Jacki Kaelin Williams shares wildfire preparedness information with an Orofino homeowner.
For many Red Cross volunteers, National Preparedness Month is a welcome reminder of their role in educating and supporting their communities before disaster strikes.
“We thought we had it made,” said Jacki Kaelin Williams, a disaster action team lead who lives in Kamiah, Idaho. “We were surrounded by gravel. We had everything done. But embers in the wind got us.”
Jacki and her late husband found themselves under the roof of a Red Cross evacuation shelter after losing their “forever home” in a wildfire. She’s since become a disaster action team member and uses those experiences to help others going through similar tragedies in Idaho and beyond.
“It just breaks my heart to see that there's been a wildfire and people have lost everything. And I just know where they're coming from,” she said. “They just want to sit and talk for 15 or 20 minutes. They want to cry on your shoulder. I just give them a big hug and say, ‘Hey, it's OK, it's OK. You will live through it.’”
Earlier this summer, she and other disaster action team members spoke with homeowners in Orofino, Idaho, about wildfire safety and preparedness as part of a new educational outreach program. Thick forests surrounding the community pose extreme risks for fire danger, which is why Central Idaho and East Oregon Disaster Program Manager Jennifer Bivert partnered with local officials to focus on at-risk neighborhoods in that area.
“We want to make sure that we give them all the tools that they can possibly have to stay as safe as they can.” she said. “We don't want to only come up and respond when there's a disaster. We'd like to focus on preparedness, give them these tools. We're just thrilled to be here.”
Cheryl Brower meets with a homeowner during a Sound the Alarm event in Meridian.
Red Cross volunteers also work to create safer communities around our region through annual Sound the Alarm events. Disaster Action Team member Cheryl Brower of Boise said the program is one of her favorites.
“It’s a lot of people taking a little bit of time and resources and putting something big and good together out of it,” she said last fall. “That’s a great thing.”
Rick Applegate installs a smoke alarm in a Meridian home
Pursuing a community-minded approach to preparedness means ensuring residents of all ages have the lifesaving skills they need before an emergency. That’s why disaster cycle services volunteer instructors head into classrooms to engage K- 2 students in being proactive about home fire safety through interactive programs like Prepare with Pedro.
“I just get a lot of enjoyment out of working with the kids going into their room,” said Disaster Action Team member Rick Applegate of Caldwell. “I always take a working smoke alarm in with me and ask the kids, ‘Hey, do you have these in your home, and do you know what kind of noise they make?’ And we demonstrate it for them. So that actual interaction with the kids is very fulfilling for me.”
A passion for preparedness also drives Southwest Montana Temporary Community Disaster Program Manager Ben Reynolds to suit up as Pedro the Penguin and speak with students about when -- not if -- an emergency will happen.
“There is nothing better than teaching a kid what to do in a home fire emergency and knowing that they can go home with the tools necessary to help save their own lives and other family members’ lives,” he said. “I encourage Red Crossers to look into teaching preparedness classes.”
Ben adds helping your community prepare for eventual disasters is just as important as responding to them.
Are you interested in learning more about becoming a preparedness instructor? Head to redcross.org/volunteertoday to learn more.
Ben Reynolds visits a Missoula classroom to teach students about emergency preparedness.
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