Thanks for the response. In my opinion, in business “risk assessment” is just part of the job! A lot of folks, to include business owners, don’t spend enough time thinking about the “what if”, and as you say, when something happens they look to others (i.e. the government) to bail them out. Having worked closely with the government sector for quite some time, I can tell you for sure that they “expect” business and industry to be prepared. In reality, given the event, they couldn’t help if they wanted to!

John

“Why be a doomsayer?” “Gloomy Gus” “Hoarder” “Worry wart” “survivalist” are some of the terms I have heard. Just as teens expect adults to bail them out of the consequences of their lack of planning, adults in disasters look to government for a similar service.

Short of activating the Emergency Ops Center the response is the same. The use of the Incident Command System, Mutual Aid — Valley Fire took on the responsiblity of public information were evident. In addition, Avista, STA, and several other City Departments were on scene. City Fire will distibute some “After The Fire” publications I built years a go to the business owners involved. Given the nature of the businesses I doubt they will require any assistance from outside resources. Our local business & industry committee has assisted in the past when asked to do so.

JA

It’s not that they don’t have a plan and they practices often. The issue here is they seem to learn a new lesson at every event — be that an exercise or an actual situation. Some businesses will learn a real hard lesson should somthing happen by a. Not Planning & b. Not exercising their plan.

John