School closed for week after October wildfires

By Patty McCormac
San Diego Union-Tribune

POWAY, Calif. – For students at Painted Rock Elementary School, a disaster isn't just a blurry concept, something that happens to someone else.

Most of them were evacuated during the early-morning hours of Oct. 22, when the best that fire officials could do was to warn people to get out of the way of the wind-driven firestorm. Some lost their homes. Their school closed for a week.

Those are a few reasons that the Federal Emergency Management Agency chose the Poway school to launch a pilot program in disaster preparedness for children. The class, called Preparedness Day, was filled with hands-on activities that taught the students how to “Be Aware – Prepare,” so if there is a next time, they will be ready.

For Jack Troxell, the school's principal, it was an opportunity to help his students continue healing.

“It helps them put the disaster into prospective,” Troxell said. “They can learn they don't have to be a victim and that they can prepare for it.”

About 100 fourth-graders took part in the one-hour classes Tuesday and yesterday.

They learned how to transport and care for their pets should they need to be evacuated. “If it's not safe for you there, it's not safe for them there,” said Roxiey Crawford of FEMA.

Poway firefighter/paramedic Gary Anderson taught the children how to “stop, drop and roll” if their clothing catches fire, and the kids had the opportunity to try on gear worn by firefighters.

Puppets Sierra and Talli from the American Red Cross taught the children how to duck and cover during an earthquake and how to put together an emergency supply kit, since it could take up to 72 hours for emergency workers to reach them after a disaster.

A computer station signed on to fema.gov/kids and ready.gov provided instructions on how to make emergency kits and create a family evacuation plan.

Painted Rock Computer instructor Sue Halfaker said the event was valuable because it empowered students. “It gives them more of a sense of control than they had before,” she said.

It did seem therapeutic for the students, who also could talk about their experiences.

Stella Gerson, 10, and her family had to evacuate their Poway home on very short notice.

“The fire was right down the hill,” Stella said. She said she helped other family members pack what they could, then grabbed their dog, Blondie, and left – she in slippers and her brothers shoeless.

From yesterday's lessons, Stella learned how to evacuate pets and how to move a snake. No, she doesn't have a snake, but she learned that a pillowcase does the job. She said she also found out more about the Red Cross, wildfires and how the fire department works.

“We are teaching how to be prepared for any kind of disaster, whether natural and, of course, the susceptibility of terrorist attacks are real, so we engage in that as well,” said Ken Higginbotham, an external-affairs officer for FEMA.

“Anytime there is a disaster of any kind, we want children to be prepared physically with the proper items for emergency preparedness kits and with the emotional and mental stability to be able to deal with an emergency evacuation should the need arise.”

Higginbotham said he hopes the children will share what they learned at home so parents and guardians can be better prepared.

“This is a valuable program for youngsters of all ages,” said Mike Hall, head of FEMA's wildfire recovery office in Southern California. “It's good for the kids, it's good for the family and it's good for the community. It teaches that all disasters are local.”

FEMA officials wanted to try to program out in a smaller district before rolling it out in San Diego or Los Angeles, Higginbotham said. A video of the project will be given to the district and could be used on the FEMA Web site.

Copyright 2008 San Diego Union Tribune