Wildfires: Staying safe when fire and smoke threaten

Last year, a record 10.1 million acres were burned by wildfires in the United States. In California alone, more than 2,500 structures were destroyed.

Image: FEMA

But wildfires don’t just threaten property. They also threaten lives. The smoke alone can cause trouble breathing, wheezing, chest pain or an asthma attack. That’s why it’s important to learn about wildfires in your area and have an emergency plan.

So how can you protect yourself from wildfires this year? First off, make an emergency plan. Identify at least two evacuation routes out of your neighborhood and agree on a meeting place for your family. You should also create an emergency kit, including food, water, a flashlight, radio, batteries and medications.

You can also prepare your home by making a 30-foot safety zone. This means clearing vegetation within 30 feet of your house, and removing debris from your roof. If wildfires are reported near your area, be ready to evacuate. Listen to local news reports, and close your windows and doors. After a wildfire, do not return to your home until officials say it’s safe.

Apps and alert systems can also keep you in the know. Download the American Red Cross’ free wildfire app and bookmark its online shelter finder map. Staying up on what’s happening locally is critically important, so be sure and download preparedness apps created just for your area and subscribe to electronic alerts.

For more tips, read and share our wildfire fact sheet.

Get Ready website wins Web Health Award

Last week, APHA’s Get Ready campaign was delighted to learn that our website, www.aphagetready.org, won a Web Health Award. http://www.healthawards.com/wha/index.html

The Web Health Awards are announced twice a year by the Health Information Resource Center. The awards are to honor “the nation’s best digital health resources.”

The Get Ready website, which features fact sheets, podcasts, videos and other materials related to emergency preparedness, won a bronze award. Our winning entry was chosen from nearly 600 entries judged by a panel of experts in digital health media.

For a full list of winners, visit the center’s website.

Congratulations to Get Ready!  Let us know what we can do to make the Get Ready website even better.

Help us get the word out: It’s time to Set Your Clocks, Check Your Stocks on Nov. 4!

When daylight saving time ends this Sunday, Nov. 4, it’s a great time to check your emergency stockpile for expired items. That’s the idea behind Get Ready: Set Your Clocks, Check Your Stocks!

The campaign uses the twice annual clock change as a reminder for people to check that nothing in their stockpile has been misplaced, is expired (leaky batteries, anyone?) or needs replenishing.

You can help your friends, family and community be prepared for the next disaster by spreading the word. Here are just some of the ways you can get the word out:

1.  Check out our free materials to educate people about building and updating an emergency stockpile.
2. Share one of our free e-cards to remind people to check their stocks.
3. Remind your Twitter followers or Facebook friends! Check out our sample tweets for some ideas.
4. Share our Set Your Clocks, Check your Stocks video!
5. Get logos for your blog or website as well as more resources and ideas at our clocks and stocks page.

Thanks for spreading the word and helping your community get ready!

Get ready for hurricane season: It’s National Hurricane Preparedness Week!

For people living on the Atlantic side of the U.S., hurricane season starts this Friday, June 1. To help prepare, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have teamed up to bring you National Hurricane Preparedness Week, which runs May 27-June 2.

Each day of National Hurricane Preparedness Week has its own theme, including hurricane basics, dangers like winds and flooding, storm preparation and after-storm cleanup. Check out the poster below for the schedule, and click through for more information.

NOAA has predicted that we may see one to three major hurricanes this season. Already this month, two tropical storms — Alberto and Beryl  — have popped up, causing high winds, rains and power outages. That’s why it’s important to prepare now.

Are you ready for a hurricane? Check our fact sheets in English and Spanish (PDFs).

Tips for creating a useful first-aid kit

Do you have a first-aid kit at home? If so, when’s the last time you checked on the contents and made sure you have what you need? If you’re not sure, you’ll want to listen to the latest episode of our Get Ready Report podcast series and find out what it takes to have a useful kit.

The episode features advice from Richard Bradley, MD, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, on what should go in to a good first-aid kit — and why those items should be there. Bradley is a member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council and chair of their CPR Subcouncil. In other words, he’s an expert in getting ready for emergencies!

First, Bradley says everyone should have a first-aid kit in their home — and in their car, too. First-aid kits are important both for household emergencies that require quick response and treatment and in case of a disaster.

“The emergency medical services that we expect to be there in just a few minutes during normal conditions may take a lot longer or may not be able to come at all if there’s an injury after a disaster,” Bradley says.

Bradley says there are several items that should be in any first-aid kit: gloves and other personal protective equipment, an assortment of bandages and common medication to treat fever and pain, such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Bradley also talks about items that don’t need to be in your first-aid kit, such as first-aid creams.

Whether you buy a pre-made first-aid kit or put together your own, it’s clear that having a kit is an important part of getting ready.

“I can tell you anyone who I see who comes into my emergency department never planned when they woke up that morning that they were going to have an emergency,” Bradley says. “So you will never know when the day will come when something will happen when you’ll need to respond.”

For more tips, listen to the podcast online now or check out the transcript. For handy reference, print and save this Healthy You tipsheet from The Nation’s Health, APHA’s newspaper.

Don’t miss an episode of Get Ready Report. Subscribe to our podcast series via iTunes.

Did you remember to set your clocks this morning?

Daylight savings time started this morning - did you remember to set your clocks? Chances are, you did.

Now for a more difficult question: Did you check your stocks?

Here at Get Ready, we believe that the time change is also a perfect time to make sure you're prepared for a disaster. If you have already created an emergency stockpile, today's the day to make sure that nothing is missing or expired. If you haven't created one, today's a great day to start! Head over to our Set Your Clocks, Check Your Stocks page to learn everything you need to know about creating and maintaining  an emergency stockpile - even on a budget (PDF)!

We've also created some fun ways to remind friends and family to check their stocks. Check out our new YouTube video:

You can also send one of our new Set Your Clocks, Check Your Stocks e-cards for free. (click through to see all of the designs!)

There you have it:  a whole host of resources to help you get - and stay - ready. Enjoy!

This Valentine’s Day, love your family enough to have a plan

What’s the greatest gift you can give your family this Valentine’s Day?

We’ll give you a hint: It’s not covered in chocolate.

The best gift you can give to your loved ones is to be ready for an emergency. As the Federal Emergency Management Agency explains in its Ready.gov video, below, “Before a disaster turns your family’s world upside-down, it’s up to you to be ready.”

Here are some basic steps that you need to take to get ready for a disaster:

• Think about the types of emergencies that could happen where you live. Do you live in an area prone to flooding? Are you often in the path of tornadoes or hurricanes? The Get Ready campaign has fact sheets available for many types of disasters to help guide your plans.

• Have an emergency kit ready. Make sure you have adequate supplies of drinking water, food, essential medicines and emergency medical supplies, as well as tools such as flashlights, a radio and plenty of batteries. Take a look at our full checklist. 

• Make a plan. If a disaster knocked out cellphone service, how would you communicate with your family? Where would you meet up with your loved ones in an emergency? What are the evacuation routes in your town? FEMA’s Ready.gov website has tools to help you put your emergency plan in writing.

To help you talk to your loved ones about getting ready for an emergency, we've made some free Valentine's Day e-cards. They're a fun way to share our message: "I love you enough to have a plan." Check out all of our cards on the Get Ready website!

Being prepared for emergencies doesn’t take a lot of time or money, but it does require that you sit down with the people you care about, make a plan and gather some supplies. A few hours of preparation now could save the lives of those you love in the future.

We think that’s a way better gift than a box of chocolates.

Get ready for an earthquake: It’s the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut!

Are you ready for an earthquake? If you live in the Central United States, tomorrow is a great opportunity to practice your preparedness skills, as millions of Americans in nine states will participate in the second annual Great Central U.S. ShakeOut.

Scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 7, the ShakeOut will give residents the chance to participate in simulations so that they know what to do when an earthquake hits. As the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut website reminds us, it’s important to participate in these drills because “to react quickly you must practice often. You may only have seconds to protect yourself in an earthquake, before strong shaking knocks you down — or drops something on you."

Drop, Cover, Hold On image courtesy www.dropcoverholdon.org

Earthquake drills are important because earthquakes can happen anywhere, any time — as millions of Americans learned on the East Coast in 2011. What’s more, people can be confused by conflicting information about the best thing to do in an earthquake. While some people believe that they should run outside or get into a door frame during an earthquake, these are no longer recommended as safe practices. According to experts, the best way to protect yourself is to drop, cover and hold on.

Here’s a great video about the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut, which includes a group of children practicing a drop, cover and hold on drill.

If you don’t live in the Central U.S., there are other ShakeOut drills planned later this year for other U.S. states and around the world. Of course, you don’t have to wait to organize your own earthquake preparedness drill. There are plenty of free resources available to help you get ready.

Check out our Get Ready earthquake preparedness fact sheet, available in English (PDF) or Spanish (PDF).

For resources to plan your own earthquake drill, visit the ShakeOut website. For a fun take on home earthquake preparedness, try your hand at this online game.

If you are participating in the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut, we’d love to hear how it goes. Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below!