Over a hundred volunteers participated in a “mass care exercise” at the Lane County Fairgrounds on Wednesday. It was a chance for agencies to test disaster relief procedures—including setting up emergency shelters for people and pets.
As Emergency Manager, Patience Winningham is always thinking about the county’s disaster preparedness. She said this drill allows responders to run through scenarios.
“Where am I going to stay tonight if I’m evacuated? Where can I get information to find my mom? Or find a wheelchair?” Winningham asked. “That’s our responsibility and that’s the goal here is to capitalize on things that we’ve learned from Holiday Farm fire and Cedar Creek and we’re making areas of improvement and preparing for this next wildfire season.”
Winningham said the mass care exercise also tests local ability to shelter pets and livestock. Greenhill Humane Society and Lane County Animal Services ran through mock sheltering scenarios with evacuees fleeing with cats, dogs, ferrets, and a sheep.
Other exercise partners included Red Cross, Oregon Department of Human Services, Lane County Health & Human Services, and Oregon Emergency Management. There are also many individual volunteers from a variety of agencies acting as evacuees during the exercise.
Latiffe Amado acted as a Spanish speaking evacuee from Noti who fled a disaster with family members and animals. She was received by Red Cross volunteer Simone Kaiser who worked through the scenario by using Google Translate to communicate with Amado about relief services available.
"This role play was very helpful," said Kaiser. "I want to be ready for scenarios like this if they happen when I am deployed with the Red Cross."
