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January 2025

Disaster Preparedness from Perry Helm

Hello my name is Perry Helm.

I was a volunteer on the Pasadena Fire Department’s Disaster Advisory Council for several years.  My area of expertise was the Map Your Neighborhood disaster preparation program endorsed by the City of Pasadena.

Below you can see me training a sixth grade student at Poly Tech on how to shut off a gas valve.

The assignment for this 6th grade class was to teach their parents about disaster preparation.  But why should they have to teach their parents something they should already know?  Well, maybe no one taught us older folks.

So, how do we know in advance when an earthquake occurs?

We download the MyShake app on our cell phones.

When the MyShake alert tells us a strong earthquake has taken place, what do we do?

We “drop, cover and hang on” as shown in the following short video.

Then after the shaking stops what do we do?

We protect ourselves from injury as shown on the next video.

What do we do after that?

We take of our loved ones, turn off the gas if leaking and turn off the water at the house main.  Please view the next video to see how the next steps take place.

Next Steps Video

But what if we have a fire in our home?

We use our fire extinguisher using the PASS technique as shown in the next video.

I hope these tips help us all live safer lives.

Sincerely,

Perry Helm