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DHS and FEMA
Updates
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This Citizen Corps News Digest is provided by FEMA's Individual & Community Preparedness Division to highlight community preparedness and resilience resources and activities recently announced by federal agencies and Citizen Corps partners. |
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DHS -FEMA Updates
Be heard
Email comments or suggestions to us at cert@dhs.gov
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Visa Staff Prepare for Emergencies Anytime, Anywhere
| More than 2,500 Visa staff strenghthened their emergency preparedness at work, home, and on the go. Read their story today! |
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Avoid These Winter Weather Mistakes
As winter weather sets in, you may have to take extra precautions to keep your family safe or to prevent property damage. The Weather Channel highlights 22 things to avoid as you prepare for winter, including:
- Failing to Clean the Gutters Before Freezing Weather Arrives. Cleaning gutters is important when protecting and preparing your home for the winter months. Gutters help keep icicles from forming along the roofline. Icicles may damage shingles, which can cause water to leak into your home.
- Going to Bed Before Heating Sources Have Cooled. Before you go to bed or leave the house, ensure that space heaters have cooled and are powered off. If you have built a fire in the fireplace, be sure that the embers are no longer burning.
- Forgetting to Develop a Fire Escape Plan. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, the risk of home fires increases with the use of alternative heating sources, so it's important to develop and rehearse an escape plan .
To see the full list of winter weather don'ts, visit the Weather Channel website.
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Recognizing Frostbite
| The official start of winter begins December 21, but some parts of the country are already experiencing severe winter weather. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), serious health problems can result from prolonged exposure to the cold. One of the most common problems is frostbite.
Frostbite is an injury to the body caused by freezing, and most often affects the nose, ears, cheeks, chin, fingers, or toes. Signs of frostbite include:
- White or grayish-yellow skin area;
- Skin that feels unusually firm or waxy; and
- Numbness.
If you detect symptoms of frostbite, seek medical care immediately. If medical care is not available, follow these important tips from the CDC, including:
- Get into a warm room as soon as possible;
- Do not walk on frostbitten feet or toes, unless necessary. Doing so can increase the damage; and
- Immerse the affected area in warm water.
For more information about frostbite and how to prevent it, check out this video from the National Weather Service. |
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Dates for Your Calendar!
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Disclaimer: The reader recognizes that the federal government provides links and informational data on various disaster preparedness resources and events and does not endorse any non-federal events, entities, organizations, services or products. Please let us know about other events and services for individual and community preparedness that could be included in future newsletters by contacting: citizencorps@dhs.gov
About FEMA
FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate's activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.
The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications. |
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