Be Ready for ‘Big One’ and Fear It Less, Members of Response Team Say

When the Big One hits, Sandra Huszar is sure she won’t get too shaken up.

It’s not just that extra pair of sneakers tucked in the trunk of her blue Trans Am or those four plastic jugs of water in the garage of her Northridge townhouse that give her confidence.

As one of about 2,100 volunteer members of the city’s Emergency Response Team program, Huszar has been trained to help herself and her neighbors survive a disastrous earthquake.

“I used to get paralyzed--not be able to move at all--when even a little earthquake hit,” said Huszar, 48, a native of Southern California. “I figured getting 17 1/2 hours of training from the Fire Department would help me get over my fear.”

Saturday, Huszar and about 150 other Emergency Response Team members gathered at Woodley Avenue Park in Van Nuys to celebrate the program’s success with a picnic.

In the past 14 months, the Los Angeles Fire Department’s disaster preparedness division has trained 98 teams in the use of fire extinguishers, basic search-and-rescue techniques and first aid.

Many Valley Teams

San Fernando Valley residents have been particularly active in the program, said Capt. Chris Burton, the division’s commander.

Of the 10 City Council districts that have teams, the one with the most teams--nine--is Councilwoman Joy Picus’ West Valley district.

“The growth of the program has been just phenomenal, which is fortunate because in a large natural disaster, there’s just not going to be enough police officers, firefighters and paramedics,” Burton said. “If these teams can take care of small problems in their neighborhoods like small fires, structure collapses and minor injuries, it would really have a calming effect.”

The Fire Department trains people who form their own groups and is not involved in organizing the teams, Burton said.

Classes are taught in the evening, he said.

For many team members, learning safety measures, such as how to turn off gas heaters to prevent fires in the event of broken gas lines, is the natural outgrowth of their already active involvement in their communities.

But it’s not easy persuading others to prepare for the Big One, they say.

“We always say ‘when’ it hits, not ‘if,’ ” said Jay Rothman, 55, a Studio City volunteer. “But it’s like smoking--you tell people it’s bad for them, but you’ve got to hit them over the head with a hammer to get them to believe it.”

Preparing for a catastrophe does not mean volunteers are obsessed by gloomy thoughts, said Donna Ryan, 42, of Studio City. “Once you’ve prepared, you don’t have to think about it,” she said.