Red Cross Chat

Boston.com’s The Big Picture has 35 breathtaking photos of the wildfires in California.
Here are a couple:

The Red Cross is providing services to those affected - please stay tuned to the Disaster Online Newsroom for updates.

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The fires in Southern California have kicked up significantly over the last 24 hours and are now affecting thousands of people.

Our Disaster Online Newsroom is updating information about these fires as fast as it’s coming in. We have three chapters on the ground and more help on the way.
Stay tuned there for all local press […]

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The Santa Ana winds kicked up a fire in Santa Barbara overnight. The Red Cross has opened a shelter and is providing feeding and mental health and health services.
LAist has the goods on your real time updates. We particularly enjoyed Ken Layne’s dispatch wherein he describes just how handy a Red Cross Emergency Radio can […]

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Did you hear about Southern California’s Great Shake Out today?
The earthquake drill’s timing is appropriate as we marked the 6 month anniversary of China’s massive quake yesterday - a stark reminder that the big one can happen and it’s best to be as prepared as possible.
Here’s a report from August 2008 from a returning Red […]

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-By Bob Wade, DAT Night Team Leader/Supervisor–ARC of SE Wisconsin–Milwaukee, WI.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
After only responding to a house flood on Thursday night and nothing on Friday night, tonight I was called out to a BIG fire in the 3800 block of N. Port Washington Rd.
The battalion commander at the scene quickly upgraded the fire to […]

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We noticed this stream of Tweets this morning about an apartment fire:

vhanna26: Our apartment is smoky and we have the door open and fans and A/C on. No one was hurt. I feel a bit shaky and weird.
 
[…]

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With the blizzard in the plains it’s hard to believe (but true!) that it’s still hurricane season (until November 30) and we do indeed have Hurricane Paloma churning in the gulf:

Here are some shots from the blizzard happening at the same time in the plains:
    
>> What to do if you’re stuck in a snow […]

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-By Bob Wade, DAT Night Team Leader/Supervisor–ARC of SE Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Another week on call with the Milwaukee Disaster Action Team came to a quiet end at 5:30am this morning, with only three calls over the seven nights that we were at the ready.  The Day Team had 5 fire calls.
This is my third autumn […]

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The doe reference is appropriate today as we’re being warned all over the news about the dangers of deer causing car accidents. Be careful out there.
Anyway, this here is the most update statistical report from hurricanes Ike and Gustav.

The numbers are staggering.

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-By Bob Wade, Night Team Leader/Supervisor–ARC of SE Wisconsin–Milwaukee, WI. 
Wednesday, Sept 12, 2007  
It’s a little after 6pm, Wednesday evening. I am headed up to the attic for my daily workout, police scanner and two cell phones in hand.  I’m on duty again.
The scanner crackles to life before I hit the bottom step […]

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