When the worst comes, Ed Call wants the island to be ready. Start hoarding now.
It was an odd mix of volleyball and volcanoes that taught Ed Call why communities must expect the unexpected.
He was in Sicily in the early 1990s representing the U.S. Navy against Italian teams when Mt. Etna burst. Rather than pack their jerseys and knee pads, Call and his teammates were roped into a rescue effort.
“They put me to work driving vans, going out and evacuating people,” he said. “The land was burning from the lava on both sides of the road. I thought I was in Hades. All I kept wondering was how long it would take before the tires melted.”
It was a formative event for Call, who was hired last week by the city to prepare Bainbridge for community emergencies.
Lesson one: tires are pretty resilient. Lesson two: don’t assume emergency responders can handle everything. Citizens, he said, must also rely on themselves and each other when disaster strikes.
“People wait until the last minute to prepare,” he said. “In Sicily, we had to drive into a town that was burning and get people out because they had no means of evacuation. I thought, ‘I don’t believe this. I don’t know this place or the streets.’ I had to buy a map and start picking people up.”
Bainbridge residents may not have a team of foreign volleyball players to help bail them out when the next storm or earthquake rattles the island.
Acts of nature are largely out of human hands, but what happens afterward is where islanders can have a firmer grip, Call said.
“Emergency responders are going a great job,” he said. “But citizens need to hold the line and take care of their neighbors when we’re in a bad spot.”
Call was hired for a year-long contract to get islanders to think about the “Big One,” and also the “little ones,” the smaller scale disasters that few are likely pondering on warm June afternoons.
“Now is the perfect time to be thinking about what happened last winter,” he said. “A lot of small things can make major changes on how you make it through a windstorm.”
Call wants residents to have multiple heating sources, gather supplies far in advance, establish escape routes and discuss emergency preparedness with neighbors.
The elderly, disabled or those suffering from the loss of home heating could particularly benefit from early coordination.
“You might talk to your neighbor or talk about (emergencies) in neighborhood groups,” he said. “Some people who can take care of themselves just hunker down. But we should ask the question, ‘who’s around me that might need looking after?’”
According to Bainbridge Deputy Police Chief Mark Duncan, the island should prepare for about a week of self-sufficiency.
“Even with the help from neighbors, the government and other community resources, it may take five days before relief comes in,” he said, especially if ferry service is disrupted or the Agate Passage Bridge is damaged.
That’s why Call’s job is so important, Duncan said.
“When your gas stove and food runs out after two days, people expect that they can go to the grocery store and get more,” he said. “Well, so does everybody else. People need to think about this.”
Call, a Kingston resident, recently worked as a security consultant helping educational institutions and businesses ratchet-up electronic surveillance and identification technology.
For six years, Call managed security operations at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bremerton, overseeing over 100 employees. There, he crafted emergency response policies, training and oversaw daily operations.
Call earned numerous awards and service medals while serving in the Navy and recently obtained a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Maryland. He is now working toward his master’s degree in “Homeland Security Management,” a program offered by the University of Maryland focused on counter-terrorism strategies, legal study and applied technology.
For all his studies and work experiences, it was Call’s direct experiences surviving hurricanes, tornadoes, flash flooding, windstorms and one volcanic eruption on a Mediterranean island that taught him the most, he said.
“There’s no volcanoes here, but we all know (an earthquake) could cripple this island,” he said. “We can’t wait until the last minute to think about this. That’s what I’m here for. I’m here to get those lights to go on above people’s heads.”
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Call Call
The city’s new Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Ed Call encourages residents to call him with questions or ideas. He can be reached at (360) 981-2948 or eacall@comcast.net.
Disaster kit
According to the Kitsap Department of Emergency Management, every family should compile a basic kit in preparation for storms, earthquakes and other disasters. The basic list includes:
• Food and water for three to seven days
• Warm clothes
• An out of state contact
• Where to meet
• First aid kit
For more information, see www.kitsapdem.org
