CDV's core trio: CERT, BEARS and Arson Watch

CDV is the umbrella organization and it has three primary operations components to it, each dependent on each other – and the Fire Department has come to rely on all three. We volunteers are truly honored by how much responsibility the professionals entrust to us and we do our best to earn their respect in everything we do.

Of the three regular components, Arson Watch is seasonal. We set up foot and driving patrols around the base of the Verdugo Mountains to look for fires or people that might start them (deliberately or by accident). Training can be finished in an afternoon and we always need people to fill the ranks, especially during fire season.

The BEARS (must... resist... joke...) are the Burbank Emergency Amateur Radio Service, a dedicated group of technical enthusiasts and licensed ham operators that can fill in when regular communications go down. In addition, the BEARS talent pool extends to short-wave video and maintaining the official communications network at the Emergency Operations Center.

The CERT group is the Community Emergency Response Teams, the folk that will pull victims out of the rubble when the worst-case-scenario becomes reality. CERT instruction includes 20 hours of classroom and hands-on training and in the Burbank CDV program, we take that basic training up by several notches.

Outside of those three components, CDV itself actually handles much of the initial operation of the EOC in event of disaster. Additionally, we run fire fighter relief efforts during multi-alarm callouts, sand-bag duties during the monsoon season and we organize convergent volunteers in the event of a major incident (such as an earthquake).

Exercise: Bulldog 2

Here you see a group of volunteers (me in the middle) prepping to enter a heavily damaged building. Jenny's back is to the camera and – lucky girl – she managed to kick down doors to pull victims out. As for me, I was Incident Commander... which sounds cool until you realize that you're stuck in the Command Post.

On the bright side, this wasn't a real incident. It was, however, a comprehensive training exercise that was staged in a building that was in the process of being torn down. After qualifying in CERT training, CDV takes your light Urban Search and Rescue techniques to the next level. If this sounds like something you'd like to get involved with, contact your local fire department or check out the FEMA link on CERT teams.

If P wave means more to you than the impulse you feel when the walls fall down, you might be fascinated to see the waveform of the quake. Below is the picture generated from NBC4's "Seismo Cam" (assuming the ceiling hasn't just caved in on the KNBC newsroom). You can refresh the picture by refreshing this page –or– just go there and get it straight from the source. Note, though, that this seismograph actually takes feeds from several sources at once so if there are multiple quakes, the waveform could be muddled.

Some final thoughts...

Once the ground moves, you're in it. The action begins now. There is no pause button on life. If you're not prepared, then you are at the mercy of what little you can scrounge in the aftermath, from fresh water to edible food. The key is preparation. Here is a handy list of educational links, courtesy the California OES, that you should check out before an earthquake:

Team Burbank '06

BICEPP, the Business and Industry Council for Emergency Planning and Preparedness, sponsors ERT competitions. What's an "ERT competition"? It's where CERT teams face a series of challenges, each one a different component to the typical CERT responsibilities, such as triage, search and rescue, medical treatment and lifting/cribbing.

This year, Ashley Bashioum, Josh Bashioum, myself, Jennifer Day, Sherre Nakamura, Joanna Rykoff, Jennifer Tompkins, Lynne Whitlock and Pat Zehr trained weekly for about three months. As the competition approached, our training sessions were more frequent and intense. Our instructors were Eric Baumgardner and Mike Rogers, also volunteers with the Burbank CDV program. Combined, we put well over 500 hours into honing and sharpening our life-saving skills.

I'm proud to say my team (yes, my team – I was captain) took home silver (PDF). That gave us a pretty good trophy and individual medals. Out of 7 events (6 and a half, really – command only counted for 50 points), we took first in four: Lifting & Cribbing, Medical Aid, Search Room, and Triage. In the pic, you'll see my event leaders holding plaques for the event they won (I was event leader for Lifting & Cribbing). Out of 650 possible points, we lost 1st place by half a point. We were the first team in the history of the event to have no deductions in the medical evolution, and the first team to have perfect written scores on the triage event.

The Redondo Beach Riptides took first and my hardhat is off to them. They're great folk and this was their first competition. They won 1 event (not including the "spirit award"): the "Command" event – and still somehow managed to edge us. Kudos to excellent competitors! We'll see you next year!
...Now, I'm going to post this next bit in black. I'm a pretty good sport and if you've earned a win, great. At least the Riptides were some genuinely nice folk and they must've put in a great effort to overcome the [...] L.A. City teams. However... I know what my team accomplished. Four plaques says a lot about their effort and performance. To have taken first in the most difficult of the evolutions and still get edged in point totals? Nothing against the Riptides – they're great – but for the second time in a row, fuzzy math – if not politics – had an influence in the final outcome.

...I apologize for this rant but the 9 people on Team Burbank deserved gold. My only regret is that we don't have an IOC-style chance to challenge somebody's math. We'll be back next year, and we'll have our boots on...

The Day Jeeps as CDV vehicles

Burbank On Parade! A hometown tradition, the locals have a chance to march down Olive Avenue (our "Main Street") and show a little civic pride. For the CDV program, it gives us a chance to get a little exposure and drum up some support. For what we do, there are never enough people, so every chance we get to raise public awareness of our mission – and the public's part in it – we take it!

Speaking of that... CDV needs YOU! We're asking for donations but not your money – something far more important – your time! CDV is a completely volunteer organization. From the newest untrained members to the heads of the program, we all get paid the same: nothing (with time-and-a-half for OT). What we do have is a sense of accomplishment, a sense of community and a chance to give a little back. If you've ever wanted to personally make a difference, really get hands your hands on a problem and help people out, I can't think of a better way to do it.

Burbank Airport Exercise 2004

And if the fumes don't get you...

Once you're a trained CERT member, people won't be able to get enough of you. In particular, professional responders that need folk to play victims for readiness exercises. It really does show how the larger emergency services community comes together. I'm a part of Burbank's program, but I've been borrowed by L.A. City Fire, L.A. County Fire, CalTrans and the State of California for various drills.

Being a good "victim" is really about avoiding being a victim at all. Even in training exercises, there is some small risk – and those of us in the program both recognize that and accept it. Even more importantly, the training gives us the ability to recognize where the risks are and avoid them. At the same time, we're working in Tinseltown, so we can freak out with the best of them and give the professional responders the experience of a real incident.

Above, at the Bob Hope Airport Emergency Readiness Drill, I play the part of a less-injured passenger after a bumpy (burst-into-flames) landing. It's fun to see everybody running around but when you know what to look for, it's amazing what you see. A very educational experience...