i got the bejeezus scared right outta me!

as part of my responsibility as a fire warden for my office, attendance at the annual training session is required. so, renee, louanne and i represented our office and sat through 3 hours of intense, horrific and scary disaster scenarios.

the gentleman who did the training was very passionate about safety, and covered everything from fire drills, bomb threats, biotoxins in the mail, earthquakes, etc. etc. it was very participation-focused so what i thought would be my snooze-time quickly turned into active listening and participation. the trainer had been to almost every major disaster over the past few decades and he shared his personal pictures with us. it's one thing to see the pictures in the news, but to see and hear this man tell his experiences first-hand as a search & rescue worker and former firefighter, it brought everything closer to home.

we learned many important lessons (some were general reminders), some of which i'm going to list now:

• during an earthquake, the safest spot is under a table or desk; the former belief that doorframes were safe is no longer true. if there is no table or desk nearby, then find a corner wall and squat in front of it with your back firmly against the wall (to protect your spine), hands covering your head.
• after an earthquake, always count to at least 10 before leaving your secure spot. there's always a chance of an aftershock.
• anyone in the downtown core after a major earthquake is pretty much screwed. all the bridges would probably be damaged, but even if they weren't, they would be restricted to emergency vehicles only. also, richmond is going to sink to a certain degree, so they're in trouble as well :P regardless of where you live or work, you never know when an earthquake could hit.....we could be anywhere!
• emergency stairs are the safest place to be during a fire, as long as the exit doors are not propped open. remember to use the crossover floors if a stairwell becomes inaccessible as you're exiting, or if there is major conjestion.
• a fire can consume an entire room in less than 30 seconds. we watched a video depicting how that happens. crazy!

while my bullet points above are fairly common sense and what most ppl already know, it was these other points that brought more awareness to the intensity and danger we could face:

• the downtown core will be buried under 6-10 feet of glass from all the buildings. if you are near a building, try to get inside....you wouldn't want to get hit w/huge shards of glass.
• during an earthquake, don't call your family, friends, radio/tv stations (i'm guilty of this from 2001). the lines need to stay clear for emergency situations. wait 90 minutes after the earthquake has ended, then get in contact w/your out-of-town contacts and report that you are safe and where you are. then wait a further 24 hours before calling again to find out about your loved ones.
• sewer systems will probably not be functioning, and hepatitis becomes a risk. what goes in, must come out - the key is to go into a plastic bag in these emergency situations. sounds nasty, but 3 days of contaminated water is even nastier.

i am pleased to say that i am somewhat prepared for 3 days following an emergency. however, i'm only ready at home. if i'm at my parents house, in the car, or anywhere in between, i'm pretty much s-o-l. i do however need to stock up on more water....you can never have enuf! besides, once the packages near their expiry dates, my girls and i are going to eat our meal bars and water. mmm, yum :P