FREED's Brian Snyder on Community Preparedness for Natural Disasters

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COURTNEY WILLIAMS, HOST: From KVMR and in partnership with FREED, this is Disability Rap.

BRIAN SNYDER: It's so important for us, people with disabilities, that we have a community of resilience. What I mean by that is that we have a plan to get out of the areas that need to be evacuated.

WILLIAMS: Today, the importance of advanced planning and mutual support, and emergency preparedness.

SNYDER: It should involve our friends, our families, our caregivers, neighbors, anybody, because the first responders may not be able to come rescue us, and we have to prepare as if they are not.

WILLIAMS: That's all coming up on Disability Rap. Stay tuned.

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WILLIAMS: Welcome to Disability Rap. I'm Courtney Williams. As we head into fire season here in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of Northern California, we decided to check back in with Brian Snyder, FREED's own emergency preparedness coordinator. Brian supports people with disabilities to develop plans for what they will do during wildfires and other widespread emergencies. In addition, Brian runs FREED's program that supports people who have life-sustaining medical devices, such as power wheelchairs or oxygen machines, during public safety power shutoff events and other natural disasters. Disability Rap's co-host, Carl Sigmond, interviewed Brian last week.

CARL SIGMOND, CO-HOST: Brian Snyder, welcome back to Disability Rap. It's great to have you on the show again. I want to go back to this past January and the wildfires that ripped through the Los Angeles area. Can you begin by reminding us what happened with those LA fires? Then what did we see for people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs in LA?

SNYDER: The fires were catastrophic in Los Angeles. I know two people that lost their homes in the Pacific Palisades. The ground is highly toxic. It's a complete disaster. As well as Altadena. It was really, really horrific. I actually saw just before I got on, something came on from-- I got little news alerts from the LA Times saying that hundreds of people have died due to the wildfires. I'm assuming it may be related to the air quality. Especially those that have autoimmune disorders and respiratory issues.

The effects of this, I don't think they're done yet. The fire itself really woke me up because I was thinking, LA, they have a ton of resources. There's a lot of concrete. They've be able to get a handle on this pretty quickly. It really shocked me and made me think that's-- A wildfire, such as the one that happened in LA in January, could happen anywhere. It's so important to be prepared, and have a plan, and have a go-bag, and know your escape routes, and have your trusted allies.

One of the main things that I really want to talk about is it's so important for us, people with disabilities, that we have a community of resilience. What I mean by that is that we have a plan to get out of the areas that need to be evacuated. It should involve our friends, our families, our caregivers, neighbors, anybody, because the first responders may not be able to come rescue us. We have to prepare as if they are not. Because if there is something catastrophic, and they have limited resources, these wildfires can just blow through very quickly.

We have to be prepared to get on our own with our family, friends, and caregivers, and neighbors, and have a really strong plan, and a backup plan, and not depend on first responders to rescue us. The LA fire really is a clear example that disaster can happen anywhere, and it can get out of control very, very quickly, as it did.

SIGMOND: Thank you for that. For people who may not be familiar with disability at all, or may have a relative who is, can you talk about the challenges that we face during disasters, all the way from evacuation to powering medical equipment?

SNYDER: Yes. I'll talk about the program that I coordinate with [unintelligible 00:07:30] Basically, we're funded through PG&E. Our center is called the Disability Disaster Access and Resources Center. It's part of FREED. We offer backup power solutions for those that have life-sustaining medical devices, durable medical equipment, or have a medical need for temperature control. These devices can be oxygen concentrators, powered wheelchairs, all different types, CPAP machines. We provide either batteries, hotel accommodations, or Visa cards to pay for fuel for generators.

This all started back in-- I started, as being a part of it, in 2018 and 2019. That's around when the Paradise fires happened. PG&E had to make sure that people with disabilities had backup power solutions if they were going to shut off the power. Basically, I think what is very important to think about with people with disabilities is, we need to get ready early, because it's going to take a long time for us to get everything we need together, and out of the door, and have transportation set up.

It's very important for us, with our needs, access, and functional needs, that we need extra time. It's so critical that we get out before everybody else does. Even if there's not a warning for evacuation, I think it's important to get out early because it takes more time for us to coordinate everything. That's something to keep in mind. The thing with these power shut-offs is they're going to continue to happen. With climate change and the unpredictability of everything, the only predictable thing is that every day is unpredictable. We have to be prepared for every circumstance.

For example, here in Nevada County, we're not only at risk for severe wildfires but severe weather storms, winter storms. Our infrastructure, our electrical and communications infrastructure was completely destroyed in the snowstorm. That was in 2021, going into 2022. We had another one in 2023. People were without power for weeks. Some people had to go to the hospitals. What we're trying to do is keep people out of hospitals and be able to stay independent at home. As far as people that do not have disabilities, it's important to know that we require more time and coordination to be able to evacuate an area as opposed to able-bodied peers.

SIGMOND: I'm just thinking of one example, which is transportation. Not all of us drive. Not all of us have our own vehicles. Especially in a rural area, that can be really challenging.

SNYDER: Yes. Transportation, and I'm glad that you mentioned that, is the most complicated issue when it comes to our community, people with disabilities. It requires a lot of planning. I don't drive. I haven't driven for 15 years. I have people that I have to call in order for me to evacuate. Those with power wheelchairs, they need accessible transportation. If they don't have their own van, then they need to find another way to transport, especially if they cannot transfer from a wheelchair to a seat in a car. That is often the case where individuals are not able to transfer from their wheelchair to a car, so they have to stay in their power wheelchair.

It's really important to plan for transportation. That's our number one issue. We're still in discussions now with offices of emergency services about how can we deal with the issue of transportation with a FN community because it is an the an issue and it's the problem, especially in rural areas where people are isolated and they don't have any access to public transportation. It's a very serious issue.

SIGMOND: What are some of the solutions you are hearing about for that transportation issue specifically?

SNYDER: Some of the solutions is just talking with our friends, and neighbors, and acquaintances about our needs, and working together to find solutions for transportation. Particularly, working with the county as well. One of the things that has come up is having a list. The first responders have a list of people with disabilities. The problem with that is it takes away resources from first responders to look at that list and then check on everybody, which is not practical in an emergency. People may be out of town, they may have left already. It's very critical for people to talk with each other in their community and with the offices of emergency services about transportation.

In Nevada County, for example, we always tell people try to create your own plan, whether it be work with a family member, neighbor, friend, if you don't have a vehicle, and work out a solution. Then, for a backup, the very, very last backup is you can call 211, which information resource, and the county can deploy resources, whether it be through paratransit or through an ambulance. That's a last resort. It's not something that should be relied on at all. It's very important to work out a plan.

As far as solutions, it's all based on the person's needs. That is one of the main issues surrounding that. There isn't a blanket solution. It's really individualized, in-person-centered. For example, we're in Grass Valley, where I am, and a lot of people have family in Sacramento, but they may not be able to get here. It's important to have the people that are going to evacuate live within the community or close by, because we just don't know what's going to happen in a major disaster, what roads are going to be shut down, either due to fires or just earthquake destruction or whatever it may be, or flooding as well.

SIGMOND: Great stuff. When you talk to people, you encourage them to find five trusted allies. We've been talking about the importance of a network. Can you talk a bit more about the Five-Trusted Allies Model?

SNYDER: Yes. It's critical to have five trusted allies because, mainly, it's for redundancy in the event that one person is not available, they're your primary person, so you have a backup person. If that person is not available, you have somebody else that can help and assist with either evacuation or any logistical-related issues to evacuation. The five trust allies can be family, it could be friends, it could be neighbors, it could be acquaintances, it could be individuals from religious organizations. I know that a lot of people here, which I'm happy to hear, is that they have a plan with their church, or synagogue, or temple.

It's so critical to have a redundant backup, and have a primary, and then another backup, and another backup, and the final backup being 911. That's the point of having five trusted allies is not depending upon first responders, but depending upon our community members, and our family, and friends, and people that care about us.

SIGMOND: Got it. Then, going along with that, you also encourage people to have Go Bags and Stay Boxes. Can you talk a bit about that?

SNYDER: Yes. It's critical to have items that you can take with you, or items that you have at home, or both, primarily, to survive three days. I always tell people when I'm going through emergency preparedness plans, think about it as camping for three days, and you can't get supplies. That would be non-perishable food, water, clothing, hygiene products, medication, first aid kit, any important legal documents, anything for animals, pet food, kitty litter, and all that types of stuff. Chargers for devices and medical devices as well. It has to be thought of as self-contained completely for three days.

I know it's an issue for a lot of people because of the financial or the economic system that we're in right now, that there's a lot of poverty, and so being prepared is a privilege. That's what Ana Acton, the former executive director of FREED, used to talk about is that there are people that are prepared and have all those things, but it's because they have the financial resources to do so. A lot of people don't.

I do my best to encourage people not to get stressed and overwhelmed about the items that are needed, but just slowly gather things a little bit at a time. A power bar here, one week, and then, if you can get a first aid kit, another week. Just very over months slowly build it if you can. Even myself, thinking about it, it's very expensive to pull all that stuff together at once. It is an issue. That's another thing is, is that the wealthy have a much better opportunity for survival than we do, especially within this current political climate. As we're seeing, our social safety nets are being taken away from us. We got to work together as a community and help each other.

Sigmond: Thank you. Then, this might be obvious to some, but maybe not to all, knowing your escape routes.

Snyder: It's very important to know not only your escape route, but know the obstacles that could potentially be in the way that would block you from getting out. Whether there could be a huge boulder that's on the side of the road that's on a hillside that could easily be dislodged by an earthquake or something, you'd have to go a different direction, what would you do?

We try to encourage people to have multiple escape routes out of the area and have a very strong situational awareness of their community and the map of their county so that they can take back roads or whatever roads need to be taken, or even literally go through easements to escape because there's always going to be obstacles in the way.

The storms that have happened in 2021, '22, '23, on the road that I lived on, the power lines were hanging down, and there were power poles in the road. We had to find a different way out. It's really important to know multiple escape routes out of not only your neighborhood, but out of the county as well, because there could be multiple obstacles that obstruct getting out of the area and to safety.

Sigmond: Then, multiple means of transportation as well, if possible.

Snyder: Yes, absolutely. As I was saying before, it's person-centered, so it's very specific to people's needs. If you have access to a helicopter or something, that's great. Whatever transportation is needed to get folks to safety is primary.

Sigmond: Great. Then, can you talk about good ways for people to access real-time information during disasters and before?

Snyder: Yes. It's critical to get signed up for your county's emergency alerts and know what they are because they vary from county to county, especially in California and across the United States. It's important to know what your alert system is for your area and your county. One of the things that I love, although some first responders think it's not reliable, is the app Watch Duty. If you have a smartphone, it's a great app. It is a little scary to hear it go off so many times during a week, but it really helps with situational awareness to have an app such as that, and be connected, and know your zone.

There's actually something in California and different counties called Genasys. It used to be called Zonehaven. It helps to make evacuations easier. Certain areas have a designated zone. It's important to know your zones. When you get that emergency alert and it says evacuate zones E through 4, or something, whatever it may be, you know what your zone is.

The other thing is having backups, such as a solar power hand crank radio, so you can check in with your local radio station, so you know what's going on locally. There are other things that are obviously more expensive, such as satellite phones and different things. I love Watch Duty. It's a fantastic app. It's real-time updated. Most importantly, people need to be signed up for their alerts within their county or region.

Sigmond: As we begin to wrap up, I'm just thinking about the elephant in the room, which is climate change. We are seeing more disasters more often here in California. Bigger disasters. More destructive wildfires. We are seeing the effects of climate change now. Those will only increase. Can you talk more about that?

Snyder: Yes. It's something to be gravely concerned about. We've experienced it here where we live in Grass Valley, Nevada County. It's been pretty extreme. As you said, Carl, it's only going to get worse. It's very unpredictable. I think we have a certain amount of trauma around it, too, because, for example, the weather has been unusually cool here in Grass Valley for the last month, and it's been freaking everybody out because we're waiting for this giant heat wave to come in and bake everybody again, because last year we had a huge heat wave, which also makes fire risk conditions worse.

Everybody is going to be affected by it, no matter where one lives. It's very clear from the hurricanes, and wildfires, and flooding, and everything that we've experienced just this year alone that it is going to get worse. The only thing we can do is work within our communities to find solutions to prepare, be ready, and think ahead. Stephen Hawking said that genius is the ability to adapt. That's the most critical thing is because what we have to do is to be able to be agile, and frankly, mentally tough to get through what we're going to go through because it's going to get worse. There's going to be more hurricanes, more floods, more wildfires, more everything.

It's so critical that we come together, especially in such a divisive time. We should also recognize the intersectionality of certain things. For example, I'm on a local ICLEI and Inclusion Leadership Alliance. This is all tied in together is it being inclusive and thinking about these issues of climate change are so important because the only way we're going to get through anything is to have unity.

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Williams: That was Carl's conversation with Brian Snyder, FREED's emergency preparedness coordinator.

And that does it for the show. Disability Rap is produced and edited by Carl Sigmond and me, Courtney Williams. You can go to our website, disabilityrap.org, to listen to past shows, read transcripts, and subscribe to the Disability Rap podcast. You can also subscribe to our podcast by searching Disability Rap on any of the major podcast platforms. We're brought to you by KVMR in partnership with FREED, and we're distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange. I'm Courtney Williams with another edition of Disability Rap.