Disaster Council learns to COPE

Dividing Sonoma to help it unite for calamity – that’s the idea behind a safety program born from a municipal split and reviewed at the third meeting of the Sonoma Disaster Council.
“In Sonoma, you’re awesome – you probably already know your neighbors,” Ed Buonaccorsi, General Services Administrator for the city of Santa Rosa, told the council July 10. “In Santa Rosa, people don’t talk to their neighbors.”
Buonaccorsi’s comment underscored a key point of the COPE (Citizens Organized to Prepare for Emergencies) program, which he helped organize after the community of Oakmont seceded from Santa Rosa and found itself in need of a comprehensive safety plan. COPE addresses that need by organizing neighborhoods into self-sufficient units and pointing them to the tools they need for disaster survival.
“You don’t have to go out and  buy a lot of stuff,” Buonaccorsi said. “You already have this stuff – you just don’t know it.”
Seven steps are involved in making a neighborhood COPE-ready, including a census of residents and their special skills, needs and equipment; an individual home survey of gas, water and electric shutoffs and any special fire dangers; and identification of a central meeting location – and any possible escape routes. Buonaccorsi said the basics can be taught during a two-hour neighborhood block party.
One strength of the COPE program is its potential to lighten the load on firefighters and police. Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue Authority Chief Philip Garcia said the department’s current post-disaster practice is to have engine companies survey neighborhoods to find out what’s needed and where. But under COPE, neighbors would do that themselves – giving emergency responders more time to respond.
Reaction among the other 20-odd members of the council was both enthusiastic and cautious. Public Works Director Milenka Bates, citing yearly block parties in her native Tacoma, Wash., added, “Sonoma’s easy to break up into quadrants.” Police Chief Bret Sackett suggested advertising the program through local media and at the July 29 City Party. “It’s small enough that it’s manageable, it’s large enough to make a difference,” Sackett said.
City Manager Linda Kelly also praised the program but cautioned against starting right away, since California’s current wildfire situation – and the part Sonoma Valley is playing in it – mean the city’s resources are stretched at present.
“I just want us to move into it in a realistic fashion,” Kelly said.
The Disaster Council next meets on Aug. 14.