HSM318 Week 4 Discussion

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Ashford University *

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318

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Health Science

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Jan 9, 2024

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 Imagine that you are the emergency manager for your community and a mandatory evacuation has been ordered. While many have heeded the warning and evacuated to safety, approximately 200 people have refused to evacuate. Many of those who failed to evacuate are now calling 911 requesting to be evacuated. The event has just begun and while the situation is currently dire, it is expected to get worse in the following 24 hours.  Explain how you would respond to the approximately 200 residents who are now requesting to be evacuated. o Keep in mind your plan should already include this situation as a potentiality. Good evening, I am the emergency manager for the city of Winchester, Virginia. At this time, we have mandated that all individuals within the city of Winchester evacuate due to a wildfire ripping though the Shenandoah Valley and quickly approaching our cities boarder. Currently, there are about 200 people who have refused to evacuate in hopes of protecting their homes from the fire. We have contingency plans set in place for instances such as this to ensure the City of Winchester is prepared to support and protect its residents. Our main focus is currently to assess the level of risk and based on the route the wildfire is projected to take adjust our evacuation routes to get those 200 people safely removed from harm’s way. Our city officials and I will be communicating via the local news broadcasters, radio stations, our social media pages, and our emergency broadcasting channels to ensure the residents of Winchester are kept informed throughout the entire process of adjusting our evacuation routes due to the wildfire as well as updates on the number of individuals we continue to rescue. “In communicating with the public, establishing a partnership with the media and actively participating in social media are key to implementing a successful strategy” (Bullock, 2017, p.159). While we aim to keep all residents made aware of the potential hazards our community faces, we must also keep ourselves prepared for those who wish to stay behind. According to Introduction to Emergency Management “Communicating preparedness and mitigation information promotes actions that reduce the risk of future disasters” (Bullock, 2017, p.159). By keeping residents informed, this assists with the preparedness of our community when facing any disasters, hazards, or emergencies as they arise. “Communicating preparedness and mitigation information promotes actions that reduce the risk of future disasters” (Bullock, 2017, p.159). To successfully and quickly rescue those 200 residents who have refused to evacuate the city due to the wildfire will require for our Emergency Response Teams which consists of firefights, law enforcement, and medical staff to find the quickest and safest routes to utilize when rescuing those in need. With

the remainder of Winchester’s residents being located inside of our designated safe zones, this allows for the Emergency Manager and Emergency Response Teams to react quickly to assist those in need. Some of these individuals may fall into the categories of being senior citizens and/or disabled. Due to this possibility, our Emergency Response Team must be equipped to quickly aid those in need while remaining level-headed and keeping those in need calm to allow for a safe evacuation to mitigate potential injuries or death. Due to the City of Winchester has exhausted all resources in ensuring residents are safe, those who have chosen to refuse evacuating will face potential fines as stated in each our earlier notifications and updates to have all residents to evacuate the city. The City of Winchester continues to provide updates to its residents as our city officials and I all strongly believe that keeping a continuation of information being relayed to our residents is for the betterment of our city and residents, as we are all being affected by the same wildfire. Reference: Bullock, J., Haddow, G., & Coppola, D. (2017). Introduction to Emergency Management (6th ed.). Elsevier S & T. https://uaglobalcampus.vitalsource.com/books/9780128030653

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