By Jeff Wiehe
The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana)
Copyright 2007 The News-Sentinel
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — As the countdown on the giant digital clock hit just under 18 hours Tuesday, two women and a man walked up to tents planted outside on the lawn of the Fort Wayne Fire Department’s Station 10 at the corner of North Anthony Boulevard and Crescent Avenue.
They were only Nos. 13, 14 and 15 to show any interest in the three men living in those tents, a trio of emergency workers from different agencies who had camped out during the past two-plus days as part of a “challenge” in hopes of teaching the general public ways to prepare for a disaster.
“Is it going how we expected? I’d have to say no,” said Victor Hopkins, an Allen County Sheriff’s officer in the patrol division. “We had picked this spot because we thought it would spark curiosity, especially after the television (media) spots. Not very many people have stopped.”
Hopkins, along with Steve Ealing, a field paramedic with Three Rivers Ambulance Authority, and Fort Wayne firefighter Brian Vanderbosch camped out for 72 hours with different levels of food and supplies to show the community ways to prepare for a disaster when help may not be immediately available. They were expected to end their stay at 8 a.m. today.
Hopkins and Ealing are trainers for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), a program that trains people to provide initial assistance during an emergency, such as a tornado, flood or ice storm, until professional first responders can arrive.
Part of the challenge’s purpose was to recruit people who know the communities they live in better than anybody else. These people, according to Ealing, will know where there are elderly people who may need help in preparing for disasters or need immediate help, or they may be able to help others when emergency workers are tied up.
Ealing, who spent time in New Orleans immediately after Hurricane Katrina, stressed the importance of storing food that is ready to eat. He also said people don’t think about things like medication, water filtration, shelter, how they’ll go to the bathroom or how tough communication could be in a disaster.
He said people should store small amounts of food each week, food that doesn’t necessarily need to be cooked, so they’ll have a stockpile.
“If this were a true emergency, that store could be there, but it’s not going to be open,” said Ealing as he pointed across the street at a Scott’s. "...Somebody could have $2,000 worth of groceries and still die, starve to death, if they can’t cook it.”
Hopkins prepared for the three days outside using foods he bought at local stores -- mainly noodles, beef jerky and other foods that can be easily prepared. Ealing used Meals Ready to Eat. Vanderbosch, who is not a member of (CERT), used a kit he bought on the Internet.
Each way works, though for Vanderbosch’s first time, he said he found it hard watching Hopkins dish up his meals.
“I drool when these guys eat,” he said. “But it puts food in the stomach.”