Join Burlingame's Disaster Survival Drill!

Burlingame residents are invited to sign up for the eighth annual Burlingame Disaster Survival Drill on Saturday, October 10, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Hosted by the Burlingame Neighborhood Network (BNN), it will be a shelter-in-place virtual drill. Residents will participate in the comfort of their own homes. Participation will also help neighborhoods qualify for free emergency supply caches valued at more than $550. This year BNN is adding personal protective equipment to the caches.

To sign up, email info@burlingamenetwork.org with your name and street address by September 22 and indicate whether you would like to help lead your block or join another group. You will be contacted by a BNN representative. This event is free and all drill materials will be provided. Children are welcome to participate.

Burlingame’s annual drills help neighbors learn how to respond to incidents following a major emergency, when emergency responders may not be immediately available. Nearly 520 people in 32 neighborhood groups participated in last year’s citywide drill. This year, participants will practice communicating at home via different modes within their own neighborhoods and will learn how to relay urgent messages to Ham radio operators who, in the event of a real emergency, would forward them to the city’s Emergency Operations Center.

No in-person interaction is needed to participate in the drill. Neighbors will be given “virtual incidents” (such as a downed power line or water main leak) and will be challenged to figure out how to respond to each incident and communicate it to others.

Thanks to support from the City of Burlingame, neighborhood groups that participate in at least two drills and have other occasional activities may qualify for a free emergency cache valued at more than $550. So far, 25 of the more than 50 active blocks in Burlingame have received caches. This year BNN is adding disposable masks, gloves and surgical gowns to the caches.

All blocks will receive drill kits (or refresher materials). These kits will include a stack of “OK/Help” signs that will help neighborhood responders identify where to focus assistance during a real emergency.

Individuals planning to lead a drill on their block – and all who are interested in joining the event – are encouraged to attend two online workshops to learn how the drill works. Both are free and will be held on Zoom. Advance registration is required.

• Thursday, September 24, 7 to 8 p.m. Drill Walk-Through Training Session. You’ll learn how to run the drill in the safety of your own home. Sign up at https://bit.ly/2Fb3JJD.
• Thursday, October 1, 7 to 8 p.m. Drill Communication Training Session. You’ll learn different methods of communicating with neighbors and how to escalate urgent messages via Ham radio operators. Sign up at https://bit.ly/2R0Oa9M.

Please join us in this fun and informative exercise! The drill is supported by the Central County Fire Department, the Burlingame Police Department, Burlingame CERTs and local HAM radio operators.

Founded in 2006, the Burlingame Neighborhood Network encourages neighbors to connect with one another to build a sense of community, become informed about disaster preparedness and support one another during emergencies. For more information, visit BurlingameNetwork.org or email info@burlingamenetwork.org.