October 2014
NEWS
The Southwest Portland Post • 7
Moss Street/28th Avenue neighbors learn what to do in case of major emergency
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
You’re working in your garden; the
kids are at school; and your partner
is still at work.
Suddenly, a 7.9 earthquake hits and
all hell breaks loose. Electricity is off;
water mains are bursting down the
street; and the smell of rotten eggs is
prevalent, which you remember is the
odor of a gas leak.
The Big One has hit. Now what?
Perhaps it isn’t an earthquake.
Maybe it’s a flood, a storm, or some
bacterial incident.
Are you prepared? Some are, some
just a little, but most, probably not.
Folks that live in the Moss
Street/28th Avenue neighborhood are
at least a little bit closer to knowing
what to do when the stuff hits the fan.
On one of the hottest Sundays of
summer, over 30 neighbors gathered
at a private home to meet and learn
what to do in a major emergency.
Volunteer neighborhood rescuers
will likely be the first on-the-scene
when firefighters and police are
slowed by impassable streets or over-
whelmed by calls for help.
“Not if an emergency happens,”
emphasized Bob Cogan, Neighbor-
hood Emergency Team captain, “but
when an emergency happens, we all
need to coordinate as a team.”
Whether it’s the Big One that seis-
mologists are predicting or a major
storm that may hit the Northwest,
residents of the Moss Street/28th NET
were linked together in a listserv, a list
of skills and tools, and communica-
tion instructions.
Under the coordination of trained
team captains Bob Cogan and his
cousin Jeanne Fitzgerald, participants
saw firsthand emergency food ra-
tions, water requirements, wind up
radios and flashlights, and learned
how to put out small fires.
The Portland Fire Bureau’s Engine
18 truck arrived to the delight of
young and old children alike and
firefighters started a couple of fires
in an outdoor grill.
The firefighters demonstrated fire
extinguisher dos and don’ts, how
to put a fire out but still call 9-1-1.
How to recognize that your fire ex-
tinguisher, that’s been stowed away
for seven years, most likely doesn’t
work anymore.
In addition to emergency prepared-
ness, a rare occurrence of three new
families moving right in a row within
weeks of each other was welcomed to
the street.
Erika Nebel, staff from City Com-
missioner Steve Novick’s office, was
present to answer any city questions.
“This neighborhood doesn’t wait for
National Night Out,” exclaimed Stuart
Ellis, a long-time resident. “We
have national
nights out, and
days out, year
‘round.”
According to
Ellis, the neigh-
bors have been
getting together
not only for par-
ties and BBQs,
but organized
to move hot
tubs, help with
the semi-annu-
al Southwest
Neighborhoods,
Inc. Cleanup,
cut downed
trees, provide Ken Hittle, puts a small fire out with an extinguisher at the Moss
assistance to the Street/28th neighborhood meeting. (Post photo by Erik Vidstrand)
elderly, and sup-
port a family who lost a loved one.
they came anyway and now will form
“Heck! We even share hops and
their own NET that fits their geogra-
grapes to make wine and beer,” said
phy and dynamics.”
Ellis.
For information on how to form a NET
“Some of the neighbors were on the
team for your particular area, or how to
border of the actual Moss Street/28th
join an existing NET team, please visit
team boundary,” Cogan added, “but
www.netportland.org.
Voices from our past
Running for the Democratic nomi-
nation for president in March 1968,
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy made a cam-
paign stop at Portland State Univer-
sity. A reel-to-reel audio tape of that
event was discovered by an archivist
at PSU in 2013, along with more than
250 hours of political speeches from
luminaries of the 1950s, ‘60s and
‘70s including poet Allen Ginsberg,
astronomer Carl Sagan, novelist Toni
Morrison, and civil rights activist
Stokely Carmichael, just to name a
few. Miraculously, nearly all of the
tapes were transferred to a digital
format intact. Best of all, they were
posted online for all to listen to.
Called the Oregon Public Speakers
Collection, these amazing voices from
our past can be heard at pdxscholar.
library.pdx.edu/orspeakers. The
cover story, “The Lost Tapes” by John
Kirkland can be read in the Fall 2014
issue of Portland State Magazine.
– Don Snedecor
(Photo by Craig Hickman)
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