On Monday morning, October 27, Captain Lee put the Battalion 12, 15 and 17 call-out contacts on standby to activate their teams to help with the evacuation from the Simi Valley fire area. A little later, the CERT members who had agreed to respond to Battalion 15 incidents were notified to report to Mason Park where, among many other jobs, they directed traffic in and out of the park, transported water and supplies to the shelter at Granada Hills High School, provided information to evacuees, and did a supply run to Home Depot to obtain donated masks.

OCTOBER 27^TH, 2003 CERT RESPONSE POST-INCIDENT REPORT  

Captain Don Lee, LAFD CERT Coordinator assigned to Evacuation Group under Branch-I Simi Fire IC.

During this Fire Disaster:

About 1200 hours Captain Lee made a request for two CERT teams to activate and respond to Mason Park and to establish an evacuation area at that location. Mason Park is on Mason Avenue north of Devonshire.

Captain Lee only requested two teams with the anticipated need to open other evacuation sites based on the Branch Manager and the I.C. and the fire behavior. So calls to every CERT team in the city would have been counter-productive and thus they were held in reserve, for potential need.

MASON PARK EVACUATION SITE:

Arrival Times:

12:50 Hector Alfaro (1st CERT Team Member On Scene)
13:05 David Hernandez
13:35 David Roberts
13.46 Lucy Mally
13:49 Tony Willis
13:49 Lynn Bryson
13:53 Luis Vargas
14:02 Michelle Godfrey
14:11 William Whitney
14:23 Susan Themeli
16:22 Joe Capaldi
16:22 Maryann Raymos
17:45 Jonathan Zimmerman
17:45 Mathea Lynne Zimmerman
18:00 Frank Piazza

CERT checked in with LAFD EMS Captain Verney who was already on scene. Per his direction and Todd Martin, CERT Call-Out Contact, we were to set up and organize the evacuation center.

Hernandez and Alfaro set up a table for IC and started recording responders and evacuee information. CERT assisted the evacuees, maintained communication with LAFD IC, coordinated traffic in and out of the center. Called out to Lowes and Home Depot for them to donate masks for the evacuees from their community (Lowes donated masks to the LAFD and Home Depot donated masks for the evacuee center), provided available information to evacuees and responders, aided in transportation of donated food, water and supplies to Granada Hills High School (ARC Shelter), and reported to ARC's IC for further assistance if necessary.

Additional responders who checked in, other than CERT and Capt. Verney, were as follows:

• American Red Cross: Elmer Walters & Lynette Walters (Food and Liquids)

• LA Animal Services: Officer Anderson and Officer Hatley (Animal Transportation)

• LA HAM Radio Communication Volunteers: Martha Eversman, Saul Bash, and Jacquilin Robertson

We all worked together as a team and maintained communication with Command Center Station 106 and CERT Capt. Lee and Linda Underwood. Fifty-three evacuees checked in. We took their information; including emergency contact information. There were possibly 12-24 evacuees who did not check in or did not want to volunteer personal information.

  The evacuees varied in age and many had their pets with them. Among the evacuated was an 86-year-old blind woman with a bad back that arrived to the center via ambulance. CERT member Lynn Bryson assisted her and was able to contact her social worker and get her transported to a safer area in the valley.

An additional patient arrived via ambulance. He was an elderly man with asthma and cancer of the right leg, post-op. CERT member Tony Willis assisted this patient and recommended he be transported to a safer area by his family immediately due to the smoke. The family did make the necessary arrangements with friends and transported him to a safer part of the Valley.

A third patient was an elderly man with nuero-palsy symptoms per his aide. Contact was made with his family and they transported him to a safer place. The evacuees were very appreciative for our assistance, there were many neighbors who volunteered their help if we needed assistance, and all the volunteers, CERT, ARC, and HAM Communication were happy to help.

Mason Park Evauation location was demobilized at 2200 hours by order of Captain Don Lee, and the few remaining at Mason Park were directed to Granada Hills High School. No other evacuation sites were needed as the fire behavior had shifted away from populated areas.

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