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20 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | FEBRUARY 2020 2019: The Emergency Preparedness Committee had a busy year. We have had a speaker from Riverside County Emergency Management Department. We also sponsored a "Stop the Bleed" training. The year also featured a fire evacuation false alarm and a power shutoff of Four Seasons that only affected part of our community. Riverside County Emergency Management Department (EMD) taught us that not every emergency is a big one. A traffic jam that makes a routine half an hour trip last two hours reminds us to keep emergency supplies in our cars. You might want to keep food, water and maybe a spare blanket or sleeping bag in your car. In Southern California we practically live in our cars and we must be prepared. "Stop the Bleed" training is a FEMA sponsored course. It teaches survival tactics for an active shooter event. It teaches victims the skills to stop the bleeding three ways. The first way is to apply direct pressure to the wound; the second is to stuff treated gauze into the wound and the third is by applying a tourniquet. The program emphasizes life over limb. The old way of releasing pressure on a wound has been replaced with put the tourniquet on until an emergency room doctor removes it. The victim might suffer the loss of a limb but they would still be alive. The program was started in response to active shooter events across the country where victims died needlessly waiting for emergency help. A fire occurred six miles away from Four Seasons. Our residents saw no smoke or flames but we got an evacuation notice anyway. It was not until two hours later that a conversation with a local police officer told us that the evacuation notice was a false alarm. The good that came of this was that Riverside County EMD created three new, clear messages. One message was a warning; the second was an evacuation; the third was a notice to shelter in place. The officer said that an evacuation would be noisy with officers going door to door and a loud speaker in the street. We learned that our notices could come from multiple sources — Riverside EMD, city of Beaumont; the Beaumont Police or Fire departments. We should all have these numbers nearby to verify emergencies. The power shutoff last fall showed us that we are served by two different sources or grids. The older section of the community, below the Edison Easement, experienced the shutoff; the portion above the easement did not lose power. Our next meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 10 am in the RCN Conference Room. ~ Michael A. Mendoza Emergency Preparedness Committee Facilities Committee Now that 2019 is behind us, we are looking forward to a wonderful 2020. We have several projects we are recommending or that have already been approved for the new year. NPG will slurry the streets in Phase A and Four Seasons Blvd. between The Summit and The Courts early this year. Empire Technologies is in the process of installing the new security camera upgrade and that includes cameras at the Breckenridge gate. AWS, our roofing consultants, are receiving proposals for the roof repairs on The Lodge, RCN, and Spa, and the committee will be selecting a roof vendor to complete the work. A proposal for new-and-improved lighting at the Pickleball courts is being presented for approval. The new lighting will be LED lighting that will be brighter for better court coverage and have a substantial energy and maintenance savings. We meet in the RCN Conference Room on the second Wednesday of the month at 10 am. We always welcome residents to join us and share their ideas or concerns. We currently have several positions open on the Facilities Committee for anyone interested in serving our community. ~ Jim Griffin, jjimgriff08@aol.com

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