North America

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Firefighters need to adjust how you work in the midst of the pandemic

forest fires and hurricanes to come this summer. Emergency services and response agencies are ready for the solution of these disasters, in the midst of a pandemic?

Earlier this month, ice jams, High Water -McMurray to rise in the Fort, forcing some 13,000 People from their homes.

The northeast Alberta city is no stranger to Natural Disasters .

Four Years ago, a massive forest fire that destroys the nickname "The beast", almost The City .

This Time , though, representatives of The City and the emergency services had feared Something Else : the global coronavirus pandemic.

"We Are so concerned about the Problem, as we do about the floods," said mayor Don Scott in front of journalists.

Keep the residents safe from the floods and the outbreaks of two pieces, to maintain the We Are trying to "was".

this meant That drive-thru - not in person - registration for evacuees and protective equipment for all frontline staff.

Fort Mcmurray mayor is unable to cope alone, to avoid the response to a Natural Disaster , while you try any form of infection.

officials at the Federal, provincial, state, and local levels in North America are in the discussion of the planning for floods, forest fires, hurricanes, severe heat waves and other Extreme Weather events in addition to the pandemic.

The considerations, the range of necessary wide, from the management of already stretched resources for the procurement of additional protective equipment and figuring out the logistics to safely evacuate at-risk populations - Even , flatter as evacuees, perhaps out of fear of catching The Virus from their homes.

People have to be able to an appropriate distance, while the search for protection

This Week , 10,000 residents were evacuated in Michigan after two dams burst after days of Heavy Rain .

the Governor Gretchen Whitmer , noting The Town of Midland in The American state could see historic high-water, said: "to go through this in the middle of a global pandemic is almost unthinkable. "

Respond to any Natural Disaster is a complicated process, and "this is just adding another level of complexity," says Rick Swan, director of wildland fire fighting with The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).

coronavirus has not "stopped The Fire season, and it will not stop The Hurricanes happened".

this means That, taking into account the "everything you can think of, and things you just don't," says Silvio Lanzas, chief of the Glendale Fire Department in LA County.

Like many organisations, Mr Lanzas' focuses on the preparation and early "aggressive prevention-action" strategy.

Fema has work crews on a new response coordination center of disaster in the midst of the pandemic

Its hard to brush grow fires in the great forest fires in California has seen in the last few years. You are also take attractive for property owners to protect their homes from wildfire, such as the meticulous maintenance of your landscaping.

organizations such as the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) are also People in the wildfire and storm-affected regions urge to think in advance about how the pandemic could change their current evacuation plans.

One of Mr Lanzas' concern is the potential burden a major fire in the region could the policy on the staff.

He had recently diagnosed a firefighter with Covid-19, which meant in The End , 16 firefighters were quarantined for Two Weeks .

"What do we do if we a third of our workforce, or worse?", he says.

this type of scenario At Risk represents The Commitment to mutual Aid in the case of the use of forces to help in the different countries - if the other regions are not able to send to support employees with large-scale disasters.

a Further aspect of the combat of forest fires, which is becoming a General overhaul is store fire. More than 1,000 firefighters gather in these camps, often for weeks at a time, When battling a large blaze.

fire crews and support personnel in General, eating, sleeping, and working in cramped conditions, are now being expanded to additional hygiene measures and space for social distancing.

What is the prognosis?

A number of April events, suggests this may be the deadliest Tornado season in the USA in the years, says Trevor small, senior Vice President of Disaster Cycle Services for The American Red Cross .

researchers expect that at least 16 'with the name' storms in this season

So Far , the Red Cross to open hotel rooms for evacuees, rather than animal shelters, But "we know that we will open a shelter eventually," he says.

Extreme Weather events become increasingly common in the last few years, this year, with The Weather a more difficult season to say suggesting.

the National agencies in the USA and Canada are predicting "areas of interest" for the forest fires in California, Oregon, the most in the southwest of the United States and in Western Canada and The Prairies , into the move in June.

Last Year in California, forest fires led to a mandatory evacuation orders for about 180,000 People .

The pandemic is adding new challenges to Natural Disaster response

The Atlantic hurricane season starts on 1. June and runs until 30 November, with the scientists predict that a "over-average" season.

When Hurricane Dorian asked in the direction of the US East Coast last September at least a million People to evacuate, the three U.S. States in the way.

In the United States, Fema has 19, a new "surge" National Response Coordination Center, which can help disaster in addition to Covid -.

"this means That if there are evacuations to the mass, it means considerations, such as the evacuation of a nursing home or extended care facility," Fema administrator Pete Gaynor, The Weather channel said, in the beginning of may.

"you Have done all the leg work to ensure that you can move, a possible Covid-19 patients elsewhere?"

Both the Red Cross and Fema say shelters have new protocols, such as isolation facilities, and multiple daily symptoms, the health checks.

In some cases, the officials in areas that have already seen Natural Disasters in this the spring of action, which may prevent the People to gather in shelters have been set.

And The American Meteorological society issued guidelines prior to a wave of deadly tornadoes in the United States, urging the People "not, The Virus can prevent escape from a Tornado ".

" to bring a proposal to hand sanitisers, and soap as well as face masks, to a public shelter.

'prepared As we can

fire chief Brian Fennessy, of the Orange County Fire Authority, says that if the pandemic had started In July or August instead of The End of the winter "if we had not prepared nearly as much as We Are , going into this fire season".

This months, have superior "to us it is The Time of preparation," he says.

"We're as ready as we can be for something unknown to us. "

But he says: "We come from Pretty Good to pretty quickly. "

Mr Fennessy has started with a wildland fire industry consulting company that has a database, to share with The Fire brigade "lessons learned" of the Covid-19 reaction.

The pandemic has changed, as firefighters they respond to fires on emergency calls, and smaller brush, require a two - or three-day response.

Mr Fennessy says its fire-engines to be equipped with jerseys that over 48 Hours worth of personal protective equipment.

however, no matter how much preparation is done", there are still some miscues out of The Door ," says the IAFF Mr Swan.

"This will be a learn-on-the-fly type of Event . "

canada, coronavirus pandemic, alberta, united states, severe weather, california

Source of news: bbc.com