By Marshall Smith
Idyllwild Association of Realtors

Living on the Hill comes with disaster risks, especially for new residents unfamiliar with living in a wildland interface. Fortunately, there is time to learn and a volunteer organization, Mountain Disaster Preparedness (MDP), available to provide training and education.
In July 2018, the Cranston Fire forced thousands of residents to evacuate for an extended period. Seven months later, major rain and snow caused massive flooding, road failure and closure cutting all ingress and egress temporarily.
Fire, flooding, earthquake, damage to our water infrastructures — all present disaster challenges to us all but especially to new residents, vacation renters and tourists unfamiliar with disaster protocols.
According to longtime President Mike Feyder, MDP has worked the likely scenarios and has volunteers and plans in place. MDP has 600 volunteers, 110 of whom are CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) trained. They have nine Disaster Aid Stations (DAS) throughout the community to which residents assemble after or during a disaster. From there, MDP volunteers would direct those who show up to an Advanced Treatment Area (currently Idyllwild Pines Camp, but soon Town Hall) where MDP medical personnel would be available for treatment and triage. In the event a shelter is needed, MDP personnel would direct those who report to DAS units to go to the designated shelter.
“Living here is not like living in a metropolitan area,” said Feyder. “We could be cut off from outside help for 24 hours to two weeks depending on the nature of the emergency.” A major earthquake could block all roads out and in. Vigilance and preparation are necessary safeguards when living on the Hill.
As county emergency personnel have long warned, the big danger to Idyllwild is when the town is crowded with tourists either for events or generally on weekends. Without knowing anything about how to respond, tourists could respond impulsively creating confusion and risk to others. With ever growing numbers of vacation rentals, those dangers are exacerbated for part-time renters. Unless owners provide disaster information for renters, guests will literally be without a clue when disaster strikes.
Beginning this month, a siren will notify the town of emergencies. A test of the siren will be conducted at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 15. The siren will be regularly tested every third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.
“The siren is designed to get our attention, wake us up and notify us that we need to get information quickly,” said Feyder. He stressed other action should not be taken until proper information is obtained as to the nature of the emergency and recommendations from officials. Residents can tune into WNKI-AM 1610 for emergency information, steps to take and directions.
New residents are advised to register for Reverse 911 (Swift Reach 911: https://rivcoready.org/alertrivco) with Riverside County’s Emergency Management Department. Registrants will receive emergency notification and information from the county directly to their cell phones regarding type of emergency and actions to be taken.
During an actual emergency, MDP will activate its volunteers, staff the DAS units and Advanced Treatment Area, and begin posting information on www,mdpidyllwild.org.
Idyllwild Emergency computer notifications are now embedded in the new site.
When COVID restrictions ease, MDP will resume the training of its volunteer corps with “boots on the ground” exercises as well as working with Idyllwild Fire Protection District to schedule more CERT training courses.
MDP needs new volunteers. If you are a new resident and want to be involved in improving safety in your community, contact MDP for more information on how you can be of service. MDP can be reached at 951-659-2647.