Lindon City, Utah is conducting their annual citywide preparedness drill on Monday, Sept 13th at 6:00 p.m. All 300 CERT members will meet later that evening at 8:00 p.m.

Overview:
  • All residences in the city are organized in to "Blocks". Each block consists of 10 - 20 homes and has two volunteer block captains.
  • Blocks are a subset of the larger organizational unit "Neighborhoods". Neighborhoods are typically comprised of 10 - 16 blocks.
  • Neighborhoods are a subset of the larger organizational unit "Areas". Areas are typically comprised of 6 - 10 Neighborhoods.
  • There are 3 Areas in the City.
  • LDS Ward and Stake boundaries are used as boundaries for the above units because they exist, most people know them and they tend to capitalize on the long term memory of the boundaries by residents.
  • Disaster and Drill reporting flows as follows: Block > Neighborhood > Area > City EOC
  • Both runners (foot, horse, 4-wheeler, etc.,) and Ham Radio operators (if available) in each block / neighborhood / area are used for communication.
Lindon took 1st place in the nation in 2009 in the drill. They hope to repeat that effort in 2010.

The integration of Ham communications at all levels is new this year. Ham communication is required at the Area and City levels.

A specific disaster scenario has been created for at least one block in each neighborhood. The drill will test the accuracy of the report received at the City EOC from the known text in the scenario.

Twenty-five Block Captains scattered throughout the city will be handed a sealed, block-specific disaster scenario envelope immediately prior to the drill. These Block captains will use the information in scenario to complete the relevant portion of their disaster report that will be sent up line. It should be a good test of the level of information "garbling" after going through four (4) reporting / tabulation steps.

Residents respond to their block staging area promptly at 6:00 p.m. after being alerted by city police sirens and block captains honking horns. The block captains have to account for every person living in their block whether they participate or not and send the block report to the Neighborhood EOC by 6:15 p.m., where the data is collected, tabulated and transmitted by runner and radio to the Area EOC by 6:30 p.m. The Areas collect, tabulate and transmit their data to the City EOC via ham radio only by 6:45 - 6:50 p.m.

Most blocks stay together for a pot-luck dinner and general block preparedness review after the drill.

This portion of the drill should be completed through the City EOC level by 7:00 p.m.

All schools and most businesses in the city will have preparedness drills and training during their normal operating hours that day.

The drill will be covered by local print and broadcast media.

Do your communities have an active emergency preparedness training and drill programs? If not, start them. They can only function if many volunteers shoulder most of the load and assist local government emergency leaders.