A few years ago, I received an emergency alert text message telling me to shelter in place. I had never gotten such a message before so, a little confused, when outside to check with my neighbors to see if anyone else had gotten the same message. At the time we lived in a first floor apartment below ground level and as soon as I climbed the stairs up into the parking lot an officer was there telling people “Get in your home.” It was a bit of a nerve wracking experience at the time, but since then I have learned a lot more about sheltering in place, what it means, and how to do know when to do it.
What is sheltering in place?
I am sure you have heard of emergency evacuation– especially if you’ve read out site before. Often when there is a natural disaster, you might be told to evacuate your home and go to a shelter or another safer location. Sheltering in place is the opposite.
While certain emergencies require you to evacuate, others require you to stay home. This means that conditions outside are not safe and you should get inside and stay there until it’s safe to go out again. The Replaced Cross makes an important distinction: sheltering in place is not the same thing as finding a shelter and staying there. Sheltering in place means you find a “small, interior room, with no or few windows and [take] refuge there. It does not mean sealing off your entire home.” We will go more into that later.
Why would I have to shelter in place?
According to the Red Cross, you may be ordered to shelter in place if “chemical, biological, or radiological contaminants may be released accidentally or intentionally into the environment.” It’s also possible that there is a public safety issue or active police issue. Sheltering in place is ordered because you are safer indoors and need immediate protection. Oftentimes this order will go out if there is an active manhunt in your area, or an active SWAT situation where the officials are concerned about civilian safety.
How will I know?
Now that you know the conditions in which you might have to shelter in place, you might be thinking, “okay, but how will I know if I need to shelter in place? Regardless of where you live, you should set up Wireless Electronic Alerts (WEA). WEA’s look like text messages but come in twice and have a sound that is typically different from your normal text alert sound. Some providers call these Government Alerts or Emergency Alert Messages. They cover weather, health warnings (pandemics), safety issues, and sometimes Amber alerts. There is no subscription or registration, and your data plan or network congestion will not affect them. You simply enable them in your phone settings and you’ll start receiving alerts when applicable. It’s very easy to set up and when you need to shelter in place you’ll know.
What to do while sheltering in place?
As I mentioned, there are a few different reasons why you might have to shelter in place and so what it looks like can be different depending. Regardless of the situation, it’s always a good idea to make sure you’re tuned into what’s going on. Put on the local news or radio to get updates on how the situation is progressing. If the internet is in working order, a good idea is to check your local Police precinct or Sheriff's Twitter to see if they have posted any updates.
This checklist from the Red Cross is super handy to have in order to know what to do whether sheltering in place at home, the office, school, or even a vehicle. Some guidelines include locking all exterior doors and windows, seal off cracks around doors and vents with duct tape to keep harsh materials that might be in the air out. Once you’re safe it’s also a good idea to call your emergency contacts and let them know “where you are, if any family members are missing, and how you are doing,” according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
If you are unable to get inside and stuck in your vehicle, the CDC recommends that you pull over to the safest place in your proximity and turn off the engine. If it’s a warm day look for shady places so you don’t get too hot. Then stay where you are and listen to the radio until it’s safe to leave, and keep listening even when you’re told it’s safe to get back on the road.
Lastly, don’t forget about your pets. If there are animals in your house make sure you bring them into the room you’re sheltering in and set up a designated area for them to relieve themselves in. On that note, make sure you have the proper clean-up supplies with you as well.
It’s important to remember that if a shelter in place order is in effect, then being inside is safer than venturing out so listen to the warning and local officials and remain inside until you are cleared.
