Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Please celebrate responsibly.  

If you are hosting a New Year's Eve party, following a few simple rules could prevent a tragedy:

• Plan ahead by naming a "designated driver." Make this your responsibility as the host.
• Contact a local cab company to provide rides for your guests.
• Serve non-alcoholic beverages as an option to your guests.
• Stop serving alcohol to your guests several hours before the party ends.
• Provide your guests with a place to stay overnight in your home.

If you are attending New Year's Eve parties and celebrations:

• If you drink, don't drive.
  • Plan ahead and always designate a sober driver before the party or celebration begins.
  • If you are impaired, call a taxi, use mass transit, or get a sober friend or family member to come pick you up.
  • Or, stay where you are until you are sober.
• Take the keys from someone if you think he/she is too impaired to drive.

The tragedies and costs from drinking and driving impaired don't just end with the potential death, disfigurement, disability, and injury caused by impaired drivers. Driving impaired or riding with someone who is impaired isn't worth the risk. The consequences are serious and real. Not only do you risk killing yourself or someone else, but the trauma and financial costs of a crash or an arrest for driving while impaired can be significant.

What are the Fire Conditions?

Please be aware of Fire Weather conditions.

Relative Humidity from Oklahoma MesoNet

Oklahoma Burn Ban Information

Resolve to be READY

WASHINGTON - As 2011 - one of the most active years for disasters in
recent history - comes to a close and Americans get ready to ring in a
new year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is encouraging all
Americans to Resolve to be Ready in the by making a new year's
resolution to be prepared for emergencies.

As a recent report by the National Climatic Data Center highlights,
2011 has seen more billion-dollar natural disasters than any year on
record. This year alone, the U.S. experienced its first hurricane
landfall since 2008, the most deadly series of tornadoes since the
1950s, significant earthquakes and severe flooding - hazards that
impacted every region of the country. All of these events have served
as important reminders that disasters can strike anytime, anywhere,
and being prepared is one of the most effective things we can do to
protect our homes, businesses and loved ones.

Today, FEMA kicked off its annual campaign, Resolve to be Ready in
2012, which urges Americans to make preparedness a priority during the
holiday season by making a new year's resolution to be ready for
disasters or by thinking about preparedness tools for last minute gift
ideas.

"One of the most important lessons we can take away from this year is
that disasters can impact all of us, no matter what part of the
country we live in," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. "While we
can't control where or when they might hit, we can take steps in
advance to prepare for them - efforts that can go a long way toward
protecting our families, homes and business. Resolving to be Ready in
2012 could be the most important pledge you make this year."
By making a resolution to take a few simple steps in advance,
Americans can minimize the impact of an emergency on their families,
homes or businesses. To take the pledge, visit www.ready.gov/resolve
or www.listo.gov, which includes free information, checklists, and
guidelines about how to put together a kit, make a plan, and stay
informed.

Resolve to be Ready in 2012 is a nationwide effort to increase
awareness and encourage individuals, families, businesses, and
communities to take action and prepare for emergencies in the New
Year. This effort is led by FEMA's Ready Campaign in partnership with
Citizen Corps and The Advertising Council. For more information, visit
Ready.gov and CitizenCorps.gov or follow the campaign on Twitter using
the hashtags #ready2012 and #resolve.

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to
ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and
improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to,
recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
###

Fire Safety Tips

From the United States Fire Administration, these timely tips can help with your Holiday safety.

Preventing Christmas Tree Fires

• Christmas Tree Fire Hazards - Movie segments demonstrating how fast a live Christmas tree can become fully engulfed in flames. Special fire safety precautions need to be taken when keeping a live tree in the house. A burning tree can rapidly fill a room with fire and deadly gases.
• Selecting a Tree for the Holiday
  Needles on fresh trees should be green and hard to pull back from the branches, and the needle should not break if the tree has been freshly cut. The trunk should be sticky to the touch. Old trees can be identified by bouncing the tree trunk on the ground. If many needles fall off, the tree has been cut too long, has probably dried out, and is a fire hazard.
• Caring for Your Tree
  Do not place your tree close to a heat source, including a fireplace or heat vent. The heat will dry out the tree, causing it to be more easily ignited by heat, flame or sparks. Be careful not to drop or flick cigarette ashes near a tree. Do not put your live tree up too early or leave it up for longer than two weeks. Keep the tree stand filled with water at all times.
• Disposing of Your Tree
  Never put tree branches or needles in a fireplace or woodburning stove. When the tree becomes dry, discard it promptly. The best way to dispose of your tree is by taking it to a recycling center or having it hauled away by a community pick-up service.

Holiday Lights

• Maintain Your Holiday Lights
  Inspect holiday lights each year for frayed wires, bare spots, gaps in the insulation, broken or cracked sockets, and excessive kinking or wear before putting them up. Use only lighting listed by an approved testing laboratory.
• Do Not Overload Electrical Outlets
  Do not link more than three light strands, unless the directions indicate it is safe. Connect strings of lights to an extension cord before plugging the cord into the outlet. Make sure to periodically check the wires - they should not be warm to the touch.
• Do Not Leave Holiday Lights on Unattended

Holiday Decorations

• Use Only Nonflammable Decorations
  All decorations should be nonflammable or flame-retardant and placed away from heat vents.
• Never Put Wrapping Paper in a Fireplace
  It can result in a very large fire, throwing off dangerous sparks and embers and may result in a chimney fire.
• Artificial Christmas Trees
  If you are using a metallic or artificial tree, make sure it is flame retardant.

Candle Care

• Avoid Using Lit Candles
  If you do use them, make sure they are in stable holders and place them where they cannot be easily knocked down. Never leave the house with candles burning.
• Never Put Lit Candles on a Tree
  Do not go near a Christmas tree with an open flame - candles, lighters or matches.

Finally, as in every season, have working smoke alarms installed on every level of your home, test them monthly and keep them clean and equipped with fresh batteries at all times. Know when and how to call for help. And remember to practice your home escape plan.

Red Cross Holiday Safety Tips

Thanks to our friends at the American Red Cross, here's some holiday safety tips for you.

1. Prepare your vehicle for traveling to grandmother’s house. Make an emergency kit and include items such as blankets or sleeping bags, jumper cables, fire extinguisher (5 lb., A-B-C type), compass and road maps, shovel, tire repair kit and pump, extra clothing, flares, tow rope.
2. Drive your sleigh and reindeer safely. Avoid driving in a storm, but if you must, keep your gas tank full for emergency use and to keep the fuel line from freezing. Let someone know your destination, route and when you expect to arrive.
3. Help prevent the spread of the flu. Wash hands with soap and water as often as possible, or use hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.Use sanitizing wipes to disinfect hard surfaces such as airplane tray tables, luggage handles, cell phones, door handles and seat armrests.
4. Prevent hypothermia by following Santa’s lead. Dress in several layers of lightweight clothing, which will keep you warmer than a single heavy coat.Wear a hat, preferably one that covers your ears. Seek medical attention immediately if you have symptoms of hypothermia, including confusion, dizziness, exhaustion and severe shivering.
5. Use a Red Cross-trained babysitter when attending holiday festivities. Red Cross-certified babysitters learn to administer basic first aid; properly hold and feed a child; take emergency action when needed; monitor safe play and actively engage your child; and some may be certified in Infant and Child CPR.
6. Avoid danger while roasting chestnuts over an open fire. Stay in the kitchen while you are cooking and be alert. Keep anything flammable—such as potholders, towels or curtains—away from your stove top.Have a “kid-free zone” of at least 3 feet around the stove and areas where hot food or drinks are prepared or carried.
7. Be a lifesaver during the holidays and always. The Red Cross recommends at least one person in every household should be trained and certified in first aid and CPR/AED. Your local Red Cross chapter has conveniently scheduled courses and can have you trained and certified in a few hours. 
8. Designate a driver or skip the holiday cheer. When you designate a driver who won’t be drinking, you help make sure a good party doesn’t turn into a tragedy. A good host ensures there are non-alcoholic beverages available for drivers. The designated driver should not drink any alcoholic beverages, not even one.
9. When the weather outside is frightful, heat your home safely. Never use your stove or oven to heat your home. Never leave portable heaters or fireplaces unattended. Install smoke alarms on every floor of your home and outside all sleeping areas and test them once a month.
10. Cut down on your heating bills without being a Grinch. Get your furnace cleaned by a professional; change the filters regularly. Make sure heat vents aren’t blocked by furniture. Close off any rooms you aren’t using and close heat vents or turn off radiators in those rooms. Use either insulating tape or caulking strips to surround your windows and door moldings. Put up storm windows or storm doors to keep the cold out.
11. Don’t move a muscle, until they buckle. Each person in your vehicle should have their seatbelts securely fastened before driving off. Ensure children are buckled up and their car seats are installed appropriately based on their age and size. Children 12 and under should always sit in the back seat.
12. Resolve to Be Red Cross Ready in the New Year. You can take one or more actions to prepare now, should you or your family face an emergency in 2010. Get a kit. Make a plan. Be informed.

Merry Christmas from your friends at Altus Emergency Management.