One year after it was launched as a model for helping families and neighbors to "Be Ready" for a major disaster, the Hagstrom's area of Petaluma held its first Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness Team (NERT) meeting at the Moose Lodge, last night. Over 30 people from five separate neighborhood areas gathered [...]
You might recall that I "Talked" about the Press Democrat's recent article and editorial the impact of Katrina on communities "Getting Ready" in EP Blog #1 (9-7-06). You might also recall that in spite of wake up calls like Katrina and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, one statement said, "no [...]
Yesterday afternoon, Fire Chief Chris Albertson sent out a press release announcing that due to the "high temperatures" in Petaluma, designated public places with air conditioning would be open - primarily for Senior Citizens - today and tomorrow in order to beat the heat. Within a few hours, PetalumaNet was [...]
Last night at Fire Station #2, nineteen residents of our community participated in the final exercise of their CERT Training Course (Community Emergency Response Team). This nine-week, 27 hour course included study units that covered topics, such as: Fire Safety, Medical Operations, Disaster Preparedness, CERT Organization, Disaster Psychology, and Terrorism. [...]
The regular readers of this Weblog know about my recent Sense of Community (SOC) "ranting and raving." More than once, Petaluma's claim to the "Second to None" community label has been stated. (See previous "Our Petaluma" blogs # 1,2,3,4.) These earlier posts have touted how established community organizations like the [...]
Enough is enough! After four hours of viewing various TV documentaries about the "Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906" (Ch. 3,4,7,62), I now know more about what happened back then, than when I lived in S.F. My major concern is about now - 2006. The message is clear. According to [...]