Greater New York Chapter volunteers from throughout the region, including many from Putnam County along with local partner agencies, will participate in a Putnam County shelter drill focused on building the skills of core and reserve Red Cross volunteers and non-disaster staff to help them prepare to respond quickly and effectively during an emergency.

The drill will be held Saturday, June 9, at the William Koehler Senior Center, 180 Route 6 in Mahopac, 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. The facility is made available to the Red Cross by the Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Services and the Putnam County Office for the Aging.

The Putnam County drill (practice scenario outline below) will test the ability of ARC/GNY staff, volunteers and partner agencies to correctly and efficiently set up, operate and break down a shelter. While acknowledging a diversity of skill and experience levels, this drill educates participants to think through a complicated and unfamiliar situation, to know when to ask questions or to ask for help, to function as a team and to follow basic polices and procedures in accordance with American Red Cross practices. Areas of support to be reviewed include individual client services, mass care and shelter, partner services, staffing, and material and organizational support.

Practice Scenario For Putnam Shelter Drill

Participants in the Putnam drill will role-play according to the following scenario: Computer models place two winter weather conditions in the region that will generate a dangerous mixture of sleet and freezing during the evening and continue overnight. Temperatures will be in single digits. The wind chill will make it feel below zero.

Fallen trees have cut off electricity in several neighborhoods and some roads are blocked.  A water main break in one of the communities has shut water supply to several hundred homes.  A live wire is stretched along a major street. 

The Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Services has ordered mandatory evacuation. William Koehler Senior Center in Mahopac will be opened as a shelter operated by the American Red Cross. The shelter is prepared to accept at least 400 people, including 260 senior citizens. The shelter is expected to operate for a minimum of two days.