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Wednesday, November 1, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Cinderella...
FIREFIGHTERS:
Residents were
grateful and generous
Continued from page 1
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
The Sisters High School musical will run November 2-5 at the SHS auditorium. Tickets are available at the
door. More than 90 students are involved in the production.
Teaching teens to be prepared
By Kym Pokorny
Oregon State University Extension Service
CORVALLIS – Across the
field comes a pack of kids,
grabbing food and water and
trying to make it to a safe
house before the zombies
catch and devour them.
Even though they aren’t
real zombies, the teens –
about 400 4-H members so
far – get into the excitement
and play along with the game
designed by Lynette Black to
teach basic emergency pre-
paredness with a twist.
“Zombies are in the cul-
ture right now,” said Black,
an Oregon State University
Extension Service 4-H Youth
Development coordinator.
“It’s a good way to catch the
kids’ attention and teach them
the importance of prepared-
ness. If I call it ‘surviving nat-
ural disasters,’ they just don’t
come. If they think they can
survive a zombie apocalypse,
they’re into it.”
In the wake of summer
storms, wildfires and pre-
dicted earthquakes in the
Pacific Northwest, being
prepared for an emergency is
something everyone should
be doing, she said. While
engaged in the zombie activ-
ity kids learn how to survive
by stocking up on essentials
and relying on their wits to
keep them safe and in good
shape until help comes.
“It’s all about criti-
cal thinking,” said Black,
who leads the game dur-
ing the annual 4-H Summer
Conference on the OSU cam-
pus. “If this happens, what do
I do? And at the next level,
they have to think about sur-
vival as a family.”
The activity, she notes, is
a glorified tag game. In addi-
tion to avoiding zombies, the
humans must pick up colored
balls that stand in for food,
water and first aid before
heading to the safe houses,
designated with hula hoops.
If playing an injured person,
the child is required to limp
or hold an arm in an awkward
position. Bandages cover fake
head wounds. If tagged, you
become a zombie.
The kids love it – even
when they lose.
“There’s a very positive
response,” Black said. “They
hadn’t thought of emergency
preparedness before. This is a
fun way to get them to learn.”
Many of them get moti-
vated enough to go home and
urge their parents to get on
board. One 4-H member has
become a preparedness guru.
His mom told Black that he
came home from playing the
game and put together a sur-
vival kit. Then on a trip to
Alaska he heard about off-the-
grid electrical devices, which
inspired him to build a metal
unit that turns fire into gas for
cars and to heat homes.
“He built it by himself,”
she said. “The zombie game
was the spark. It really
works.”
After giving presentations
on the activity at conferences,
several states have added it
to their 4-H curriculum, said
Black, who’s worked in the
emergency field for 10 years.
The game provides a
springboard for giving kids
more information for survival
beyond food, water and first
aid. Raising livestock and
growing food – which many
4-H members are already
versed in – is one way.
Combined with that is cook-
ing and food safety.
“Leadership, responsibil-
ity and communication skills
are important, too,” Black
said. “Humans must be confi-
dent enough to be competent
leaders to help others to get
away from the zombies. Just
like in a real emergency.”
Basics for emergencies
At home:
• Food for one week. It’s
comforting to eat familiar
foods so stash what your
family likes. Refresh supply
every year.
• Water for two weeks;
1 gallon per person per day.
Cycle through by using the
containers in back for gar-
dening or camping every six
months. If you don’t have
room for gallon-size jugs,
look for seven-gallon ver-
sions at outdoor stores or
online.
• First aid kit
• Flashlight
• Batteries
• Crank or solar radios
• Face mask
• Barbecue, grill or camp
stove (don’t bring inside)
• Tent
• Old pair of shoes under
the bed in case an emergency
happens at night
• Prescription medications
for two weeks (talk to your
doctor or insurance company
for permission to order addi-
tional prescriptions)
• Diapers
• Baby wipes
• Pet food
In the car:
• Good walking shoes,
coat, gloves and hat
• First aid kit
• Flashlight or head lamp
• Pencil and paper for
leaving notes for emergency
crews if cell phones don’t
work
• Whistle
• Coat
• Backpack
• Food
• Water
which we deployed,” Ast
said of the strike team, which
made it to the fire zone in 10
hours.
A strike team is comprised
of all like engines — fire-
fighters from Bend, Sunriver,
and Klamath County all
deployed the Type 3 engine.
While the worst of
the intense firestorm that
destroyed thousands of homes
and businesses and took
dozens of lives in Northern
California had passed, the
Sisters firefighters deployed
to the Santa Rosa area and
patrolled evacuated subdivi-
sions and installed hose line
to reinforce fire lines.
Firefighter David Ward
said they “witnessed some of
the most grateful people ever
— incredibly generous.”
Many of those people had
The Showroom
@
541-904-5162
lost everything in the fires.
“People lost houses and
they were so hospitable,” he
said.
Wa r d s a i d h e w a s
impressed at how efficiently
the massive interagency effort
involving thousands of emer-
gency personnel worked.
“I felt like everybody kind
of meshed together and was
efficient in their tasks,” he
said.
“We were there to fill the
same role that we ask others
to fill,” Ast noted.
That kind of reciprocity is
increasingly important in the
face of more and more mas-
sive, intense and catastrophic
fires.
“I think we’re going to
see more reciprocation,” he
said. “We already have…
I think there’s going to be
more opportunities to work
together.”
The firefighters particu-
larly noted that they appreci-
ated the opportunity to work
closely with colleagues from
Bend and Sunriver.
Redecorate
a te
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