Snowtober!

Losing power is never a fun thing, especially when it means you’re facing a long, dark cold winter, um well rather fall night! We know we have lots of residents without power and while our utility companies are working hard to restore power, many may go without over night! So what should you do?

- Gather up those flashlights and spare batteries before the sun goes down.
- Dress warm and gather extra blankets.
- Keep curtains and blinds open during the day, even on cloudy days the suns heat can reach you. Once the sun goes down close curtains and blinds to keep heat in!
- Follow all instructions and safety tips when operating generators and alternative sources of heat!
- DO NOT run generators indoors because of the carbon monoxide risk.
- Have everyone stay in one central room for the night, close off that room to conserve heat.
- If possible stay with someone else for the evening that has power!
- If you and your family are safe, check on neighbors that may need special help during such an event (sick, elderly, etc.).


The snow should be tapering off through the evening hours and temperatures will rebound back to the mid 40’s tomorrow! Remember to report those outages to your utility company and avoid traveling on roads!

Ladies And Gentlemen, This Is Only A Test...

Ladies and gentleman this is only a test…ok, well actually it’s more than just a test! It’s an unprecedented assessment of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The EAS is a “media communications- based alerting system that is designed to transmit emergency alerts and warning to the American public”. Most of you are probably very familiar with this system or its predecessor the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), as it has probably cut into a show you’re intently watching or interrupted your favorite song on the radio! While testing of this system happens locally and at the state level on a weekly to monthly basis, there has never been a nationwide test!

On November 9th at 2pm in the afternoon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct the first nationwide test to evaluate the ability of this system to affectively notify the entire country during an emergency affecting the entire nation. The system has never been used for such an event, but the potential exists making this test long overdue and imperative.

The test will last approximately 3 minutes and will sound and look very similar to the tests you have experienced in the past. The date of November 9th and time of 2pm were carefully selected for this test. November 9th places us at the end of hurricane season and well in advance of severe winter weather, decreasing the potential for an emergency that would require use of the EAS. The 2pm time slot was chosen to minimize disruption during rush hour and ensure that the test happens during working hours.

Though the testing of this system can feel like a nuisance, when there is an emergency the prompt notifications delivered by EAS can and does save lives! So on November 9th at 2pm tune in or turn on to witness history as the FCC conducts this nationwide test!

Want to learn more about EAS and this test?
www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/emergency-alert-system-eas.

Chief O'Donnell Promotes Fire Safety

What’s the best way to protect your family from fire? Be ahead of the game, of course. With more than 360,000 home fires reported in the United States in 2009, according to the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), your best defense is a good offense. That’s why Your Fire Department is teaming up with NFPA during the October 9-15, 2011, to let our community know: “It’s Fire Prevention Week. Protect your Family from Fire!” This year’s campaign focuses on preventing the leading causes of home fires -- cooking, heating and electrical equipment, as well as candles and smoking materials. Additionally, it urges people to protect their homes and families with life-saving technology and planning.

“In 2009, 2,565 people died in home fires. Nearly all of these deaths could have been prevented by taking a few simple precautions like having working smoke alarms and a home fire escape plan, keeping things that can burn away from the stove and always turning off space heaters before going to bed.” Fire is a dangerous opponent, but by anticipating the hazards, you are much less likely to be one of the nearly 13,000 people injured in home fires each year.

Cumberland County Emergency Services offers the following tips for protecting your home and family from fire:

• Stay in the kitchen while you are frying, grilling, or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.

• Keep anything that can burn at least three feet away from heating equipment, like the furnace, fireplace, wood stove, or portable space heater.

• Have a three-foot “kid-free zone” around open fires and space heaters.

• Replace or repair damaged or loose electrical cords.

• If you smoke, smoke outside.

• Use deep, wide ashtrays on a sturdy table.

• Blow out all candles when you leave the room or go to bed. Avoid the use of candles in the bedroom and other areas where people may fall asleep.

While preventing home fires in your community always our number one priority, it is not always possible. Residents need to provide the best protection to keep their homes and families safe in the event of a fire. This can be achieved by developing an escape plan which you practice regularly and equipping homes with life-saving technologies like smoke alarms and home fire sprinklers.

The following tips will help keep your family safe if there is a fire in your home:

• Install smoke alarms inside each bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of the home (including the basement).

• Interconnect all smoke alarms in the home so when one sounds, they all sound.

• Test smoke alarms at least monthly and replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old or sooner if they do not respond when tested.

• Make sure everyone in your home knows how to respond if the smoke alarm sounds.

• Pull together everyone in your household and make a plan. Walk through your home and inspect all possible ways out. Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.

• If you are building or remodeling your home, consider installing home fire sprinklers.

Local Fire Departments will be hosting activities during Fire Prevention to promote “It’s Fire Prevention Protect your Family from Fire!” Through these educational, family-oriented activities, residents can learn more about the power of prevention and available technologies to protect their own families from fire.

To find out more about Fire Prevention programs and activities in your community, please contact your local Fire Department. To learn more about “It’s Fire Prevention. Protect your Family from Fire!” visit NFPA’s Web site at www. firepreventionweek.org.

Many local fire departments provide free smoke detectors; please take advantage of this great opportunity to protect your family. Also remember to Change Your Clock and Change your Smoke Detector Battery on November 5, 2011.


-Guest Blogger Randy O'Donnell is the Shippensburg Borough Fire Chief and heads the Shippensburg Fire Safety Task Force which promotes fire safety and hands out smoke detectors to the community.

A Silent Killer - Carbon Monoxide

Fire isn’t the only home danger we are talking about during October! There is another danger in your home and it’s one you can’t smell, see, feel or taste! We’re talking about CARBON MONOXIDE (CO). It is often referred to as the silent killer, because without a detector it often goes unnoticed until it’s too late! Carbon monoxide can be present in any place that has appliances that utilize a fuel (gasoline, wood, coal, natural gas, propane, oil or methane). It is created when these fuels burn incompletely.

It is estimated that nearly 15,000 people visit the emergency room each year with some level of carbon monoxide poisoning and 500 deaths each year are attributed to accidental CO poisoning. In 2005 U.S. fire departments responded to around 61,100 CO incidents! These are alarming numbers, but sadly most people do not know the signs or symptoms of CO poisoning or take steps to prevent it!

CO poisoning is something that can occur with someone is exposed to a large amount of CO over a short period of time or a small amount of CO over a longer period of time. Regardless of how it occurs, there are several signs and symptoms to look for.

- Dull headache (the most common early symptom)
- Weakness
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Chest Pain
- Confusion
- Irritability
- Impaired Judgment
- Loss of Consciousness

If you suspect you may have CO poisoning you should get to fresh air immediately and seek medical care. If symptoms are not severe, open windows and doors as you leave to ventilate your home.

Now that you know the signs and symptoms, let’s move on to preventing and protecting your home from CO!

- Install a CO alarm and follow manufacturer’s instructions for placement.

- Test CO alarms once a month and replace them according to manufacturer’s instructions.

- If CO alarm sounds, immediately move to a fresh air location outside or open windows and doors. Call for help from a fresh air location and stay outside until emergency crews arrive.

- Never run your vehicle in a closed garage. It is best to remove your vehicle from the garage immediately after starting, but if you do not, be sure to keep any doors to your home firmly closed.

- During or after a snow storm make sure vents for dryers, furnaces, stoves or fireplaces are clear and make sure your vehicles exhaust pipe is not covered in snow before starting.

- A generator should be used in a well-ventilated location outdoors away from windows, doors and vent openings.

- Gas or charcoal grills can produce CO and should only be used outdoors.

- Have fuel burning equipment and chimneys inspected every year before cold weather sets in.

- When using a fireplace, be sure to open the flue for adequate ventilation.

Now that you have some basic knowledge, sit back and assess your home! Think basement to roof…do you have any appliances that burn fuels? Gas fireplace? Wood stove? Coal stove? Hot water heater? Furnace? The list goes on and on! If one exists in your home get out and get that CO detector TODAY and put this silent killer to rest!

We're Movin' On Up

We're movin' on up....literally! With the move of our 9-1-1 center this morning, our department is above ground for the first time in our history and happily settling into our new home at 1 Public Safety Drive, Carlisle. At 3:30am this morning, additional staff manned what would become the old communications center and the new communications center to prepare for the switch. At 4:03am phones lines were switched, so that dispatchers in the new center would be answering calls. At 4:08, the 800 MHz radio system was switched over to the new center. Moments later staff answered the first 9-1-1 phone call in their new home and we were officially moved! At no time during the switch to our new center were 9-1-1 services interrupted.

This move has taken more than a year of intense planning and many extra hours for our staff in recent weeks. Our staff has been working persistently these past few weeks preparing for today's move by testing phone lines, radios and paging capabilities as well as training on the new technology and equipment being utilized in the new communications center.

A big thank you to our AMAZING staff for their hard work and diligence during this move. Thank you to Mission Critical Partners, Century Link, The Harris Corporation, Cassidian, B. Moyer Communications, Verizon, Kova, Alcatel, Versar, Sage Technology Solutions, Cumberland County IMTO staff and many others for helping to make this possible!


*For our emergency services history buffs, Upper Allen Fire Department (23) was the last company to be dispatched from the old communications center and the Carlisle Barracks Fire Department (38) was the first company to be dispatched from the new center.


- Megan Silverstrim

Preventing Chimney Fires

You hear a whistling sound and your neighbor calls to tell you they see flames shooting out of
your chimney. A chimney fire how can that be, after all, aren’t chimneys built to contain heat and flames from a fire. Well unfortunately, dirt and creosote buildup in chimneys can lead to a fire that can spread and consume your whole house.


Some tips to prevent chimney fires:
- Have your chimney cleaned and inspected annually by a certified chimney sweep.

- Burn seasoned wood (wood that has been split and dried for at least six months).

- Burning unseasoned wood creates moisture which leads to creosote buildup on the
inside of the chimney.

- Build a smaller, hotter fire that burns more completely.

- Do not burn cardboard, wrapping paper or trash.

- Install a chimney cap.

- Remove ashes in sealed metal container.

- Store ashes away from house and any other combustibles.

When you suspect a chimney fire get out of the house and call 911.

- Guest Blogger Doug Gochenaur is Fire Administration Officer for Hampden Township.