Evacuteer.org

Evacuteer.org recognizes that mass evacuations have the potential to outpace the capacity of government. In 2010, evacuteer.org trained 500 evacuteers to support the government run City Assisted Evacuation Plan (CAEP). Executing a safe, successful evacuation requires everyday people to explore the civic potential they have to impact and add value to the government’s goals and objectives in protecting its citizens. 

Evacuteer.org’s recruitment/training/coordination model is derived from firsthand experience of its founders as well as from studying the positives and negatives of other preparedness organizations including the American Red Cross and Citizen Emergency Response Teams (CERT).  The evacuteer.org model invests heavily in utilizing free or inexpensive new media channels such as Facebook and Twitter to recruit its members and generate community goodwill. It also believes in the power of nontraditional training styles, including highly emotional testimonial videos with emotional impact, quick hitting facts about the importance of the plan, and guest speakers.

Evacuteer.org’s training program is done in one day and combines detailed training with real life examples and experiences. Many of our trainers have lived through Hurricane Gustav's 2008 evacuation and can offer first hand experience and knowledge. All evacuteer.org trainers are certified in National Incident Management System, the federal standard for all-hazard incident response. Trainings take place Saturdays and weekdays throughout June and July. Click here for the full training schedule.

 

The CAEP is activated upon orders from the Mayor, in concurrence with the Governor, following the declaration of an emergency.  The Mayor’s declaration of an emergency must be followed by a specific order to the Director of NOHSEP to activate the CAEP. If the CAEP is activated, evacuteer.org leaders begin a series of call downs to partner organizations and independent evacuteers.

During evacuteer.org training sessions, one of the most important topics covered is personal preparedness, safety and responsibility. At the end of each training session, evacuteer.org trainers go over the expected timeframe of the CAEP. Buses begin to pick up evacuees at the H-54 hour mark and continue until the H-12 hour mark. The H-hour describes the time when tropical storm force winds hit the Louisiana coastline. Every evacuteer.org training session closes with a reminder that the CAEP is a very stressful situation for all involved and that evacuteers must have taken all personal preparedness steps (ie, evacuation plans, boarding windows, etc) before reporting to work.  After each training session, evacuteer.org also sends a post-training reflection forms that captures important data about the training and more importantly, each evacuteer’s comfort level in regards to staying their own personal evacuation.