OK Drill

2011 OK Drill Results

2011-10-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

Another successful Ojai Valley OK Drill concluded evening of Wednesday, Sept 21st around 8:30PM. Volunteers from Ojai Valley CERT, Ham Radio and Red Cross came together to canvass the Ojai Valley looking for signs posted by residents. Ventura County Sheriff's Department requested CalTrans position two (very large) flashing road-signs advertising the drill. The AM1610 Station broadcast messages, recording by Ham Operators. The after-event was hosted at Arc Enrichment Center.

Casitas Springs - 0
Oak View - 203
Mira Monte - 608
Meiners Oaks - 180
Arbolada/Foothill - 101
West City Ojai - 64
East City Ojai - 35
East End - 15
Upper Ojai - 9

Total - 1214

This year the totals dropped a bit, relative to last year. While ideally the numbers continue rising, they are nothing but a metric. One purpose of the recurring drill is for some self-inquiry by all participants: did I put up my sign? could we do a better advertising job? did I do an effective search within my neighborhood? what were any communication challenges? what needs to be improved for next year?

Camarillo Leisure Village also held an OK Drill on same day:
2136 Doors checked
1498 OK Signs Counted (70%)
45 minutes to complete

Thanks to everyone for a fun time, which included bringing us all together for some lively discussion.

2011 OK Drill -- Wednesday, Sept 21st at 7PM

2011-09-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Ojai Valley CERT is excited to announce the 4th Ojai Valley OK! Drill -- Wednesday, September 21st at 7PM. We will be handing out signs within the neighborhoods, Ojai Farmers Market, Schools, City Hall, Library.

What we're looking from residents (at 7PM on Sept 21) is:

-Post your OK Sign in a street-facing window or on your mailbox (below the door)
-Tune to AM 1610
-Review your Disaster Preparedness Plan
-Check on your neighbor

Stay tuned to more info as it happens.

OK! Drill 2010 - Results & Reflection

2010-09-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

The 3rd Ojai Valley OK! Drill, held Wednesday 7PM on September 15th, was a big success on many levels.

By 8:05PM, the total counts had been relayed via Ham Radio into the Ojai Police Department -- 40% improvement with a total of 1383 OK! Signs counted. All Neighborhoods showed measurable improvement year-over-year.

Casitas Springs -- 1
Oak View -- 246
Mira Monte -- 478
Meiners Oaks -- 239
Arbolada/Foothill -- 93
West City Ojai -- 127
East City Ojai -- 176
East End -- 2
Upper Ojai -- 21

Over 80 volunteers (made up of CERT, Red Cross and Ham Radio Operators) had completed the drill within the given time of 1 hour - rallying at pre-assigned rendezvous points throughout The Ojai Valley; searching pre-assigned search areas; and following ICS principles of communication by relaying total OK! Sign counts via Ham Radio to the Police Department.

The volunteers enjoyed support and encouragement from many Government/First Responder Officials including: District 1 County Supervisor Bennett and staff, City of Ojai Mayor Olsen, Battalion Chiefs Dorn and Garcia, Fire PIO Nash, Ojai Chief of Police Dunn. Bennett's aides, Cindy Cantle and Council Member Brian Brennan organized an after-event hot-wash discussion where volunteers shared their experiences including offering ideas for improvement. Everyone agreed that the flashing CalTrans Signs and the AM 1610 Radio Announcement were major factors in the drill's success. Supervisor Bennett read a Proclamation from the Ventura County Board of Supervisors acknowledging the team effort and naming September 15th as "Ojai Valley OK Community Drill Day". County OES contributed with releasing Reverse 911 which contacted 15,000 residences alerting people of the drill.

Leading up to the drill, several thousand OK! Signs were printed (by Supervisor Bennett's Office), laminated (funded by Rotary Club Ojai West) and distributed throughout The Ojai Valley (by CERT Volunteers). During the Sunday Ojai Farmer's Market a good percentage of shopper's remembered the prior year's drills and already had their signs at home.

Additional effort was made to reach out to sister organizations throughout the Valley who practiced their OK! Drill and then relayed the results to the Ojai PD. The additional drills were good local practice, demonstrated possibility of a CountyWide event, and proved that distant groups can effectively relay information:

-Camarillo Leisure Village -- 1467 signs counted within 50 minutes
-Santa Paula CERT/Neighborhood Watch -- 192 signs counted (first OK! Drill)
-Ventura Mobile Home Park -- 188 signs counted
-Santa Rosa Valley - Emergency Radio Network (SRV-ERN): Network consists of Amateur, GMRS, FRS, and MURS stations. Tree network, so some operators have radios on more than one service. Not all stations are Amateur Radio Operators. Total Stations = 8 (Amateur = 6; GMRS = 4; FRS = 5).
-Lake Los Angeles Ham Radio Communications -- Proof of concept for comm relay
-Ham Radio Relay between locations in Los Angeles County and Santa Paula - Proof of concept for comm relay

Hovan (KI6BQL) was Ventura CountyWide Net Control Ham Operator who tied all the remote groups together and relayed information to Wayne (W6OEU) in Ojai. Thanks to Wayne (N6WIX), and SMRA, for securing time on the County Repeater from the South Mountain Repeater Association.

We are anticipating next year for our sister groups within Ventura County and neighboring Counties (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo) to participate during the 2011 OK! Drill.

Big thanks goes out to all the CERT Neighborhood Area Coordinators, NERT Coordinators, Volunteer Search Support and Radio Operators.

We cannot overlook the most important participant in The Ojai Valley OK! Drill -- each and every resident who chose to spend a few minutes:

-Preparing their disaster plan
-Tuning to AM 1610
-Posting their Yellow OK Sign in a location closest to the street
-Checking on their neighbor

Without a sign being posted, we don't have a drill.

Looking forward to the 4th Annual OK! Drill -- 3rd Wednesday in Sept - 9/21/11 at 7PM.

Ojai OK! Drill 2010 -- Wednesday, Sept 15th at 7PM

2010-08-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

This year the OK! Drill will be held on our established annual day of the third Wednesday of each September at 7PM -- for 2010, it's Sept 15th. Counting begins at 7PM with total counts to the EOC before 8:30PM.

Last year, The Ojai Valley counted just under 1000 signs within 1 hour and this year the stretch goal is 1200 signs.

Other Groups are also participating and we look forward to collaborating and communicating total counts with: Camarillo Leisure Village.

This web-site gives the various Project and Action Details for the 2010 Drill - https://sites.google.com/site/20100915okdrill/

Check out this site (http://okdrill.blogspot.com/) for all the details of the OK! Drill if unfamiliar.

Do NOT hesitate to reach out to Paul Garth (mrpaulgarth@gmail.com) with any questions at all on any component. I will answer everything you need to work towards a successful drill.

Ojai OK! Drill 2009 - results and reflection

2009-10-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

Now that the Ojai OK! Drill (held October 14th, 2009) is concluded, I've had some time to reflect on what was accomplished and achieved. The following are behind-the-scenes detail which recognizes (both volunteer and government) those involved in creating a dynamic Disaster Preparedness & Communications exercise for The Ojai Valley.

Raw Stats

Within one hour, search teams had: met at assigned rendezvous points; counted pre-assigned search areas looking for OK Signs; and communicated, via Ham Radio, the results to the Ojai Police Department (Emergency Operations Center for Ojai). The total count was 944, up from 700 in 2008.

Residents of The Ojai Valley

It cannot be said loudly enough that the Ojai OK! Drill is not possible without the support and participation of Ojai Valley Residents. The signs provide Emergency Preparedness Information which is useful for ongoing discussions. The action of displaying the OK! Sign is paramount for a successful communications exercise.

Ojai Valley CERT Neighborhood Area Coordinators, NERT Coordinators, and CERT Teams

Each of the CERT Neighborhood Area Coordinators (Kathy Miller, Ken Williams, Beth von Gunten, Paul McConnaughey, Paul Garth, Diane Bailey, Mike Weaver and Christel Stratton) managed the effort within their neighborhoods - creating Rendezvous points for NERT Coordinators, managing search areas for CERT Teams and providing communications protocols (FRS & Ham Radio).

Ojai Valley Amateur Radio Club (OVARC)

Ojai Valley Ham Radio Operators, led by Wayne Francis (W6OEU) assisted the various CERT Neighborhoods in communicating to our Emergency Operations Center (Ojai Police Department) the total Neighborhood Counts. Sean Kellythorne (KI6MGI) was inside the EOC representing Ojai Valley CERT.

OVARC (represented by Wayne Francis (W6OEU) and Tom Sullivan (W8MKL)) was responsible for programming the AM 1610 Radio message announcing the drill.

Ham Radio Communication via South Mountain Repeater Association (SMRA) Repeater

Wayne (N6WIX) and Hovan (KI6BQL) provided Ham Radio communications between Ventura and Ojai using our SMRA County Repeater. Ventura Harbor performed a simultaneous OK! Drill using the same format as Ojai.

The Office of Ventura County District 1 Supervisor Steve Bennett

Supervisor Steve Bennett has been a huge supporter of the Ojai OK! Drill from its inception in 2008. His office has provided: OK Signs (in both English & Spanish), instruction sheets, inter-agency support from Cindy Cantle & Brian Brennan, and web-space for communications and file downloads.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Ojai Chief of Police Captain Chris Dunn coordinated and requested CalTrans to install two flashing road-signs (Arnaz Grade & Dennison Grade) that advertised the drill's date and time). Capt Dunn was also present in the EOC's Ham Radio Command Post for the duration of the exercise. We appreciate the effort - one of the CalTrans road-signs was requested to be relocated from Los Angeles County.

Ventura County Fire Department

Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper was present during the exercise showing his support. Battalion Chief Ranger Dorn observed the communications effort inside the EOC and was impressed with our results and coordination.

City of Ojai

Cindy Cantle (Supervisor Bennett's Office), Paul Garth (West City Ojai CERT) and Diane Bailey (East City Ojai CERT) made a presentation to the Ojai City Council Meeting the night prior to the drill. Laminated Ojai OK! Signs were handed out and Mayor Joe Devito, Council Members and Staff showed enthusiastic support for our drill.

Help of Ojai

Help of Ojai provided the "Little House" space for our post-drill discussion. Brian Brennan (KJ6BXO) relayed status updates between the EOC and the various government officials inside Little House.

Rotary Club Ojai-West

Rotary Club Ojai-West generously donated $500 to Ojai Valley CERT for laminating 2000 OK! Signs.

Ventura Laminating, Ventura

Ventura Laminating generously laminated 2000 OK! Signs for $500 - a huge discount.

Ken Williams

Special note to Ken, who has provided much of his own capital in laminating hundreds of Ojai OK! Signs for Mira Monte and has linked several residential parks together using FRS radios.

Cottonwood, Utah - Wasatch District Volunteer Emergency Response Team

At 7PM local time, they performed an emergency drill with 112 homes being informed of the drill; 78 reported that they were "OK". This is a rate of 69.64%. Counts were completed within 30 minutes by radio to their EOC. Communication was relayed via email from Roger Kehr (Emergency Coordinator for CottonWood, Utah) via email to Paul Garth (Ojai Valley CERT).

Public Outreach Efforts

Ojai Valley CERT members made outreach efforts at the Farmer's Market, including Church Groups and Youth Groups.

Ojai Day, while held after the drill, was well supported with 16 members of Ojai Valley CERT providing information (and laminated Ojai OK! sign upgrades) at the CERT booth.

Ojai Valley Emergency Response Team (OVERT)

The OVERT Triad - comprised of Ojai Valley CERT, Ojai Valley Amateur Radio Club and American Red Cross (Ojai) once again came together in mutual support for this exercise. Several members of American Red Cross (headed by Dale Hanson) created search teams within West City Ojai.

Final Comment & notice of Annual Event

Thank you to everybody - it would be infeasible to mention everyone by name - for your support and efforts in the 2009 Ojai OK! Drill.

Ojai Valley CERT are thrilled to announce that the Ojai OK! Drill is now an official annual event - held each third Wednesday of September beginning at 7PM.

Ojai OK! Drill in Blog -- In Case of Emergency Blog

2009-10-13T17:56:00.001-07:00

My new friend in the Blogosphere (John Solomon), is the author of the popular Blog -- InCaseOfEmergencyBlog.com

He recently wrote an article that does a great job summarizing what the Ojai OK! Drill is all about.

Please go to: http://incaseofemergencyblog.com/2009/10/08/ojai-ok-youre-ok-so-communitys-ok-readiness-drill-involves-public-cert-responders/

Ojai OK! Drill Sign Factory

2009-10-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

Ojai Valley CERT makes additional efforts by laminating OK Signs before distribution. The results are more durable, reflective and permanent signs which will be preserved between drills/incidents.

For the 2009 Drill (October 14th at 7PM), the Office of Ventura County District Supervisor Steve Bennett provide several thousand OK signs and instruction sheets.

The Rotary Club-Ojai West generously donated money to Ojai Valley CERT which went towards laminating 2000 signs.

Check out this photo of another laminating operation at Mira Valle Park in Ojai headed by Ken Williams (seated) -- 5 laminating machines going simultaneously!!

Ojai Valley CERT assigned Ham Radio Simplex Frequencies

2009-09-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

Wayne Francis (Emergency Coordinator for Ojai Valley Amateur Radio Club, Area 5), who represents our group to Ventura County Auxiliary Communications Service, assigned specific Ham Radio Simplex Frequencies to each of the nine (9) CERT Neighborhood Areas.

Last year's Ojai OK! Drill was a success because 11 local Ham Operators shadowed Neighborhood Area Coordinators and communicated total counts to the EOC.

Since then, there has been a concerted effort to license new operators, with over 50 additional operators becoming licensed. We recently held a licensing in Ojai which added 10 new operators.

For the October 14th Drill, we plan on having more operators within each Neighborhood -- ideally one for each NERT Coordinator. Most of the CERT Neighborhood Area Coordinators are now Ham Operators.

By using Simplex freqnencies within each Neighborhood it will allow each NERT Coordinator to effectively communicate to the Neighborhood Area Coordinator using a trusted and proven communications system.

Here are the Simplex frequencies for Ojai:

Radio Ojai Interview (9/11/09)

2009-09-12T16:54:00.001-07:00

Get this widget!

Check out "Lisa Interviews Paul Garth of the Ojai OK! Drill"

Radio Ojai Interview on Ojai OK Drill

2009-08-30T10:26:00.001-07:00

Last year, I was interviewed by Matt Haag for Radio Ojai (http://www.radioojai.com). The topic covered Personal Preparedness and the September 17th, 2008 Ojai OK Drill.

Please spend about 8 minutes reviewing the information:

http://radioojai.com/2008/09/16/matts-office-paul-garth-of-cert.aspx

What is the “OK Drill” and why should I consider this for my CERT team?

2009-08-02T00:17:00.000-07:00

What is the “OK Drill” and why should I consider this for my CERT team?

Desired Outcomes

Effectively explain the features and benefits of the “OK Drill”, using a simulated CERT disaster response. Enroll all CERT groups to seriously consider implementing this drill. Explore several areas of focus, including: Preparation, Response, Leadership, Teamwork, Search Techniques, Communications, Asset Management, Awareness and Lessons Learned.

Challenge writing this document

Rapidly enrolling CERT groups to implement this drill, by describing several components, without going too deep into operational detail. This seemingly simple drill works, offering profound results over time –try it and report back with your results and lessons learned. My assumption is the reader has received CERT training and is familiar with ICS, SAR and Communications techniques.

Preparation

Operational details (printing and distributing OK Signs, team assignments, search areas, communication protocols, etc) for drill planning can be found at http://okdrill.blogspot.com. This document will detail the activities from beginning of the drill (7PM, your local time). Reach out to me (ojaivalleycert@gmail.com) with any questions not answered within this material – or just ask anyway.

The dual-sided OK Sign is laser-printed with black ink onto bright yellow letter-sized paper, and ideally laminated (more durable and reflects light). The opposite side (What to do if disaster strikes) can be customized to suit your local community with applicable contacts, etc. Residents either post their OK sign or they do not – keep this simple.

Response

At 7PM, the CERT Team Member posts their OK Sign in a street-facing window, dons their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and heads towards their pre-assigned rendezvous point. Note: Holding the drill at 7PM allows for teams to find each other gathering and then simulates restricted visibility, requiring flashlights.

Leadership

The NERT (Neighborhood Emergency Response Team) Coordinators go to their specific rendezvous point and meet up with their pre-assigned CERT Team Members. Note: Rendezvous points are located based on CERT Member residence and geography – they count their own neighborhoods.

Teamwork

Each NERT (which will be an actual strike-team during a disaster – where the work is really done within CERT) searches a pre-assigned area, looking for OK Signs that have been posted by residents and CERT members, and keeps track of total count. Note: Not necessary to keep track of residence addresses – maybe just total per block, but definitely total per NERT.

Search Techniques

One strategy is to drive a car in an “S-Shape”, navigating through the streets within pre-assigned search area. The driver is only responsible for safely driving below 15 MPH and navigating. The front right passenger shines flashlight on right side residences. The rear left passenger shines flashlight on left side residences. Note: It’s unlikely you will be freely driving around after a major earthquake/disaster, but this drill addresses many components.

Communications

The Neighborhood Area Coordinator (located at a specific central Neighborhood Command Post) communicates to their NERT Coordinators (maximum of five) using FRS, GMRS, or specific Ham Radio Simplex frequencies – depending on equipment and licensing. This command post manages all communications within the Neighborhood and passes applicable traffic to the EOC.

The Neighborhood Area Coordinators communicates (using Ham Radio) total neighborhood counts – all their NERT counts – to the local Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Note: Ideally the Neighborhood Area Coordinator is a Ham Operator, or shadowed by a Ham Operator.

The EOC collects information from all Neighborhood Area Coordinators and communicates information to the next level – in Ventura County that is the Office of Emergency Services (OES).

Drill is complete by 8PM with final counts to EOC/OES by 8:30PM.

After the drill, email ojaivalleycert@gmail.com with your Group’s Name, Location (City, State), Total Count and I will reply back with a Master Summary after compiling results.

Asset Management

While not part of the “OK Drill” each NERT Coordinator manages the Cribbing & Lifting equipment (pry bars, cribbing material, etc) located at each rendezvous point. The NERT Coordinators own their neighborhood and have intimate knowledge of all local assets (generators, trucks, local doctors, etc).

Awareness
The benefits of the “OK Drill” are 1. People taking personal responsibility for their own welfare through Planning and Preparation (Creating a Disaster Plan, tuning to AM Emergency Stations, posting their status using OK Sign), 2. Creating Community by participating in an area-wide drill and 3. Building Leadership Development through establishing CERT Emergency Response Teams.
Lessons Learned

Invariably, some things will not work out as planned, which is the primary purpose of the drill. Hold an after-drill meeting to discuss what worked and didn’t work. Typically, the areas of opportunity are within Communications and improving the community outreach to participate in the exercise. Each exercise repeat should have a larger stretch goal of total signs counted.

Detailed information on “OK Drill”:

http://okdrill.blogspot.com

Head of FEMA commenting on Personal Preparedness

2009-07-31T22:20:00.000-07:00

FEMA Head (Craig Fugate) Says Personal Preparedness “Must Be National Priority”; Requires “Considerable National Attention” — “Every Elected And Appointed Official At Every Level of Government Must Make It A Priority”

Pretty clear directive from the Head of FEMA.

http://incaseofemergencyblog.com/2009/07/28/fema-head-says-personal-preparedness-must-be-national-priority-requires-considerable-national-attention-every-elected-and-appointed-official-at-every-level-of-government-must-make-it-a-p/

Revised Ojai OK Drill date

2009-07-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

The date for the Ojai OK Drill has been changed.

It is now confirmed to Wednesday, October 14th, 2009.

Drill begins at 7PM -- NERT teams go to their rendezvous points

Counting completed by 8:00PM

Counts communicated by 8:30PM, via Ham Radio, to Emergency Operations Center

Welcome to the OK Drill

2009-07-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you for spending time reviewing this web-site. We request you seriously consider implementing this OK Drill within your local volunteer emergency response organizations.

It is important to reach out to your Government and Emergency Response Agencies. During Ojai's 2008 OK Drill, we enjoyed the support of: Ventura County Office of Emergency Services (Reverse 911 Drill), Ventura County Fire Department (visits to 5th grade classrooms and adopting the OK Sign Drill), Ventura County Board of Supervisors (Supervisor Steve Bennett's office providing several thousand OK signs), Ojai City Hall (Support from Mayor and City Council), Ventura County Sheriff's Department (AM Radio Station broadcast), Ojai Valley Amateur Radio Club (Ham Operators shadowing each Neighborhood Area Coordinator and providing communications at our local Emergency Operations Center (EOC)), American Red Cross for providing assistance during counting, and to all the CERT Graduates who searched their neighborhoods looking for and counting OK signs. The primary effort of the drill came from CERT and the community, with strong support provided from Government and Professional First Responders.

The opportunities for creating/enhancing teamwork, communications, and leadership are quite profound.

The annual OK Drill has been consistently performed by the Culver City CERT and Culver City Amateur Radio Emergency Service - it is impressive they can size-up the entire city and communicate results within an hour.

Ojai Valley CERT first implemented the OK Drill on 9/17/08 (700 signs counted within one hour) and has since enjoyed: CERT Classes averaging 40 students; licensing over 42 additional Ham Radio Operators; CERT leadership throughout Valley; and strategic partnerships created between Ojai Valley Amateur Radio Club and American Red Cross.

Between now and the drill we will post articles on this Blog, including use of Twitter ( http://www.twitter.com/okdrill ), Facebook and GoToWebinar.

Our objective is to "push the envelope" by generating (using the power of technology and mutual agreement) a possibility of having as many volunteer emergency response teams holding their OK Drill on the same day (10/14/09) at 7:00PM, your local time. The synergy created will lay a foundation for future drills.

We're avoiding the need to email out updates, so please consider "following" this blog-site, including frequent checks of the calendar at the bottom of the page. Feel free to post questions you have.

Thank You from all of us at Ojai Valley CERT