Our team.
South Burlingame is fortunate to have a group of neighbors who volunteer in our Neighborhood Emergency Team (SBNET).
The team is trained to support neighbors DURING active natural disasters AND to spur us to prepare for disasters BEFORE they strike.
SBNET Team Leader is Merilee Karr who can be contacted via Nextdoor or email at merilee@MerileeDeborahKarr.com
Knowing your neighbors will help you with any kind of disaster. Over 95% of people rescued from calamity are saved by neighbors. When you get acquainted with a neighbor, you make South Burlingame more resilient – and an even better place to live!
Good to know: The Capitol Hill School playground is the SBNET Staging Area at SW Spring Garden St. at SW 17th Ave.
In a major regional disaster, like an earthquake, you will be able to get help and information there.
Plan.
What kinds of catastrophes do we have here?
Good news: NO hurricanes. No cicadas. No fire ants. Tornadoes are rare and small. Lightning is uncommon.
Bad news: We have WINTER STORMS. Storms can ICE UP ROADS, paralyzing the city. Heavy snow is rare, and no one knows how to drive on it.
Ice storms sometimes cause POWER OUTAGES. As the world warms, we have WILDFIRES in rural areas most summers. Air quality can be terrible for a few days. Fires have never come close enough to the city to implement evacuation – so far.
Small EARTHQUAKES, causing little or no damage, are frequent in the Pacific Northwest. Big ones—really big—occur every few hundred years. The last one was in 1700. Geologists tell us to expect another in the next few dozen years.
Teach.
First steps. BEFORE a disaster, there are things you can do to make any mishap safer and more comfortable for you and your household.
First, take a breath. Small steps taken are better than big steps put off.
If emergency preparedness feels overwhelming, nothing gets done.
This brochure gives you a step-by-step 24-week action and shopping list.
Click on the Calendar to Email Merilee for the Zoom Link to Join
South Burlingame NET Meeting Minutes
Grow.
South Burlingame NET Team
Interested in learning more about safety preparation specific to our neighborhood? Reference our Plan.
Contact South Burlingame NET Team Leader
Merilee Karr here.
Where are you on the path to personal and community preparedness?
This page probably finds you in one of three situations:
1. You haven’t thought much about emergencies or you’re worried, but don’t know how to start. You can do this; we can help.
2. You have some experience and knowledge, have taken some action, and want to do more. You’re in the right place.
3. You have enough experience to know no one is ever fully prepared. You want to learn, and you have wisdom to share. Let’s talk.
Wherever you are in this process, you are welcome on the Neighborhood Emergency Team.
NET training is free, and covers a wide range of topics, from first aid, neighborhood hazards and resources, radio communications (in case cell towers are down), disaster psychology, low-risk search and rescue, and low-risk fire control.
There are NO physical requirements.
Our training is the same as the nationwide CERT program.
Before the pandemic, NET classes were 30 hours in-person, over 3 weekend days, or 6-7 evenings.
Since the pandemic, classes have transitioned to a more flexible self-paced video program, and will probably continue that way.
You are welcome to participate in most team activities without completing NET training.
We lead workshops and share info on household readiness.
The team, and your neighbors, would rather educate you now, than have to save you in a crisis.
If you can’t take NET class but have equipment, like a generator or chain saw; or if you have skills helpful in a disaster, let us know.
Helpful skills include the obvious, like structure evaluation, radio, and medical — and the not-so-obvious, such as comforting scared kids, feeding large groups, logistics, personnel management, animal control, and mental health.
