EDGARTOWN, Mass. — In the wake of the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, in which over 1,300 people died, emergency agencies across the country are re-examining their own response and evacuation capabilities, and many communities are finding themselves to be clearly lacking. Emergency Film Group of Edgartown, MA has produced “Protective Actions: Evacuation/Shelter-in-Place,” a training program to help jurisdictions create a plan to protect their population during times of crisis. The program provides guidance for those who may need to make a decision about evacuating all or part of their community, and offers basic training for everyone involved in implementing protective actions, including law enforcement, fire departments, public health, public works, emergency medical, emergency management, and others.
“Protective Actions: Evacuation/Shelter-in-Place” addresses incidents that occur with no warning - such as terrorism incidents, earthquakes and hazardous materials spills - as well as incidents that occur with some warning, such as floods, wildfires and hurricanes. Using exciting footage of realistic training exercises held in Forsyth County, NC, the program portrays response personnel alerting the public, setting up and managing reception centers, handling communications issues, and conducting an evacuation. It examines the challenges of dealing with special populations, including the disabled, the elderly, hospitals and prisons. Other topics covered include traffic control, pet & livestock issues, preparing a building for shelter-in-place, and termination/re-entry issues.
Included in the package is a 29-minute DVD or video and a 72-slide Power Point presentation that can be customized by the Instructor.
Technical advisors for “Protective Actions: Evacuation/Shelter-in-Place” include Gene P. Carlson, Training Chief of the York County, Pennsylvania Hazmat Team and a pioneer in hazardous materials emergency response training; Rem Gaade, of Gaade & Associates, former Chief of Hazardous Materials and Special Operations in the Toronto (Ont.) Fire Department; Glen Rudner, Hazardous Materials Officer, Virginia Department of Emergency Management; Chase Sargent, former Deputy Chief with the Virginia Beach, VA Fire Dept. and a member of Virginia Task Force II, FEMA US&R Task Force; and Craig Shelley, Former Chief of Marine Operations for the City of New York Fire Department (FDNY) and currently a fire protection advisor in the Middle East.
Emergency Film Group uses leading professionals in emergency response and film production to create authoritative and accurate training programs for fire departments, hazmat teams, emergency management, police, EMS, the military and other emergency responders. Winner of more than 130 awards in national and international competitions, the company addresses such timely topics as incident management, terrorism response, homeland security, hazardous materials, protective clothing, and air monitoring.
For more information, or for a free color catalog describing all programs available from the Emergency Film Group, call 800 842-0999 or 508 627-8844, or e-mail info@efilmgroup.com. Program descriptions are available on-line at http://www.efilmgroup.com.