Emergency preparedness is essential. An earthquake, flood, or other dangerous events can cause road closures, power outages and shut down lines of communication. One of the Valley’s newest nonprofit organizations is prepared to take on those dangerous situations and teach the skills needed to stay safe.
The Three Forks Snoqualmie Valley Emergency Response Group was created to promote education and training in survival skills and emergency preparedness. Founded by Mike Marinos, owner of Bigg Dogg Firearms in North Bend and president of the group, the group started as an idea that took a while to become a reality.
“It was about two years ago we got this idea. A bunch of second amendment advocates would go up shooting and we said ‘Hey let’s start a group,’ and, really, that’s how it started,” he said. “We wanted to approach the city of North Bend, saying, ‘hey if there is a flood or civil unrest, natural disaster, floods, you just need to pick up the phone and call one person and we can mobilize 40 to come down and put down sandbags’… so with creating a 501(c)(3), it lends us more credibility.”
The emergency response group, which meets at the Brickyard Brewery in North Bend, has about 25 active, paying members and about 50 on the group’s email list, who get updates on the group meetings, Marinos said. The emergency response group holds monthly meetings at the brewery and encourages anyone to sit in, to see if they are interested in joining.
Each group meeting is dedicated to learning something new. Some recent meetings have included lessons on tying knots, land navigation, and how to survive in the woods. One of the preparedness items the group emphasizes is the “get home bag” in case of an emergency.
“Our biggest thing is the ‘get home bag,’ 48 to 72 hours worth of stuff in your backpack… Our VP works over in Bellevue, he keeps his ‘get home bag’ in his car,” Marinos said.
“He says, ‘If I’ve got to leave my car there and walk home, I can make it, I’ve got a comfortable pair of shoes, I’ve got water I’ve got radio, I’ve got some sort of protection.’”
The group has some guest speakers give presentations on a variety of topics. Marinos also encourages the members themselves to share their knowledge or area of expertise with the group.
”We encourage people ‘Do you have an interest in something? Why don’t you study and come back in two months and do a presentation?’” he said. “We have a lady who is a great gardener and taught the right stuff to grow in the Pacific Northwest. One of our board members is a chef, we are going to put on a canning class. We’ve got the resources of quite a few people with extensive knowledge.”
Marinos recalled that one of the group’s best meetings featured a guest presentation about EMPs (electromagnetic pulses) that drew 40 people.
“We have a retired engineer who did a great presentation on the effects of an EMP,” he said. “He dispelled a lot of myths and everything.…That’s why we want to get this out, make sure people understand it and dispel a lot of myths.”
In addition to their monthly meetings, the group is planning an outdoor excursion in the summer to put the skills they’ve been learning about into practice.
In June, they will be teaching land navigation, which will include such information as how to count paces, use ranger beads for marking off those paces, terrain identification and basic compass orienteering, Marinos said. After the June event, the group will set up an outdoor scavenger hunt for members to test their survival skills.
“We are probably going to take off a Thursday night, set the course up on Friday, have people come up Saturday,” he said. “Saturday evening, after everything is done, we’ll do a barbecue and make it fun.”
The group meets on the second Tuesday of each month. Their next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Mar. 14, at Brickyard Brewing in North Bend, where they will discuss tying basic and efficient knots, land navigation, and how to use a compass.
For more information, visit https://www.3sv-erg.org.
