Volunteers still sought for SP Citizens Corps Door Hanger handout

And volunteers are still being sought for the April 17 distribution effort, according to Santa Paula Fire Captain Steve Lazenby, the city’s Emergency Preparedness coordinator.

Use of the free door hanger, sponsored by Santa Paula Citizens Corps, is just one way of taking a proactive approach to emergency preparedness. When a major emergency such as fire, flood or earthquake occurs, public safety will be swamped, and citizens can expect to be on their own for up to 24 hours or even longer. The door hangers will help emergency responders and neighbors identify households where there is a need for immediate attention, such as an injury or a person trapped.

The door hangers are red on side and green on the other with simple bilingual instructions of how they work, and households are urged to keep them in an area of easy access. If the green side of the bilingual door hanger is displayed it means the household is OK; if not, the red side signals help is needed. The door hangers also encourage the neighborhood to keep an eye on each other by checking on a household displaying the red “Help” side.

Lazenby said he is getting a good response from volunteers - especially from students - but more are needed to “make sure we get a door hanger to every single household and business in the city.” Those taking part in the distribution will meet Saturday at the Gazebo (corner of North Mill and Santa Barbara streets) at 10 a.m. Volunteers - who will work with distribution coordinators - will be assigned to areas where they will go door-to-door distributing the hangers and a bilingual program information sheet.