Emergency Services

Emergency Management:

Emergency Management functions at every level of government in the United States, including here in Wallace Township. This has come about due to events such as the Oklahoma City Bombing, the 9/11 attack, earthquakes in California as well as other events. Emergency Management focuses on an “all hazards” approach in preparing for catastrophic events in the United States which is under the cabinet level Department of Homeland Security and is mandated by federal law. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is responsible for all civil defense in the United States. This mandate filters down to the state, county and local levels and also affects all of us in Wallace Township.

What you can do now to be prepared…

• Know at least two routes in and out of your development, and to and from your place of employment
• Have a minimum of 3 days of water and food on hand at all times
• You can easily do this by rotating a little extra food in your kitchen, or purchase freeze dried camping type meals from most any outdoor/sporting goods store
• Have bottled water on hand
• Keep an eye on expiration dates and refresh food and water regularly
• Hand cranked or battery operated radios are available which will work if the electricity is out
• Candles or gas camping lights and camp stoves are good options as well

Prepare your refrigerator for loss of power:

• Keep a gallon of water frozen in your freezer
• It will be a large compact source of cold that will keep your frozen items cold much longer if you lose electricity.
• Use an empty plastic milk carton, fill it with water, then squeeze some of the water out to allow for expansion of the ice and freeze it. Food will stay frozen longer.
• If you freeze two of them, once you lose electricity move one to the refrigerator to keep food fresh for a greater period of time.

What will affect you the quickest:

If you lose basic services such as electricity and heat, knowing what will pose the quickest risk to your health will be a big help in planning what actions to take first. The most urgent threat to your safety is loss of heat, followed by lack of water, then lack of food. So your first priority is to keep warm , next is to have water available, then food.

NOTE: Humans can live beyond 30 days without food, but can die within hours from exposure to cold. Prepare accordingly!

Preparing for bad weather:

If bad weather is in the forecast, (see below), take some basic actions to be prepared in case you do not have running water. You can still flush your toilet if you have water available, so fill your bath tub and kitchen pots and pans with water, and when you need it, pour water into your toilet and flush it.

http://www.readynotifypa.org/

You can sign up at the above link to receive alerts about emergencies, road closures and severe weather on your cell phone or computer. You will automatically receive notifications. It is easy to sign up and it is free.

More helpful links:

http://www.ready.gov/

http://www.redcross.org/prepare

http://dsf.chesco.org/des/site/default.asp

As well as many other sites on the internet.

We hope this short piece helps you. Please contact the township for help or additional information if needed.

The basic premise put forth by law is that in the event of any disaster or emergency – even a minor vehicle accident – the first people typically on scene to assist are the people present at the scene when the accident occurs.

Community responders…

In the event of a major disaster, local emergency resources are fully deployed very rapidly, leaving a need for additional support. In the case of large scale disasters, it is frequently the case that local citizens will play a key role in rescue and recovery efforts alongside emergency responders. With this in mind, all citizens have a way to be trained for such events. The CERT program (Community Emergency Response Teams) is a free training program available locally to all adults. Basic response skills are taught such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. See: http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/about.shtm

Responses to disaster are in a tiered effort where first, all local resources are used, then help is requested from the county, then assistance is requested at the state level, then it goes to the federal level. At each level, there are people and resources of all kinds trained and ready to help out. Of course if the situation is very large, again, it may take time for help to arrive so your preparation, in advance may be critical.

As you can see, the traditional “help” we all hope is only a 911 phone call away, may not be able to help us in a major event. Even a large snow fall or a strong rogue wind that fells trees, can make roads impassable, as happened recently in Wallace Township, so it is the responsibility of each of us to prepare – on our own – for our and our family’s ability to survive and well being.

With this in mind there are actions you can take in advance to prepare for such an eventuality, and there are numerous places on the internet that provide excellent guidance. Hopefully this information will spur you to research how to prepare your family to think about and plan in advance – before you need help. An internet search for “prepare for disaster”, or FEMA or Department of Homeland Security or Chester County Emergency Services, or Red Cross, will take you to a great deal of information and guidance.

The responders here in Wallace Township include Pennsylvania State Police as well as our local, entirely volunteer, Glen Moore Fire Company. Ambulance services are provided by several agencies (Uwchlan Ambulance, Elverson EMS, and an ambulance contracted from Westwood EMS) depending on your specific location. The Emergency Management Coordinator for Wallace Township is Mac Kirkpatrick, and his assistant is Robert Jones, a member of the Board of Supervisors. They are available to help you plan for an event; please call the township office for Mac Kirkpatrick’s phone number.