2023 Events
All-Volunteer Meeting, Dec. 13
Our final all-volunteer meeting for 2023! Additional information pending.
NEMCo Field Notes and Report Writing - Nov. 18
(Story G. Siani, Photo Nicole)
On Nov. 18, CERT conducted training in Field Notes and Report Writing. The class practiced by viewing videos on incidents and then converting their field notes to more formal Incident Report forms and Activity Logs (ICS 214).
Notes should include the six primary components:
Record time/location, be brief, avoid inferences/opinions, keep to the provable, accurate, specific facts, include attribution of statements, and focus on detailed data by using keywords (such as observed, state, reported). Valuable tips: should be short, basically one page of your field notebook. This can be achieved by using quick note tips, such as eliminating vowels if not necessary for comprehension and using common acronyms. Participants also learned that it was important to follow state/federal/litigation retention policies and not include any personal, unrelated, materials.
NEMCo CERT Sandbagging - October 14th
(Story and photos by Patrick Ducey)
The City of Shoreline has a sandbag program where they supply bags and sand so that people can fill their own sandbags. A sandbag is a very useful tool, along with keeping storm drains clear, to help divert storm runoff and prevent some localized flooding.
It's also nice to have some road sand to get some traction when it starts snowing on some of the hills around here.
The Northshore Emergency Management Coalition (NEMCo) conducted training recently on making, moving, and stacking sandbags to create an effective flood control wall. On Saturday, the NEMCo CERT team put that training into action, and practiced making a sandbag dike. The public sand pile is in Hamlin park, the first parking lot on the left.
The NEMCo CERT team meets monthly on the second Tuesday of each month at Fire Station 51 in Kenmore. The public is welcome.
NEMCo Land Search Training - September 19th
(Story and Photos by R. MacKenzie)
We had 25 volunteers come out for this training. It provided basic knowledge regarding terminology, Search mothodologies, and tools. In addition, we discussed basic evidence identification, collection and mapping. Volunteers are very likely to put these skills into practice at the 5th Saturday, September 30th drill. We may also be asked by the LFP Police Department to have volunteers available to assist in lost person searches.
NW CITIZEN CORPS CERT Expo - September 15th to 17th
(Story and Photos by R. MacKenzie)
Several NEMCo volunteers attended all three days of the CERT expo. The weekend-long expo was filled with hands on disaster preparedness and emergency response courses. It covered topics such as: Traffic and crowd control, CERT working with faith based communities, ICS100 Introduction to the Incident Command System , Basic and Advanced Moulage, radio etiquette, Social Media, CPR/First Aid, Animal Control, Map/Compass practice, and others and concluded with a field exercise. Our volunteers received Certifcates for the courses attended and it counted as volunteer hours for our agency. We now have two fully trained moulage artists. Lunch was awesome! Many thanks to our volunteers.
NEMCo All Volunteer Meeting - September 12
(Story and Photos by R. MacKenzie)
NEMCo held the quarterly Community, and all Volunteer meeting with 24 people in attendance. We discussed the National Preparedness month, outreach activities, Kenmore Anniversary event and up events. CERT Expo is expected to be well attended by NEMCo CERT's this weekend. Tuesday, Sept 19th, we have our LFP Police/NEMCo field search training. These skills will be put to the test on our upcoming 5th Saturday drill. CERT Training is planned for Nov 18th, 8am to 11am. We also had an introduction to our new NEMCo Air Squirrel's, 24 team members that are in the drone training program. Two trainings were conducted, one by CERT on portable generators and the second by RACES about HamWan, Arden and Starlink.
Kenmore 25th Anniversary Event - August 26th
(Story and Photos by R. MacKenzie)
The City of Kenmore incorporated on August 31, 1998. That means we are celebrating Kenmore's 25th birthday. NeMCo was able to support the event with 10 CERT volunteers and successfully demonstrated a GMRS portable radio repeater. It was operating on the roof of Fire Station 51 and allowed remote field operational control.
September is National Preparedness Month
(Story and Photos by R. MacKenzie)
According to the Ready.gov website, this years theme is “Take Control in 1, 2, 3”. The campaign focuses on preparing older adults for disasters, specifically older adults from communities that are disproportionally impacted by the all-hazard events, which continue to threaten the nation.
We know older adults can face greater risks when it comes to the multitude of extreme weather events and emergencies we now face, especially if they are living alone, are low-income, have a disability, or live in rural areas.
Those who work with and support older adult communities please access the new webpage available in English and Spanish languages at Ready.gov/older-adults and Ready.gov/es/adultos-mayores. For more information on preparing with disabilities visit Ready.gov/disability or Ready.gov/es/discapacidad in Spanish.
More Information:
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Personal Disaster Preparedness for People with Disabilities Social Media Toolkit
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FEMA Signed MOU with the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers
Please take a few minutes to check it out!
Fire Fighter Rehab CERT Training - Aug 12, 2023
(Story and Photos by R. MacKenzie)
NEMCo Volunteers completed a Fire Figthter Rehab CERT class. The Shoreline Fire Rehab support unit showed our CERT's the capabilities of the rig and how to set-up for a rehab event. The Rehab unit supports all of King County.
Firefighter rehabilitation is a vital firefighting service, providing firefighters and other emergency personnel with immediate medical attention including rehydration, treatment for smoke inhalation, and the prevention of life-threatening conditions such as heatstroke and heart attack after working at the scene of an incident. Firefighter rehabilitation can include a variety of things from a simple check up to deciding whether or not the firefighter needs to see a doctor. The rehabilitation area is set up in a safe location near the incident so that it can be accessible to any emergency responders who may need it.
National Night Out - Lake Forest Park and Kenmore - August 1 and 2, 2023
(Stories and Photos by G. Siani)
National Night Out Against Crime is celebrated in many ways across the country on the first Tuesday in August. The Cities of Kenmore and Lake Forest Park (LFP) each had different ways of celebrating this year, but both invited the Northshore Emergency Management Coalition (NEMCo) to educate the community and encourage citizens to join our serious but fun events.
For the LFP celebration there were about 40 community gatherings in local neighborhoods which were visited by LFP Police and Shoreline Fire Department. These neighborhood ‘block parties’ offered an opportunity for the community to meet its members as well as its emergency services personnel. NEMCo had three teams of two who were able to ride along with LFP Police to about 14 of these gatherings.
Kenmore had their celebration on Wednesday, in conjunction with its Farmer's Market, where NEMCo joined in the busy event by setting up a booth staffed with volunteers. For both celebrations NEMCo volunteers were able to chat with, educate, and discuss NEMCo's mission and activities with residents. In total, volunteers answered questions and distributed information on NEMCo programs as well as general disaster preparedness to over 250 people.
Remember to mark your calendars for the first Tuesday and Wednesday in August 2024 so you can volunteer at or participate in these important and fun community events.
Community Preparedness Workshop - July 22, 2023
(Story and Photos by G. Siani)
NEMCo held a Community Preparedness Workshop, part of a program to help citizens in our area become better prepared to handle emergencies and disasters. NEMCo will offer another workshop in the fall.
Attendees at the workshop learned about the ACT (Antidote, CPR, Tourniquet) to Save a Life program, which teaches life-saving skills on what you can do before an ambulance arrives. There was also a presentation on the hazards we face in our community and in our home and the simple yet effective steps citizens can take to prepare for a disaster. Each participant received a Resource Guide and various checklists to provide more detailed guidance to assist them in preparing and handling emergencies in their community. After the classroom portion, participants did a hands-on exercise putting out a fire with a fire extinguisher.
NEMCo MEMBER CERT Animal/Pet TRAINING - July 15th
(Story and Photos by R. MacKenzie)
Our CERT members had an opportunity to learn about how to respond safely and appropriately in an emergency event involving animals. We reviewed how to do a size-up and how a damage assessment maybe different with animals involved. We discussed how to approach animals and actions that we can do to calm an animal. We discussed animal responses for both cats and dogs. Animal restraints was practiced on our stuffed animals.
It was a fun class for all in attendance.
NEMCo at Safety Day for Kids - June 24th
(Stories and Photos by G. Siani)
NEMCo particpated in the Lake Forest Park Safety Day for kids. The focus was children being safe while getting outside to bike, hike, and enjoy water activities. King County Search & Rescue representatives and Lake Forest Park Police officers talked about outdoor and water safety. bicycle helmets, and lifejackets were given away to children and adults.
NEMCo is a partnership among the cities of Kenmore and Lake Forest Park, the Shoreline Fire Department, and the Northshore Utility District. Ongoing mission: to prepare and educate community members about emergency and disaster preparedness.
Police Chief Harden graciously allowed children of all ages to dunk him!
Children also loved the bouncing around inbetween getting fitted for their life jackets and helmets.
A wonderful way to spend the morning.
NEMCo at Station 51 Pancake Breakfast and Safety Fair - June 23
(Stories and Photos by G. Siani)
Station 51 held challenge courses for kids, a teddy bear clinic, an opportunity to tour the fire engine, aid car and rescue truck and live firefighter demonstrations. The safety fair included the King County Library, the City of Kenmore, Lake Forest Park PD, the Northshore Utility District and additional exhibitors with valuable health and safety information.
NEMCo had a booth to distribute information about what everyone can do to prepare themselves in the event of an emergency and discussed what NEMCo's programs are and how they assist the community. Several of our members also assisted with staffing the pancake and sausage distribution!
Of interest to area ham radio operators was the Shoreline ARES communication van -- a mobile unit ready to activate in any emergency.
March and April 2023 Events
CERT TRAINING - March
March 2023. NEMCo’s first ‘post COVID’ CERT course. The speed at which this class filled up is a testament to the desire of our community to get informed and involved. The class provides the base knowledge needed for community emergency response; covering the areas of fire safety, basic first aid, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, and much more. Lessons are presented in an easy to understand, step-by-step process, with a follow up hands-on training building on these lessons over the following weekend. After this 24-hour course, participants are invited to join their local CERT and continue to further this skill set.
Anyone interested in volunteering or attending any further trainings or exercises, please remember to keep an eye on our Home page.
RACES Winlink Exercise - April
April 2023. Check out our Winlink page to find out more about our three-day exercise.The Winlink system gives our local partners the ability to communicate resource requests and important situational awareness information to county and state agencies, ensuring effective communication when it is most needed.
April 29, 2023: 5th Saturday Communications Drill
On Saturday, April 29th our CERT and RACES volunteers participated in a regional “5th Saturday” emergency communications drill. While the RACES group performed radio checks and communications exercises in our Emergency Operations Centers (EOC), this drill also incorporated a CERT functional exercise. During this exercise, CERT members utilized the empty medical offices near city hall to practice searching for disaster survivors, to triage role players with make-up simulating various fake injuries, and to carrying these survivors to a medical check point. CERT and RACES also practiced integrating tactical communications from CERT members into the EOC communications to help improve emergency operations.
