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According to the National Weather Service (NWS), summer brings an increase in lightning strikes.
While the warm weather invites
many outside activities, if you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to
strike you. Take a moment during National Lightning Safety Awareness Week (June 24-30) to learn how to stay safe in a
thunderstorm with tips from NWS.
Outdoors:
- When thunder roars, go indoors -
move inside a sturdy building or hard top vehicle with the windows up as soon
as you hear thunder.
- Do not take shelter in small
sheds, gazebos, dugouts, bleachers, under isolated trees, or convertible
automobiles.
- Avoid open fields, the top of a
hill, or a ridge top.
- Stay away from water, wet items,
such as ropes, and metal objects, such as fences and poles. Water and metal do
not attract lightning, but they are excellent conductors of electricity.
Indoors:
- Stay indoors. Stay inside at least
30 minutes after you hear the last clap of thunder.
- Do not touch anything plugged into
an electrical outlet.
- Use a corded telephone only for
emergencies; cordless and cellular phones are safe to use.
- Avoid contact with plumbing; do
not wash your hands, and do not take a shower or bath.
To learn how to prepare
for a thunderstorm, visit the Ready Campaign’s Thunderstorms page. For more lightning safety
information, visit www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov. Remember: lightning can strike any time of year.
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On hot days, the temperature inside your car
can reach deadly levels in just 10 minutes.
In 2017, 42 children died of vehicular
heatstroke. Heatstroke begins when the core body temperature reaches about 104
degrees. A core body temperature of about 107 degrees is lethal.
When left in a hot car, a child's
temperature can rise quickly. A child's body temperature rises three to five
times faster than an adult's.
Help prevent vehicular heatstroke with
these eight steps from the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration:
- Never leave a child or pet in a car
unattended—even if the windows are partially open or the engine is running, and
the air conditioning is on.
- Make a habit of looking in the car—front and
back—before locking the door and walking away.
- Ask your childcare provider to call you if your
child does not show up for care as expected.
- Place your purse or briefcase in the back seat
so you do not accidentally leave a child or pet in the car.
- Write a note or place a toy in the passenger's
seat to remind you of the child or pet in the car.
- Teach children not to play in cars and store
keys out of a child's reach.
- If you see a child alone in a locked car, get
them out immediately and call 911.
- Remove the
child from the car and rapidly cool them if they are in distress due to heat.
Learn more extreme heat preparedness at www.ready.gov/heat. If you would like to
help spread the word about extreme heat safety, you can visit the Extreme Heat Social Media Toolkit
for resources. Download the FEMA App for heat
advisories and safety tips.
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The Fourth of July
means barbecues and fireworks. It may seem like harmless fun, but fireworks are
explosives. Only professionals should handle them.
On average, 280 people go to the emergency room
every day with fireworks-related injuries in the month around the July 4th
holiday. Follow these tips to prevent injury from fireworks:
- Leave the
lighting to the professionals. Attend fireworks displays.
- Do not try to
re-light or pick up fireworks that have not fully ignited.
- Keep sparklers
away from children. They can burn at temperatures about 2,000 degrees. That is
hot enough to melt some metals.
For more
information on firework safety, check out the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission Fireworks page.
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With only a few
days left in National Pet Preparedness Month, make sure your pet stays safe in
an emergency.
Help your pet
remain calm in an emergency by including them in your plans and drills. Prepare
to evacuate or shelter your pets now.
Start by
following these tips from the Ready Campaign:
- Have a Pet Emergency Kit.
- Create a buddy
system in case you are not home. Ask a trusted neighbor to check on your
animals.
- Identify
shelters. Many emergency shelters cannot take pets for public health reasons.
Keep a list of pet friendly hotels in your emergency kit. Find
boarding facilities or animal hospitals near your evacuation shelter. Consider
an out-of-town friend or relative.
- Locate a
veterinarian or animal hospital in the area where you may be seeking temporary
shelter, in case your pet needs medical care. Add the contact information to
your emergency kit.
- Have your pet
microchipped. Make sure to keep your address and phone number up-to-date.
- Call your local
emergency management office, animal shelter or animal control office to get advice
and information.
- If you are unable
to return to your home right away, you may need to board your pet. Find out
where pet boarding facilities are located.
- Most boarding
kennels, veterinarians, and animal shelters will need your pet's medical
records to make sure all vaccinations are current.
- If you have no
alternative but to leave your pet at home, there are some precautions you must
take, but remember that leaving your pet at home alone can place your animal in
great danger!
Your pets cannot
prepare for an emergency, but you can. Find additional information for
preparing your pets in the Pet Owners Fact Sheet.
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Disclaimer: The reader recognizes
that the federal government provides links and informational data on various
disaster preparedness resources and events and does not endorse any non-federal
events, entities, organizations, services, or products. Please let us know
about other events and services for individual and community preparedness that
could be included in future newsletters by contacting FEMA-prepare@fema.dhs.gov.
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