Emergency Preparedness Expertise

Lane County’s Emergency Manager Shares Tips To Prepare for Disasters

By Craig Reed

Why do you need an emergency plan?

“Disasters don’t wait for you to be ready,” Lane County Emergency Manager Tiffany Brown says. “Everyone in your household needs to be as prepared as possible for an emergency. When a disaster happens, it could take days to weeks for first responders to reach you. There’s also a good chance your household won’t be in the same place when a disaster happens, so create a plan that covers how to get to a safe place, how to contact others, how to find others if separated, and what to do in different situations.”

That message is printed on the front of an Emergency Pocket Plan booklet that Tiffany is more than willing to distribute to anybody who wants to start planning for the big 1.

The big 1 could be a wildfire, storm, or landslide that destroys structures, brings down power lines, and closes roads for an extended time. Oregon has experienced several of those in recent years.

Or it could be the Cascadia subduction earthquake that’s been forecasted for many years. Scientists say this megathrust earthquake in the depths of the Pacific Ocean could be of a magnitude of around 9 and would create a large tsunami. The result would be devastation along the West Coast. 1 belief is the quake and the surging water would destroy everything west of Interstate 5.

Oregon is considered by scientists to be 1 of the most earthquake-prone areas in the continental U.S. The largest earthquakes in Oregon’s recorded history—since 1841—were 2 magnitude 6.0 quakes that hit the Klamath Falls area in 1993. Although the coastline gets most of the attention, inland areas can also suffer.

Devastating events are likely to leave many people, their pets, and livestock stranded. First responders may be unable to reach them for many days because of blocked or destroyed roads and bridges.

The scenario may be discouraging, but officials say people in impacted areas can survive through readiness and preparedness.

To help counties and their citizens to plan for any type of major disaster, the Oregon legislature mandated in 2003 that each county have an emergency management manager and staff. The 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001 led to this mandate.

Tiffany, a native Oregonian who has heard about the Cascadia Subduction Zone since her youth, has been involved in emergency management for 15 years, first in Clatsop County in Northwestern Oregon and now in Lane County. She earned an English degree from the University of Oregon in 1991 and uses her writing and communication skills to encourage people to plan for major disasters.

“This job is well-suited to both my skills and my personality traits,” Tiffany says. “I’m an extrovert. This job is largely about coordination and communication. What is gratifying to me is being able to bring people together to coordinate resources and ideas in order to take community resilience to the next level.”

She is also the chairperson of the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission, a group that was formed following the 1989 California earthquake that registered a magnitude of 6.9 and resulted in 63 deaths and thousands injured and displaced.

“It’s all about preparedness,” she says. “I have the responsibility to maintain operational readiness for the county’s emergency operations center.”

Tiffany says having a plan and access to readiness programs can ease the emotional stress brought about by a disaster and create a path to recovery.

A plan includes having a grab-and-go bag when evacuation is necessary. For years a three-day pack was considered best, but now Tiffany plans for 2 weeks because storms are lasting longer and because of the Cascadia earthquake threat.

“First, plan for food, water, and shelter,” she says. “Second is emotion. This piece may be as important if not more important than physical peace. You need to have an understanding of how you’re going to get information because traditional media sources may not be available. Learn about alternate sources and rely on solid sources for information.

“And the last thing, consider how to combine resources to help 1 another in your immediate community on that really bad day,” she says. “An earthquake is going to create devastation for an extended duration. It’s going to take time for first responders and resources to arrive, so turning to help 1 another is important.”

Tiffany says cellphone calls may not go through in the early stages of an event, but texts might work. She also says a person in an unaffected region or state might be able to take cellphone calls and provide communication for people in an impacted area.

“It’s a great challenge for us to get people ready,” she says, noting the wildfires of recent years, the ice storm early this year, and the earthquake threat.

Starting in 2025, the emergency management staff is implementing a regular emergency training calendar for the county and its partners.

Tiffany says the occasional, short power outage is a good time to practice their preparedness for extended outages and devastation.

“You need to know how to navigate without transportation and with no power,” she says.