The following is a report from Sean Kellythorne. Sean was the CERT Incident Commander for the OK Ojai Drill and was stationed at the Ojai Police Station (Emergency Operations Center) on Ventura Street.
OK Ojai Exercise
The OK Ojai Disaster Preparedness exercise turned out to be a great success.
We had more than a hundred volunteers taking part in the exercise, including CERT trained members, Red Cross Volunteers, Ham Radio Operators and people who just wanted to help. We also had almost seven hundred families that put their “OK” signs in their windows.
The Ojai Police Department opened the Incident Command Center for our Amateur Radio Communication Unit. The Chief of Police was on site, along with the County Fire Department Battalion Chief and Public Information Officer.
The new Reverse 911 and the AM 1610 local radio were tested and shown to be invaluable tools in rapidly notifying residents of potential problems. Once the exercise started the local Incident Command System of the Amateur Radio Communication team permitted us to assess the exercise within one hour.
So what does this mean to Ojai Valley citizens? It means that the Ojai Valley is more OK than it has ever been in the event of a disaster. It means: that in a disaster every OK sign means one less home to check out; there are more than one hundred trained volunteers who can be in action immediately and supplement a limited Fire and Police force; we have an effective emergency communications network in the event power failures; it means that we have a community that cares about our families, friends and neighbors.
It also demonstrated the effectiveness of dedicated and trained volunteers supporting our community. It is a testament to the people of Ojai Valley and our willingness to volunteer and do what needs to be done for our community when the chips are down. As local Ojai Valley residents we encourage you to participate in your community as a volunteer responder.
In my opinion, Ojai Valley has proven to be more than OK. It is outstanding.
The thank you list is too long to include everyone however there are some that merit special notice.
Supervisor Steve Bennett and his representatives for Ventura County support. Ojai Mayor Sue Horgan for City of Ojai support. Chief of Police Bruce Norris for opening the doors to the Ham Radio Group. The Ojai Valley News for publicity.
Sean Kellythorne
Paul Garth
Beth Von Gunten
Welcome to Ojai Valley CERT
IMPORTANT UPDATE.....
THIS WEB-SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED.
PLEASE GO TO HTTP://OJAIVALLEYCERT.ORG
This blog provides information to those interested in CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) activities in The Ojai Valley, CA. CERT works in partnership with OVARC (Ojai Valley Amateur Radio Club) which provides Ham Radio Communications - http://www.ovarc.org/.
http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert is a good place to begin learning about CERT. The fact is, immediately after a major disaster, each of us will be on our own while Emergency Services Personnel (Fire, Hospital, Police, Hospitals, etc) figure out what happened and how to respond. CERT teaches valuable self-preservation skills and empowers each of us to be of service to ourselves, family, neighborhood and community. By integrating CERT with Ham Radio, citizens can effectively communicate actionable information from the field to the Emergency Operations Center -- help will be on the way sooner.
Please check out the CERT Calendar & Map at the bottom of this web-page and sign our Guestbook (top right of page).
