go is really important.”
DEM also recommends people keep kits in their cars, things like extra water, snacks or an emergency blanket, Bence said. Having a go kit at work also is recommended, Bence said.
A full list of items recommended for go kits is available in the county’s “THINK PLAN DO! Repeat” document.
Other recommended items include flashlights and handheld radios.
Bence said whiskey, playing cards and a book aren’t bad ideas either.
Jefferson County partners with Port Townsend radio stations, KPTZ 91.9 FM and KROH 91.1 FM to broadcast emergency information.
“Basically planning for any and all scenarios, whether you’re at home, at work or on the move,” Bence said.
At 10:30 a.m., Deborah Stinson of NPREP will give a presentation on neighborhood preparedness best practices.
NPREP uses a program called neighbors using neighbors, Bence said.
“During a major crisis, when first responder and public safety resources are overwhelmed, you’re going to have to rely on your own personal preparedness, but also, you’re going to have to work with your neighbors and your community to help respond,” Bence said.
Stinson’s presentation will focus on how to start working with your neighbors and how to put together a neighborhood response plan, Bence said.
“One of the biggest difficulties we face here in Jefferson County, we have a lot of part-timers, folks with multiple homes, who are going to be in Arizona half the year and then here the other half,” Bence said. “We have a lot of vacationers and tourists. We just have a lot of retirees here who are taking their well-earned retirement to travel.”
Overcoming the challenge comes down to the tenacity and persistence of neighborhood organizers in outreach to those individuals when they are available, Bence said.
One neighborhood near the heart of Port Townsend is preparing for the potential that there may be a number of tourists in town when an emergency occurs, Bence said. Some won’t have accommodations, having just come in for the day, he said.
“They’ve done some planning on how to serve as a hub for tourists who are wondering what to do and where to go,” Bence said.
An event like the Wooden Boat Festival can bring in tens of thousands of people from out of the area, Bence said.
Bence said he’s aware that some people may be wary to connect with their neighbors and surrounding community.
“It’s kind of an irony that we’re more connected than ever before with technology, with social media and Zoom and even transportation, but we are seeing people more isolated from community,” Bence said. “Psychologists have talked to disaster survivors, folks who have lived through (Hurricane) Katrina and (Hurricane) Sandy and things of that nature. Folks always speak back almost fondly about the sense of community that the crisis instilled.”
Some people will opt to build their own bunker and prepare to hunker down in isolation. That is their prerogative, Bence said.
“But in all of these major emergencies, we continue to see folks coming together and building community in the moment,” he said.
Building community in the moment is great, and it will happen, Bence said, but NPREP’s focus is on building community beforehand.
“The more that we can build beforehand and already establish those relationships, establish those connections, have those conversations, the better,” Bence said.
Some of the isolation is due to political division, Bence said. Disasters will affect an entire community and require the entire community to respond together, regardless of political affiliation, he added.
At 11:30 a.m., a multi-agency presentation will focus on the overall community response.
“That’s going to be a scripted scenario that we’re going to walk through, that’s going to have participation from us at DEM, our amateur radio operators, that help us communicate,” Bence said. “It’s going to show a little bit of insight on how organized preparedness neighborhoods can interact and communicate with us, as a part of a response here in the emergency operations center.”
The scenario also will have involvement from law enforcement, firefighters and Jefferson County PUD to talk about what those agencies would be doing during a major emergency, Bence said.
“Everyone from elected officials, to public safety, to nonprofits, down to the individual, we’re all part of the same team and we all have to work together to overcome what’s in front of us,” Bence said.
The Hay Barn
At 9:30 a.m., East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR) Chief Bret Black and Community Risk Manager Robert Wittenberg will give a presentation on wildfire preparedness.
“They’ve been doing a lot of work to raise awareness about the wildfire threat in Jefferson County,” Bence said.
They also will share information about their state Department of Natural Resources-sponsored program to provide free home inspections during which they provide recommendations for homeowners on how to build defensible space around their homes.
At 10:30 a.m., Apple Martine, Jefferson County’s director of Public Health, will present on summer heat and smoke safety.
At 12:30 a.m., Melanie Krupa, Beau and Meriel Baker, Helen and Kees Kolff will give a presentation on the Port Townsend EcoVillage, where 36 adults and 10 children live together. The presentation will focus on the work the community has done to create a tight-knit and resilient community, Bence said.
Bence called them a leading example on how community bonds can be formed and how people can work together to increase resiliency and sustainability.
At 1:30 p.m., Black will return to give a presentation called “Wildfire — the Math and Science.”
“This is really the nuts and bolts as to what causes wildfires, how they behave and why the landscape around the wildfire threat is changing in Jefferson County,” Bence said.
To learn more, about wildfire plans in Jefferson County, read the 2024 published Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
The Tasting Porch
At 9:30 a.m., Stinson will present on the topic of neighborhood hubs.
“A hub is a relatively new concept within our NPREP neighborhoods,” Bence said. “A hub is a place that’s set up at the onset of the disaster, for folks to go to, to get more information, and then potentially to offer or request resources or help.”
One person might come to the hub to communicate the need for help moving a tree that has fallen on their driveway. Later, another person might come to the hub with a chainsaw, volunteering to help. The hub is designed to connect those people, Bence said.
Organized neighborhoods in Jefferson County are still developing what hubs might look like in the case of emergencies, Bence said.
About 170 organized neighborhoods have been identified, with 70 confirmed as active, according to recent outreach done by NPREP, Bence said.
To see a DEM map of organized neighborhoods, go to https://tinyurl.com/mvfhxft8.
At 10:30 a.m., Sam Neville, an instructor with DEM’s community emergency response team (CERT) program, will present on structure safety after an earthquake.
“It’s a question we get quite a bit, ‘How am I going to know if my home is safe?’” Bence said. “It’s going to potentially be quite a while before engineers are able to inspect every potentially damaged home.”
The presentation will give people easy insight to make the assessment themselves, Bence said.
The Parlor
At 9:30 a.m., Mary Hunt will give a presentation called “Gardening for Home, Life & Resilience.”
“After a major disruption, grocery store shelves aren’t going to be stocked for very long at all,” Bence said. “Having food stored is one good and necessary strategy for disaster resilience. Also, on a personal level, maintaining a garden and growing your own food is a really great way to increase your food resilience.”
At 10:30 a.m., Dave Codier, a DEM employee who heads the medical reserve corps, will give a presentation called “The Poop on Dysentery.”
“After every major emergency, one of the disasters within the disaster is public health,” Bence said. “After a major flood, obviously there are evacuations, there is destruction of homes, but that stagnant water presents a public health crisis all on its own. Imagine everything beneath your kitchen sink, all of the debris on the side of the road. That all gets washed away by the flood water and creates a gross kind of stagnant soup that’s everywhere.”
Dysentery is a big hazard when fresh drinking water isn’t available, Bence said.
Jefferson Healthcare, the PUD, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, JeffCom 911, Jefferson Transit Authority and many others will make up the 33 community booths that will open at noon in the field.
Jefferson County Public Health has 32 go kits available for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities on a first-come, first-served basis, Bence said.
“That will be a great way for folks with intellectual or developmental disabilities who are living independently or semi-independently to jumpstart their preparedness,” Bence said.
At 1 p.m. in the field, free strawberry shortcake will be provided courtesy of Jefferson Healthcare.
At 3 p.m., there will be games, including tug of war.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
