Study and train

To stay with the intent to protect your home from a wildfire puts you in the same boat as the professional firefighters. You are taking on their jobs and risks with almost none of their advantages of training, knowledge and teamwork. Reading this booklet is not going to make up for these disadvantages. It will only point out what you need to know.

We can, however, point you in the direction of useful knowledge and materials you can read--study would be better--on your own:

o First, all the material on which this booklet is based is available to anyone who wants to see it by contacting T-CEP at P.O. Box 1708, Topanga, CA 90290. There are books on firefighting available in the T-CEP library and in the public library. Do the research.

o Second, T-CEP sponsors Red Cross First Aid and CPR courses which should be part of your background.

o Third, T-CEP maintains a communication system activated in an emergency designed to gather and disseminate information from/to residents and official agencies. We would like to have a "correspondent" in every neighborhood, who could keep us informed about what the situation of the neighborhood is, and to whom we could pass information. The telephone is part of this system, but telephone poles burn down and cell phones also go down or become overloaded. That's why we want to encourage people to use radios. We prefer amateur radios that need licenses, but we can work with any kind of radio that will reach our Emergency Operations Center from your neighborhood. Radio is reliable because we control it and batteries are cheap.

o Fourth, Station 69 is training a group of call firefighters to crew a second engine. These volunteer firefighters are taking the full Los Angeles County Fire Department course and have to pass their physical tests. We would like to work with Station 69 to make some of these courses accessible to others. We think that if there were some volunteers who wanted to learn more, but who might not qualify as call firefighters, we can arrange classes. Contact T-CEP.

o Fifth, volunteer for any one or more of the community groups concerned with aspects of the fire danger. These include T-CEP teams, Arson Watch, the Firesafe Committee, and any of the community watch groups. There is safety as well as strength in joint action against a common danger. The danger in Urban Interface areas such as Topanga is dynamic, and so must your preparations be.