Townhouse Fire, 12/29/09

Our thoughts are with the families who were affected by the townhouse fire in Leesburg this afternoon. With the help of volunteers, the Chapter was able to provide housing & additional assistance to the families.

Firefighters Rescue Four from Wind-whipped Fire|ABC 7 News

August Disaster Action Team Meeting

Cookies, coffee, vegetarian Chinese food. Scones, doughnuts, croissants... and Komodo Dragon Blend Beans. What do ALL of those things (as strange as it sounds!) have in common?

Read on to find out...

Our DAT monthly DAT meeting had Dr. Joe Sciuto, Senior Director of Emergency Preparedness for the National Capital Region speaking to the Loudoun volunteers. Those in attendance learned about the "One Red Cross" initiative, which is designed to encourage community and regional chapters to work together, along with giving the volunteers more of a leadership role. Joe shared volunteer opportunities with both the Regional Disaster Services Committee (RDSC---not to be confused with the RDCC) and the Regional Disaster Communications Center (the RDCC... confusing isn't it??). He also answered questions from volunteers about preparedness for H1N1, and how the new One Red Cross opens up opportunities for those in the National Capital Region to work with volunteers from chapters in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore.


Oh, and if you're still waiting to know what all of those things had in common...
Starbucks graciously donated the coffee, scones, doughnuts and croissants. The youth volunteers in the picture with Joe purchased cookies for the meeting at a local grocery store after going out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant that serves vegetarian food! Thanks to Starbucks for the wonderful pastries!

National Night Out

We were invited to participate with the Courts of St. Francis in Purcellville, VA during the annual National Night Out. The chapter handed out literature, enjoyed the lovely barbecue, and helped support positive methods for crime reduction in neighborhoods. Another awesome way to help people be prepared in the event of a disaster, and helping people to understand what the Red Cross' role is during emergencies. Thank-you for inviting us!

First Aid, CPR & WalMart

The Loudoun County chapter was the beneficiary of a grant from WalMart earlier this Spring. What does that mean? We have money to help people... BE PREPARED! The money has allowed the chapter to purchase technology for training (a laptop and an LCD projector), and also allowed us to train 12 new & renewing members of our Disaster Action Team in CPR/AED and First Aid on Saturday.
Volunteers attending the class said it was one of the best they had ever participated in, so kudos to our instructor who volunteered her time. Make sure to check out the pictures...

Shelter Response

On July 10, the chapter worked with Loudoun County Family Services and the Office of Emergency Management to stage, and set-up a shelter. The request was in response to the hostage situation in Leesburg that had started earlier that day.
When asked about the response, David P. Chesler, Director of Emergency Services, said that, "Disasters aren't planned. They just happen. I'm very proud of all of our volunteers that changed their plans to help us help the community." You can read an interview David participated in with the Loudoun Times here.
In order to staff the shelter, volunteers were called into the chapter starting around 6:30 p.m. At that time, volunteers worked to load the chapter's Emergency Response Vehicle with Heater Meals, and bottled water. Volunteers also used knowledge learned during drills to hook up the chapter's shelter truck & trailer. Each shelter trailer can serve 100 people once opened and contains cots, blankets, necessary paperwork, and other materials. The video shows the volunteers working to hook the trailer to the truck:



The chapter had volunteers on stand-by should the shelter go into the overnight hours. The chapter would like to thank the Safeway on King Street in Leesburg for their donation of a gift card which was used to purchase ice for the shelter workers, clients & emergency personnel, as well as the King Street Roy Rogers for their readiness to donate 50 breakfast sandwiches & orange juice should those items be needed! Additional thanks go to the National Capital Area Chapter who stood ready to support us with shelter teams and nurses, along with the Regional Disaster Coordination Center, and all of the volunteers who made themselves available!

Townhouse Fire

On July 1, 2009, the chapter responded to a townhouse fire. We were able to assist a large family with lodging, contacting their insurance company, minor health services and information on how to replace important paperwork. The chapter also had Kira, one of our newest DAT volunteers, respond to her first fire on this call.
Additionally, this was the second use of our new Emergency Notification call-out system. The ENS system records a message, which is then sent out to all of the disaster volunteers, and minimizes the amount of time it takes for the chapter to respond.
Additional information on the fire was published in the Washington Post, and in Leesburg Today.

Family Service Show & Tell

Today, the chapter had the opportunity to show off our preparedness for emergencies in Loudoun County. We showed our shelter response truck, and shelter trailer which has 75 cots, 25 bed mats & 150 blankets.
We also had our shortwave radio kit, and 800 Mhz radios. The radios allow us to communicate during a disaster, and to be notified in the event of a disaster that may be requiring our response.
For use in our shelters, along with our sleeping supplies, Heater Meals and bottled water, we now have shelter internet access and a TTY kit. The shelter internet kit allows shelter residents to register on the Red Cross Safe & Well website/Twitter, and the TTY allows our clients who may not be able to speak with their mouths, or hear with their ears, to be in touch with necessary services and friends & family! Such cool disaster equipment!
In all, the event went well! The Loudoun County Red Cross demonstrated that we have a plan, and we are preparing!

Please, sir, we want some more!

Future Disaster Services Volunteer,
This past weekend six new Disaster Services volunteers completed Disaster Action Team (DAT) Camp. That’s brings the number to ten (so far) this year. We have quarterly scheduled DAT Camps (Mar, June, Sept, and Dec) throughout the year. What is DAT Camp? It’s a 20 hour training weekend consisting of five courses. All Red Cross Disaster Services training is free.

What is DAT? Disaster Action Team (DAT) is a team of trained volunteers sent to the scene of a disaster to provide immediate emergency services (ex. clothing, food, lodging, health and mental health services and financial assistance) to individuals, families and workers, 24 hours a day. In addition, we help individuals and families resume their normal daily activities independently. This help may be accomplished by direct assistance or with referrals. All Red Cross Disaster Services are provided free of charge as a gift from the American people. The American Red Cross is not a government agency.

The Loudoun County Chapter of the American Red Cross is in need of additional trained Disaster Services volunteers. We are working to increase our Disaster Action Team (DAT) capacity to respond to disasters in our county. Please contact the Chapter at 703-777-7171 or LCARC@usa.redcross.org.



Get to know us before you need us.

Sterling Apartment Fire

The Disaster Action Team responded to a multi-unit dwelling fire this afternoon. Three families were temporarily displaced due to the fire, which started in the kitchen. Families were assisted with lodging via our partnership with the Leesburg Holiday Inn at Carradoc Hall, and also received assistance in contacting insurance companies & restoration services.

Get Ready

Although Hurricane Season doesn't officially start until Monday, June 1, youth in Loudoun County are already gearing up to be prepared.

Earlier this week, a Daisy Troop learned what they should do to be prepared when David Chesler, Director of Emergency Services, taught them about building a kit & having a plan.


And, during the winter, local Boy Scouts helped the chapter get ready by inventorying disaster supplies at our off-site storage location. Thanks to all of the wonderful youth volunteers that are making sure THEY are ready when you need us!

New Call-Out Procedures for Loudoun DAT

Starting real soon now, we will be moving from the manual call-out using teams to an automated system. There will be more information provided at the DAT meeting on Thursday, May 14 at the Ashburn Library. The meeting is from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. If you cannot attend, please read the message below from David Chesler, and email him (or call the chapter) to give him the information. We want you for Disasters! :)
I wanted to share with you some news concerning notification of DAT members during a disaster in our county. We are moving from our current method (manual telephone callout) to an automated notification. We have selected and are currently testing/implementing a web based Emergency Notification System (ENS). During a disaster we will have the ability to send an automated message to your home, work and/or cell phone number (24x7). The message will provide information such as:

1. Type of disaster/response (ex. House Fire)

2. Address/location of scene (ex. 123 Maple Avenue Purcellville, VA next to the 7-11)

3. General Information (ex. family 2 adults & 2 children, no pets displaced by fire).

4. On scene Red Cross contact (ex. Jon Doe, 703-123-4567)

5. Instructions when arriving at the scene (ex. Report to the Incident Commander or the Battalion Chief).

What makes this system unique is you will have the choice of whether or not to respond to a disaster (based on your availability) by pressing a telephone number key (ex. 1-Yes, 2-No) indicating your response status. This new system will notify you of all of the Chapter’s disaster responses in Loudoun (average 1-3 per month) and the ability to respond to as many as you want.

To add you to DAT please let me know the best number (cell # preferred) to contact (manual telephone callout) you at and your current availability (days or nights & weekends).

House Fire: Ashburn, VA 05/10/09

This morning the Loudoun County Disaster Action Team responded to a single family fire. While the team was not asked to provide monetary assistance, they were able to support the family as they started mapping at a plan for the future. The DAT team supported the family as they worked with the fire department, and their insurance company.