From city’s mouth to people’s ears

Deepa Bharath

Fire Chief Jim Ellis is set to sound a clarion call to the community.

He and other city officials want to form a Citizens Corps Council

-- a group of community leaders he believes will help distribute

information about the city’s programs that aim to prepare residents

for emergency situations.

If the city puts this program together, it will only be the fourth

in the county to do so, behind Placentia, Laguna Niguel and the

Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Ellis said.

“This is something we have been trying to get off the ground since

right after Sept. 11, 2001,” he said.

The city already has the “key components in place,” Ellis said.

Already in place are Neighborhood Watch, the Citizens Emergency

Response Team and Volunteers in Policing. Ellis has set up a Medical

Corps Database whereby local hospitals will be able to network and

help in the time of a disaster.

“We need a group of community members to oversee all of these

components,” Ellis said. “We need individuals who will attend

informational meetings and take the information to their sphere of

influence and disseminate it.”

For example, homeowners associations’ leaders can take information

to homeowners in their respective neighborhoods. Pastors or school

board members can take it to their churches and schools.

“The whole idea is to take everything we have, join hands with the

community and create an environment where we are all prepared for a

potential disaster,” Ellis said.

Costa Mesa Police Chief Dave Snowden said the idea is “brilliant.”

“It’s great to be able to create a team that trains people and

makes them more aware,” he said. “This prepares them for disasters

and tells them what the local government is doing to keep them safe.”

Snowden added that he hopes the reach of the Citizens Corps will

be longer and broader than the Citizens Academy organized several

times a year by the Police Department.

Residents will be anxious to see how this concept evolves, said

Cindy Brenneman, president of the Mesa Verde Homeowners Assn.

“I’m sure it’ll help people feel better about services our city

can provide,” she said. “It’s great that the Police and Fire

departments are collaborating to protect the city as a whole.”

It’s very important for residents to know how to protect

themselves and be prepared for natural or man-made emergencies,

Brenneman said.

Mayor Karen Robinson said she believes that a Citizens Corps is “a

great idea for our community.”

“Since Sept. 11, we’ve all been asking ourselves how we can help

our police officers and firefighters,” she said.

The Citizens Corps will likely be a step in that direction,

Robinson said.

“It’s a good way to deal not only with terrorism but also

disasters, crime and other issues that come up in any community,” she

said.