News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Most of us take the infrastructure of modern life for granted. When we flip a switch, the lights go on; when we need water, we turn a spigot and it flows. There's always gas at the gas station and food at the grocery store.
What do we do when all that breaks down?
A group of folks in Sisters Country have been putting a lot of work over the past year into answering that question.
Sisters Country: Prepared & Ready (SCPR) is a local initiative whose goal is to help individuals and families become better prepared for natural and man-made disasters. Their work is catching on. Agencies from the Sisters fire department to the Red Cross are on board; so are Sisters merchants and a large cadre of volunteers.
The goal is to help individuals, families and neighborhoods in Sisters Country be prepared for any eventuality. It's not about hunkering down in a bunker ready to hold off the world; it's about reviving the kind of self-reliant, help-your-neighbor pioneer spirit that lies at the foundation of Sisters.
"It's people again relying on each other and making a better community of Sisters," says SCPR volunteer Jack McGowan. (It's) the volunteer spirit that defines what Sisters is about. It is a remarkable little community that really believes in the concept of volunteerism and giving back. SCPR is really an extension of that."
When individuals, families and neighborhoods are prepared, it takes the pressure off first-responders in an emergency. That emergency could be a wildfire evacuation, a severe winter storm that cuts power, or even a major regional earthquake that disrupts statewide infrastructure and impedes shipments of fuel and food.
SCPR got started a little over a year ago, and kicked off its efforts with a community-wide education campaign and a preparedness fair.
A second preparedness fair is set for Saturday, September 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sisters Elementary School.
The fair will feature expert presentations on the Cascadia Subduction Zone fault and resulting earthquake and tsunami risk, wildfires and defensible space, house-fire prevention, the role of local government in emergency operations, preparedness from the state viewpoint and the Red Cross role in preparedness and disaster response.
The jam-packed fair line-up will include:
• Displays of emergency preparedness kits and instruction on building them.
• Free hands-only CPR classes.
• Demonstrations of food preparation during a disaster.
• Kid-friendly preparedness activities.
• Tours of emergency response vehicles.
• Advice on how to handle pets when disaster strikes.
• Simulated American Red Cross emergency shelter.
• American Red Cross blood drive.
Sisters Country: Prepared & Ready is led by representatives from the American Red Cross, Black Butte Ranch, Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District, The Nugget Newspaper and the Sisters School District with the support of local merchants and many other local groups and interested parties.
For more information visit www.sisterscountryprepared andready.org.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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