Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : City Wins Recognition for Disaster Training Program

The city is “on the cutting edge” of disaster preparedness, according to a commendation Santa Clarita received for a program that teaches residents how to be self-sufficient for up to three days after a major disaster.

The Emergency Preparedness Commission for Los Angeles County and its cities recognized Santa Clarita this month for using volunteers and private companies to offer the disaster training at no cost to the public.

Santa Clarita Educated Communities United in Response to Emergencies, known as SECURE, instructs residents to be self-sufficient for 72 hours after an earthquake, fire, flood, chemical spill or other major disaster.

Participants learn skills including how to prepare a survival kit, shut off gas in a home and create a plan that gives family members duties if a disaster occurs. Once certified, volunteers in turn make presentations to neighborhood groups, businesses, schools and service clubs to prepare them for disasters.

“It is a model program that attempts to prepare the entire community for emergency situations brought on by natural or man-made disasters,” said Rick Putnam, city director of parks, recreation and community services.

SECURE volunteers participate in five two-hour training sessions held by Santa Clarita. People without first-aid training take an additional eight-hour course from the American Red Cross.

More than 100 volunteer instructors and 3,000 residents have been trained in the program, Putnam said.

It has been offered by the city for about two years. Organizers hope to train all of the Santa Clarita Valley’s estimated 150,000 residents within five years.

Adele Macpherson, city emergency preparedness coordinator, received the commendation from the Los Angeles-based commission earlier this month.

“This is quite an honor for the city,” Macpherson said. “The award symbolizes the outstanding support we have received from both the community and the city as a whole.”