Summer Fire Safety Tips From FEMA

Release Date: July 2, 2012
Release Number: R10-12-015

» 2012 Region X News Releases

SEATTLE, Wash. — As skies clear and weather turns warmer, Pacific Northwest residents are hoping for glorious weather this Fourth of July. But however the weather turns out, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) warn that careless handling of fireworks and outdoor grills can ruin parties and picnics — and entire summers. New data released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) shows that last year, during the 30 days surrounding July 4, these fireworks sent about 1,900 injured consumers to emergency rooms. CPSC’s statistics show that about 8,600 consumers ended up in hospital emergency rooms due to injuries involving legal and illegal fireworks. About 40 percent of the injuries that occurred during this time period were related to firecrackers, bottle rockets, and sparklers.

“When celebrating the Fourth of July, Americans need to remember to use fireworks, fires and barbecues with care. The best way to enjoy fireworks is to visit public displays held by trained professionals,” said Loper. “Summer holidays should be fun and generate good memories, not pain and remorse. Have fun, but be safe.”

FIREWORKS SAFETY TIPS:

If fireworks are legal where you live and you decide to set them off on your own, be sure to follow these important safety tips:

Observe local laws.
Keep a bucket of water handy in case of a malfunction or fire.
Read and follow all warnings and instructions.
Never allow children to play with or ignite fireworks.
Be sure other people are out of range before lighting fireworks. Never shoot a firework at or near another person.
Only light fireworks on a smooth, flat surface away from the house, dry leaves, and flammable materials.
Never try to relight fireworks that have not fully functioned. Douse and soak them with water and throw them away.
Never ignite fireworks in a container, especially a glass or metal container.
Keep unused fireworks away from firing areas.
Store fireworks in a dry, cool place. Check instructions for special storage directions.

GRILLING FIRE SAFETY TIPS

Propane and charcoal BBQ grills must only be used outdoors. If used indoors, or in any enclosed spaces such as tents, they pose a fire hazard and a risk of exposing occupants to deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
Place the grill a safe distance from lawn games, play areas, and foot traffic. Grills should be positioned at least 10 feet away from siding, deck railing, and out from under eaves and overhanging branches.
Keep matches, lighters, and starter fluid out of the reach of children in a locked drawer or cabinet.
Keep children and pets away from the grill area: declare a three-foot “kid-free zone” around the grill.
Use long barbeque mitts and long-handled grilling tools to protect the chef from heat and flames when cooking.
Periodically remove grease or fat buildup in trays below the grill so it cannot be ignited by a hot grill.

USFA, part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, serves the American public and the nation’s fire services through training, data collection and analysis, public fire education, and fire protection technology research. For more information, visit: www.usfa.fema.gov. For wildfire preparedness tips, sample preparedness plans and emergency checklists, visit firewise.org or www.fema.gov.

Follow FEMA online at www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema. Social media links are provided for reference only. FEMA does not endorse non-government websites, companies or applications.

FEMAs mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Last Modified: Monday, 02-Jul-2012 16:38:35

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Summer Fire Safety Tips From FEMA

Make This A Safe Summer; Prepare For Heat And Wildfires Today

Release Date: June 29, 2012
Release Number: R7-12-009

» 2012 Region VII News Releases

Kansas City, Mo.—This is the time of year for fun outdoor activities like Independence Day celebrations, camping, outdoor grilling and road trips, but before you head out, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reminds you to plan for the dangers associated with heat waves and wildfire threats. Learn and put into practice important summer-survival tips to help protect yourself, your property and the environment.

“To protect our eyes, most of us automatically grab our sunglasses before heading outside during the daytime. Many of the things we can do to protect ourselves from high temperatures and to prevent wildfires are just as easy and make just as much sense,” said Regional Administrator Beth Freeman, of Region VII.

SURVIVING THE HEAT

During an extended period of extreme heat, also known as a heat wave, the body must work extra hard to stay cool. This stresses the body and those who are very young, elderly, overweight or sick are at highest risk for heat-related illnesses. Here are a few quick tips to stay healthy.

Consider spending the warmest part of the day in air conditioned buildings. Find a cooling off location near you by sending a text message to SHELTER + your ZIP code to 43362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest shelter in your area (example: shelter 12345).
Listen to NOAA Weather Radio for critical updates from the National Weather Service.
Never leave children or pets alone in closed vehicles.
Avoid strenuous outdoor work and play during the warmest part of the day. Use a buddy system when working in extreme heat, and take frequent breaks.
Protect face and head by wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
Eat well-balanced, light, and regular meals. Drink plenty of water; even if you do not feel thirsty. Avoid drinks with caffeine and limit intake of alcoholic beverages. Persons who have epilepsy or heart, kidney, or liver disease; are on fluid-restricted diets; or have a problem with fluid retention should consult a doctor before increasing liquid intake.
Dress in loose-fitting, lightweight, and light-colored clothes that cover as much skin as possible. Avoid dark colors because they absorb the sun’s rays.
Check on family, friends, and neighbors who do not have air conditioning and who spend much of their time alone.

BEFORE A WILDFIRE

Tips to protect your family

To begin preparing, you should build an emergency kit (www.ready.gov/build-a-kit) and make a family emergency plan (www.ready.gov/make-a-plan). Learn more at www.ready.gov.
Ask local emergency management officials or the local American Red Cross chapter how you would be warned if a wildfire threatened.
Meet with other household members to discuss where to go and what to bring if advised to evacuate.
Plan several escape routes away from your home – by car and by foot.
Talk to your neighbors about wildfire safety. Plan how the neighborhood could work together after a wildfire. Make a list of your neighbors’ skills such as medical or technical. Consider how you could help neighbors who have special needs such as elderly or disabled persons. Make plans to take care of children who may be on their own if parents can’t get home.

Tips to protect your home

It is recommended that you create a 30 to 100 foot safety zone around your home. Within this area, you can take steps to reduce potential exposure to flames and radiant heat. Homes built in pine forests should have a minimum safety zone of 100 feet. If your home sits on a steep slope, standard protective measures may not suffice. Contact your local fire department or forestry office for additional information.

Rake leaves, dead limbs and twigs. Clear all flammable vegetation, including any hiding under structures.
Make sure that fire vehicles can get to your home. Clearly mark all driveway entrances and display your name and address.
Thin a 15-foot space between tree crowns, and remove limbs within 15 feet of the ground.
Remove dead branches that extend over the roof.
Prune tree branches and shrubs within 15 feet of a stovepipe or chimney outlet.
Ask the power company to clear branches from power lines.
Show responsible family members how and when to shut off water, gas, and electricity at main switches.
Remove vines from the walls of the home.
Mow grass regularly.
Clear a 10-foot area around propane tanks and the barbecue. Place a screen over the grill – use nonflammable material with mesh no coarser than one-quarter inch.
Regularly dispose of newspapers and rubbish at an approved site. Follow local burning regulations.
Place stove, fireplace and grill ashes in a metal bucket, soak in water for 2 days, and then bury the cold ashes in mineral soil.
Store gasoline, oily rags and other flammable materials in approved safety cans. Place cans in a safe location away from the base of buildings.
Stack firewood at least 100 feet away and uphill from your home. Clear combustible material within 20 feet. Use only wood-burning devices evaluated by a nationally recognized laboratory, such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
Review your homeowner’s insurance policy and also prepare/update a list of your home’s contents.

Practice Wildfire Safety

In the U.S., nine out of 10 wildfires are started by people being careless. Take these steps to protect lives, property and the environment from the devastation they cause.

Contact your local fire department, health department, or forestry office for information on fire laws.
Report hazardous conditions that could cause a wildfire.
Teach children about fire safety. Keep matches out of their reach.
Post fire emergency telephone numbers.

Follow Local Burning Laws

Before burning debris in a wooded area, make sure you notify local authorities and obtain a burning permit.
Use an approved incinerator with a safety lid or covering with holes no larger than ¾ inch.
Create at least a 10-foot clearing around the incinerator before burning debris.
Have a fire extinguisher or garden hose on hand when burning debris.

Follow @FEMARegion7 on www.twitter.com/femaregion7 to get important preparedness tips related to heat waves, wildfires and all other types of emergencies.

Additional resources for wildfire prevention and safety can be found online at www.ready.gov/wildfires and http://www.firewise.org/; and additional information about staying healthy during prolonged periods of extreme heat are available at www.ready.gov/heat.

Follow FEMA online at www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema. The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Last Modified: Friday, 29-Jun-2012 12:56:42

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Make This A Safe Summer; Prepare For Heat And Wildfires Today

Fact Sheet: Federal Agency Assistance to the Souris Valley

Release Date: June 11, 2012
Release Number: 1981-AFS003

» More Information on North Dakota Flooding

» 2012 Region VIII News Releases

FEDERAL AGENCY ASSISTANCE OVERVIEW

Immediately following the June 2011 flooding in the Souris River Basin, federal agencies, under mission assignments from FEMA, responded to public health and safety needs throughout Ward County. Federal life-saving and life-sustaining personnel worked under the direction, and at the request of, state and local leadership. Below is a summary of the federal actions funded by FEMA and the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services to ensure communities and people in the area were protected from further harm and could begin their recovery.

In all, FEMA directed 28 federal response assignments at a cost of more than $60 million dollars to FEMA and almost $7 million to the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.

In addition, FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program paid out on 488 claims for a total of $59,331,403.36 in McHenry, Reville and Ward counties.

Department of Health and Human Services

Members of Applied Public Health Teams from the Department of Health and Human Services integrated with local fire department, local health agencies, and structural engineers/building inspectors to assist with public health consultations and inspection of homes for reoccupation.

The teams visited approximately 4,600 homes damaged by the flood, meeting with residents as they returned home and providing environmental health consultations and technical assistance. They distributed post-flood information packets from the North Dakota Department of Health, and gave information on general clean-up activities, pumping out flooded basements, mold issues, household hazardous waste disposal, disinfection, asbestos, the safe use of electrical generators and personal health precautions. They also went door-to-door with structural engineers and building inspectors to assess health concerns such as contamination from wastewater, extent of mold coverage, asbestos, and other hazardous material risks. This mission was assigned by FEMA and cost $100,000, with 10 percent paid by the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.

Environmental Protection Agency

EPA was given four missions by FEMA: remove household hazardous wastes from the impacted area; decontaminate and prepare white goods and electronic waste for recycling; collect and process orphaned containers; and conduct environmental monitoring and sampling in impacted and work areas.

In total, EPA removed:

Nearly 6,000 units of white goods – air conditioners, refrigerators, and other household appliances. Freon, mercury, and other hazardous materials were removed by EPA and the scrap was turned over to the city of Minot for recycling.
More than 90,000 small containers, including paint, household cleaners, and small gas cans holding more than 15,000 gallons of gas which was sent to a fuel processor.
Several large containers, including propane tanks as large as 3,000 – 5,000 gallons, which were returned to their owners or sent to a Minot company for reuse.
215 lead-acid batteries which were turned over to the city of Minot.
More than 550 cubic yards of electronic waste such as household electronics, computers, and television sets which were sent to a contractor for recycling.

In addition, EPA collected asbestos insulation from more than 220 households, conducted air sampling during cleanup activities, and conducted soil sampling in city parks once flooding subsided. This mission was assigned by FEMA and cost $5.2 million, with 10 percent paid by the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.

General Services Administration

GSA was given the mission to search for space, facilities and land to support FEMA. GSA also provided approximately 20 GSA fleet vehicles in support of the mission.

Its real estate team arranged the following leases:

The Joint Field Office in Bismarck.
The Area Field Office in Minot located at the State Fairgrounds.
Two land leases at the State Fairgrounds in Minot for FEMA trailer staging.
A land lease in Minot for a FEMA trailer park supporting flooding victims (still in operation).
A temporary space lease at the State Fairgrounds (while FEMA was preparing its Area Field Office for occupancy).
A space lease at the former “Y” building in downtown Minot for Housing Management Office Recovery (still in operation).
A space lease at the Medical Building in Minot for ESF-14 operations (lease ends July 15, 2012).
A space lease for a Disaster Recovery Center at the Dakota Mall in Minot.

There were many other spaces, buildings and lands that were donated by owners such as the city of Minot or the state of North Dakota which were used for the FEMA mission, including land for the base camp in Minot and land in Velva for other FEMA operations. FEMA paid GSA $84,000 for its services.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

OSHA evaluated and ensured the safety of response personnel and civilians by providing air sampling and site inspections, and giving seminars on hazard awareness.
OSHA also helped the Vermiculite Asbestos Work Group develop public service announcements (vermiculite is a common insulation which often is contaminated with asbestos) and inspected the responders base camp.
This mission was assigned by FEMA and cost $94,000, with 10 percent paid by the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.

Public Safety and Security

Approximately 135 federal law enforcement officers from four different agencies were deployed to support local police and sheriff’s departments. They protected lives and property in the evacuated areas, maintained points of entry/exit in neighborhoods, did traffic control, patrolled and did other law enforcement duties as assigned. Safety officers came from the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Interior, and were coordinated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. One officer from Customs and Border Patrol was injured responding to a law enforcement request and remains in physical therapy. Local guards were hired by Federal Protective Services to provide security at FEMA facilities. This mission was assigned by FEMA and cost $3.6 million, with 10 percent paid by the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Corps, at the request of the city of Minot, began funding and building temporary levees in the area on their own authority in April. They continued doing so with 16 levee contracts while the river crested multiple times through June. The temporary leveeconstruction cost the Corps approximately $5 million for Minot alone, another $1 million for Sawyer, $600,000 for Burlington and $500,000 for Velva. The final crest, which overwhelmed the protection system, was almost three times the amount of water of the next highest crest.
Emphasis was put on the city’s priorities:
- protecting the water treatment plant
- protecting three schools
- protecting 17 lift/pump stations
- protecting, maintaining and raising the 3rd St. /4th Ave. levee
- keeping the Broadway Bridge open
Current estimates are that ongoing repairs to the permanent levees and the pump stations, plus the scour at Velva, will cost more than $5 million, again funded by the Corps of Engineers.
After the floods, the Corps and its contractors were given the debris removal mission by FEMA. They removed more than 61,000 tons of debris within Ward County, including 54,000 tons from Minot. This included removing the temporary levees. This mission was assigned by FEMA and cost $17 million, with 10 percent paid by the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.
The Corps designed and built the infrastructure at community group sites, totaling 848 pads at three primary locations. This mission was assigned by FEMA and cost $40 million, with 10 percent paid by the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.
More than 150 Corps of Engineers personnel were deployed for flood fighting and flood recovery operations.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The Fish and Wildlife Service did airboat missions and patrols on both the Red River and the Minot area. They were assigned that mission by FEMA, at a total cost of $100,000, with 10 percent paid by the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services.

Last Modified: Monday, 11-Jun-2012 10:02:14

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Fact Sheet: Federal Agency Assistance to the Souris Valley