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Alison Stewart: This is All Of It from WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Since last week, we've been watching as a series of fires burn their way through the Los Angeles area. As of this morning, 24 people have been killed. According to the LA Times, firefighters have made progress against the blazes, but extreme winds today, up to 70 miles an hour, are expected to make things worse, potentially leading to what the National Weather Service is calling "explosive fire growth." NPR will keep bringing you updates about that.

Here in the New York area, we do deal with fire emergencies, even though not like the scale of the California fires. This past Friday, an apartment fire in the Bronx left eight people injured and a dozen families homeless. And beyond fires, our region frequently goes through periods of high flood risk, as named storms like Sandy, Ida, and Irene, and the occasional blizzard in the winter and heat wave in the summer. Today, we want to talk about how to be prepared for a crisis, how we should plan beforehand, how we adapt in the middle, and how we pick up the pieces after us. Joining us now to walk us through all of that is Jason Lyons, the Red Cross's regional manager for individual and community preparedness. Jason, thanks for joining us.

Jason Lyons: Thank you for having me.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, if you've had to navigate a fire, a flood, or any other kind of natural disaster, we want to hear what the experience taught you about emergency preparedness. What did you take with you? What did you learn that could help a neighbor going through something similar? Give us a call, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Or you can hit us up on social media @allofitWNYC. You're in charge of emergency preparedness for the Red Cross in our region. Let's talk about some of the biggest mistakes that people make in the way they think about being prepared for a crisis. What kind of mistakes do they make?

Jason Lyons: Well, thank you for having me, and having us here. I think the biggest mistake people make is thinking it wouldn't happen to me. We see it happening on TV, we're obviously hearing on the radio, looking at things and think, "You know what? That's happening to someone else, not me." Or just thinking that, I'm so secure, or I'm so prepared in my little way because I live in New York, because we have a very wonderful emergency response system here. The authorities are going to take care of everything, and it's not going to happen to me. I think that's the biggest mistake people make, so addressing that is the first issue. Understanding that, one, whilst there are a lot of resources in our neighborhood, in our city, in our state, we have to be on top of our game. We need to know what measures we have to take in place so that we are ready, we are prepared for any eventuality in the region.

Alison Stewart: So you're talking about being-- How should we prepare for being-- Let me start again.

Jason Lyons: Ready for everything?

Alison Stewart: Ready for everything. That's it, bottom line. All right, onto the go bag. Let's talk about the go bag, that's the big thing. What should every go bag have?

Jason Lyons: Every go bag should be different, and that's why we say preparedness is the person's role. Because what is in your bag, Alison, would not be in my bag. We might have some things that are common, right? Flashlights, first aid kit, water, one gallon per person per day. That's a lot of water if you have a big family.

Alison Stewart: One gallon per person per day. Okay.

Jason Lyons: For up to seven days.

Alison Stewart: Up to seven days. Okay.

Jason Lyons: Yes. Actually, in some cases, some schools of thought advise to have that for two weeks, and that's a lot of water. If you think about it, you can get a big tub, one of those storage bins, and fill it up with water for your family, depending on the size of your family. So, there's a lot of things that you could do. Medications, prescriptions, additional copies of your documents, important documents. All of these things are things that you can have in your bag, but if you think of what I've been saying so far, a lot of those things are personal. I don't know what medicine you take. I won't be able to keep that in my kit, so you need to build that and build it for yourself. Everybody needs to make that go bag for themselves and have one.

I like to have multiple, and we recommend having multiple. You have one at home. We're always in the car, if you're in the car, have one in your car, and maybe have one at work, because you never know where there might be a situation that you have to deal with and you have to respond to. Having the go bag is one way we can reduce the risk that we face.

Alison Stewart: I want to go back to some of the basics of the go bag.

Jason Lyons: Sure.

Alison Stewart: You talked about flashlights, you talked about one gallon per person per day. What else? Medications, yes, and--

Jason Lyons: Your documents, making sure that you have copies of your documents; driver's license, passport, whatever personal documents you have, birth certificates, marriage certificates, if you treasure that. You know what I mean? Things like that. Going back on the flashlights a little bit, extra batteries, extra bulbs, or maybe having a different type of flashlight-- You have a hand-cranked, solar powered, all these different things. Having a transistor radio, because when things happen, sometimes the cell phone network goes down, your internet might be out, and you need to get information somewhere, because that's one of the key parts of the whole preparedness cycle, is making sure that you're able to get information. Having a transistor radio, you can listen in to the radio station, listen in to Alison and hear what she has to say if she's broadcasting.

We talked about the medication, we talked about the paperwork. Having some sort of food, shelf-stable food. It might be in cans, it might be packets, but shelf-stable food, food that can last a long time. You can get go bags or emergency kits that last for a year, you could get those that last for 10 years, it all depends on what you plan to do.

Alison Stewart: That's interesting, it could last for a year, for 10 years, because I remember like after 9/11, having a go bag. And then I looked up and I went back to it in five years like, this isn't any good anymore. But I thought to myself, "Oh, I'm good. I have a go bag," but you really do have to check on it.

Jason Lyons: You do have to check on it. Things expire, but you have shelf-stable food. There's a community called preppers, if you look at the food that they store, they store food for 10 years. You can get shelf-stable for 10 years, so it all depends on what you want to do. If you're going to get food that only lasts six months, then you know, in four months, you need to replenish that or change it out, use it and replace it with new food stock. Those are some of the things that I would say are pretty much standard for having in a go bag.

Alison Stewart: This is a tough question. Do you recommend family items or mementos? Should they go in the go bag?

Jason Lyons: Of course, and I'm glad you bring that up. One of the things that we often avoid when we're dealing with disasters or when it comes to recovery is comfort items. We recommend it big time for everyone, especially for kids, for children. It might be a small teddy bear, it might be whatever you consider a comfort item, something that helps you relax. That's one thing-- we recommend having that in there. Another thing that you want to have in your go bag is some sort of entertainment. When the power goes out, or there's no internet, you can't use your phone, but you might be able to use your cards, a pack of cards, a deck of cards, play some card games, play some dominoes, whatever it is.

Something small, obviously, that could fit in a bag, but some way to entertain yourself. Because psychologically, it's a lot, when you have these disasters affecting us, and so you want to find a way to release some of that stress. One, through that comfort toy, or two, by playing some sort of game that you might have in your bag with your family, a board game of sorts.

Alison Stewart: We're talking about emergency preparedness with Jason Lyons, the Red Cross of Greater New York's regional manager for individual and community preparedness. We want to hear from you. If you had to navigate a natural disaster, what was the experience like? What did it teach you about emergency preparedness? What did you take with you? What did you learn that could help your neighbor going through something similar? We're crowdsourcing this, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Okay, so you have your go bag, but then you have to decide on a meeting place. When deciding on a meeting place, what should people think about?

Jason Lyons: Your first shelter is your home. Your first shelter should always be your home. What that means is that you need to make your home as prepared as possible. Do what you need to make sure that if you're home, if you're sheltering in place, that's the term I'm going to use, that you have everything that you need at home. Should you have to move, should you have to evacuate for a variety of different reasons, should you have to move, you need to know where that shelter is.

There's a list of shelters in your community, everywhere across New York, not just in New York City, but across New York, there's a list of shelters you can find online. Go on there, find your shelter, find the closest one to you, because when it's time to evacuate to a shelter, you need to know where you're going, and need to know your fastest route there. But that's for sheltering. Now, if there's an emergency in your home, you need to-- We always suggest having three muster points, a muster point or a gathering point for you and your family. The first one should be somewhere in the immediate vicinity. If you live in a home or a house, you know, down the street by this particular neighborhood--

Alison Stewart: There might be a playground, right?

Jason Lyons: A playground, whatever it is, but identify a place and communicate that within your family network and within your emergency network. Say, "Hey, guys, should something happen at home, should it be a fire, should it be whatever it is, this is where we're going to meet." That's very important, because what happens is you find sometimes one person may not know what to do and they go-- I mean, there are a lot of sad stories around that, but you want to make sure and identify that one place near your community.

Secondly, identify a place outside of your immediate community. Let's just say, for instance, I live in downtown Manhattan, I maybe want to do something uptown, a little bit further away. So in case downtown Manhattan gets affected, I can go uptown, you know what I mean? And again, communicate that. Then we always say, have another point of contact outside your immediate-- For instance, New York, for instance, if something should affect New York. Somebody might be thinking, "Well, what's going to affect the whole of New York?" A lot of things could affect the whole of New York. A lot of things have affected the whole of New York before, and so maybe have something out of state, another place. If something should affect the entire of New York and we're out and about, I'm going to Auntie Suzanne in, I don't know, Jersey, whatever. But communicate that beforehand so that everyone knows what the plan is should something happen.

Alison Stewart: I got a text, "Cell phone chargers, don't forget them." Another text says, "Prepare go bags for your pets, which include rabies and vaccination documents."

Jason Lyons: Wonderful topic, I'm glad that came up. One of the things we want to talk about. Preparing for pets has always been a topic that's dear to me. I love pets, I love dogs specifically. One of the things you have to think about now is not just yourself and your immediate family, but your vulnerable members of your family, being pets, kids, seniors that might need additional assistance. What do you have in place for someone that has functional access needs? Going into a shelter, you need to make sure that they have the resources that they would need to be comfortable.

For children, do you have the necessary supplies for them? Yes, the state might have, the city might have, but don't depend on that. Think about what you have, and that brings you to pets as well. What do you have in place for pets? Do you have an emergency bowl? Do you have something that a pet can drink water from should you be put in a shelter? Do you have food that you can walk with, treats that you can walk with? Always have these things on hand, as well as prescriptions. If your pet is on prescriptions, do you have those medications also for the pet? Think about everything that you do in a normal day, and how are you preparing for that should something happen in your community?

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Stephanie from the North Shore of Long Island. Hi, Stephanie. You're on the air.

Stephanie: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. After Sandy, we lost power for five days. It was quite cold here, so I would recommend warm clothes. I also think that this should be all the time a recommendation, to always have your car filled with gas. I think it's important, and we did this, we started a WhatsApp group in my neighborhood. You don't have to be friends, but you have to be able to reach out to people and contact people that are around you. I think it's also important, and we have the technology to do this, to copy your documents and put them in the cloud so you don't have to panic. I'm trying to do that also with some of my old photographs that are not digital and try to digitize them. Thanks a lot. I love this segment. Thanks.

Alison Stewart: Thank you so much. Anything you want to add?

Jason Lyons: Yes, the document portion of it. I always walk around with a pendant that's a flash drive that has my information on it, and so a lot of [unintelligible 00:13:30] when we share, putting information in the cloud, there are concerns around that. We understand that, but it's a great way of storing these documents, and so you have to look for ways that make sense to you that's going to keep your documents available but secure when doing it.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, we want to know if you've had to navigate any kind of natural disaster. We want to hear what your experience taught you about emergency preparedness. What did you learn that could be helpful for your neighbors or listeners? Our number is 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We'll have more with the Red Cross's Jason Lyons after a quick break. This is All Of It.

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Alison Stewart: You're listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is Jason Lyons. He is with the Red Cross, he's Greater New York regional manager for individual and community preparedness. He's walking us through what we should do in case of an emergency. We got some great texts, Jason. This one says, "A small roll of duct tape is invaluable." This one says, "List of important phone numbers for if your cell phone dies." We've forgotten certain numbers, but let's talk about apps. You said there are certain apps that we should keep in mind.

Jason Lyons: Yes. One, and I'm glad that person raised it, very, very pertinent, keeping your contact information. When you're creating your plan, one thing we want to talk about is you must create-- you should create an emergency plan for your family. That emergency plan can look many different ways. You can create it on an app, there are many different apps that can help you create that. The Red Cross has an emergency app. On there, there is an emergency plan that you can create for your family. You can also download it and print it out and have it at home, and so you can use it to update yourself.

On that emergency plan for your family, you will list all the contact information for, again, three: one immediate contact in your neighborhood, another one nearby, and another one out of state. You can do that on the app, download a printout. The app also gives you tidbits or walks you through how to deal with certain emergencies you may have. It might be a first aid emergency, or even a CPR emergency, or dealing with other hazards. It might be a storm, a tornado, what to do and what not to do. It's a very useful app. I say download it, go on your app store and download-- look for "Red Cross Emergency" and you'll be able to find that app and download it onto your phone, and you can have all those tidbits at your fingertips whenever you need to use them.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Delilah. Hi, Delilah. Thank you so much for calling All Of It.

Delilah: Hi. I listen to your show every single day. I just have a little funny anecdote. When I first moved to New York I was-- I have had a go bag for a very long time, and I've been a little bit of a doomsday prepper for a very long time. I just like to be prepared, because I grew up in Buffalo, and I think you should be able to like live in your car for a couple of days if you get in a snowstorm. Anyway, doomsday prepper. When I first moved to New York City from Buffalo, I was very paranoid about a subway fire or gases in the subway, so in my go bag-- this was like, I mean, in the early 2000s-- I bought a bunch of KN95 masks and I had those in my go bag. Then when the pandemic-- when the news came out to start wearing a mask and no one could get masks, I had this crazy stash of KN95 masks. I was like, "Oh my God, I bought those years ago," so I was giving them out to the same people who made fun of me for buying them.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] They were glad to know you. Let's talk to Mike next. Hi, Mike.

Mike: Hi, this is Mike. I live at 471 Central Park West in Manhattan, and our building caught on fire. It's been over two years now. I'm from the Midwest where-- In Detroit, you always know your neighbors, so in this building, like, I just made sure that everybody knew each other beforehand. Like, we share numbers, sometimes we have dinner together. Anyway, one of the neighbors-- We were all evicted. Like, there was a sign, we couldn't get in the building. I was at a wedding back in the Midwest for my brother during the fire, so the neighbors had to give me the information, like sending texts during the wedding that the building is-- you know, huge flames were shooting out of the roof, and all I had was the stuff for the wedding.

When I got back, none of us could get back in the building. But by being friends with all my neighbors, we found out from one of the neighbors that in order to get back into your unit, you have to get permission from the Department of Building. Our building management didn't let us get back in the building, but we got the advocate that works for the Department of Building. It's on Broadway, right by City Hall. They have open house like every Tuesday and Thursday, and that person came, and they had to ensure that certain individual units were safe to get back in.

I didn't have a safety bag, like you were talking about. I didn't have my passport, anything, so it was so essential to know who the neighbors are, and so many of the neighbors-- The building is still not completed. I'm in my unit because my unit was not damaged, but the top two floors were evacuated, and they're still under repair. But I still keep in touch with my neighbors because we're all-- You know, the building is like half empty, and we're still trying to figure out what to do. And thank God, it's just like we have this phone tree automatically, so it's so important. So many New Yorkers are so private, like they don't want to know who their neighbors are, you know?

Alison Stewart: Yes, right. Mike, thank you so much. We wish you and your neighbors well. We have a question here. I'm not sure we're going to have the answer, but we'll go for it anyway. Hey, Dana, thanks for calling All Of It.

Dana: Hi. Thank you, Alison. I love your show. There are many apartment dwellers, especially-- I live in Manhattan in New York City. I'm a single senior woman. I don't have a car, what you're describing is way too much for anybody to carry. What should I have in my go bag? Because I might have to carry it personally, and possibly for many blocks, but I want to have what I really need.

Alison Stewart: What do you suggest for people who it's an issue if they can't carry their bag?

Jason Lyons: Agreed, and those are the basics I mentioned in the beginning. You know, having some water, having at least a day or two supply of water, a couple of bottles of water in your bag. That's important, because we need that. Having your documents, copies of your documents, whether it be in person, preferably, or on the cloud, whatever you want to do. Make sure you have copies of your documents wherever. Prescriptions-- if you're on prescription medicine, make sure you have that. Then contact information for anyone that you need to reach out to in your emergency immediate network. Having that as a basic kit--

Alison Stewart: Your basics?

Jason Lyons: Yes, as a starter [crosstalk]--

Alison Stewart: You could put that in like your grocery bag if you got to think about it, actually.

Jason Lyons: Yes, exactly. And having a little flashlight. You know, they have the rechargeable ones and the little ones with little batteries. Having a flashlight because when the lights go out, it's really scary sometimes. And lastly, some sort of of a snack, some sort of a meal, something you could eat in the interim. That's what I would suggest for a basic go bag for anyone. I wanted to go back to-- The caller before just mentioned that, and I'm glad he raised that point. Red Cross in the region, we go to every fire in New York City. We provide some temporary care for everyone that was affected by a fire.

For instance, the fire you mentioned that happened in the Bronx on Friday, we're giving-- persons are getting care for that right now. We do temporary housing first, given the situation, and then we work with the city, like the Department of Housing to get persons back into their homes, or temporary, or long-term housing. So it's something that you should think about as well, what happens if I were to lose my home, my apartment was on fire, where am I going next? What's the next step?

Alison Stewart: Here's a question for you that's kind of hard to ask, but I'm asking anyway. Sometimes people are in the middle of a disaster, they don't know whether to stay or to go. What do you do in that situation? Are there questions you should ask yourself? Do I stay or do I go?

Jason Lyons: Yes, great question. In our environment, in our community, if you live in a home that is on-- an apartment or a condo that's above six floors, it should be in what we refer to as a fireproof or a fire resistant building, so that's where sheltering in place comes in. If there's a fire in your building, we want you to shelter in place. Which means keep your front door locked, and then you can hang a towel outside or something to indicate that, "I'm in this space." That's a sheltering place situation, especially for the caller we had before that might be [unintelligible 00:22:43] might be able to move on their own, you want a shelter in place.

Now, it gets risky when you're on low floors and you want to evacuate. We always advise, don't use elevators when there's a fire in your building, use the stairwell. Knowing where that stairwell is-- Believe it or not, a lot of people don't know where that stairwell is. And believe it or not, a lot of stairwells sometimes are locked, because the super or the building management decided to lock that. But understanding what that means, understanding what your emergency exit is in whichever building you're in, whether it be at work or at home, is extremely important, and knowing how to traverse it when the time comes.

One other point on that is, if you live in a home where you're going to be using a stairwell for exit, make sure those stairwells are clear for usage. Because when something happens, if there's a fire for instance, it's not going to be the same environment that you remember when there is not a fire. It's dark, it's cloudy, it's smoky, you're trying to traverse it in those environments, and then if you have boxes piled up on the stairway, we have a big problem.

Alison Stewart: That's a big issue. Like, people keep stuff outside of their apartments. I think it's a problem. Really, you should keep the halls clear.

Jason Lyons: You should.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Sharon. Hi, Sharon. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Sharon: Hi. I live in a home and I've had two floods with five feet of water. I've learned to take all photographs and everything that's dear and put it on the second floor of my house, and I've also-- I have a 95-year-old neighbor, and she has a code to get in her house. I made her give me the code, because if she falls out or anything, I'm able to get in the house and get her assistance. She's very independent, and it took me forever to get that code, but I said no.

Alison Stewart: [claps] Oh, congratulations to Sharon. That is key. We've got about a minute left. A lot of people panic in these situations. What advice would you give to people if they find themselves truly in a moment of disaster and they've got to make a decision and go?

Jason Lyons: That's normal. Panicking is normal. We're human, and we are expected to do that. What we don't want you to do is turn that panic into activities that's going to cause more chaos. That's what it is. We know, we expect that, and if you're somebody that you're able to control your feelings better, look out for others. We always say, especially for children and seniors, but particularly with children, this is brand new to them. That's one of the reasons why we encourage things like, when the fire department has Touch-a-Truck and we say go to those open houses, why?

Alison Stewart: Yes, that's smart.

Jason Lyons: Yes. A fire officer looks very different in bunker gear, their outfit, than when you see them on the street. And if it's a fire and you see a fire officer, you're going to think it's a monster. So keep calm, breathe, try your best to do that, and know that you made plans already to get through this disaster.

Alison Stewart: Jason Lyons from the Red Cross, thanks for all your tips. And everybody, be like Sharon. Yes. That's All Of It for today. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening, and I appreciate you. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.

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