Your Neighborhood
A prepared neighborhood has people who know each other, a place to meet when phones stop working, and someone who can radio for help.
What is a Ready Community?
A Ready Community is simply a group of neighbors who have decided to look out for each other in an emergency. It does not require formal membership, meetings, or dues. It starts when a few people on the same street or in the same area agree to coordinate.
Within the Woodside Fire Protection District, dozens of Ready Communities have formed. Some are large and well-organized. Others are just a handful of neighbors who have exchanged phone numbers and agreed on a meeting spot. Both count. Both make a difference.
A fully prepared Ready Community has three capabilities:
People Who Know Each Other
The foundation. Know who lives around you, who might need help, and who has useful skills. When neighbors have met face to face before a disaster, they coordinate faster and more effectively after one.
What this looks like
- •Neighbors who recognize each other and can check in after an event
- •A shared contact list or group text thread
- •Awareness of who is elderly, has medical needs, or has young children
- •Periodic neighborhood meetings or social events
A Place to Meet
A Node is a pre-designated outdoor spot where neighbors gather when cell phones, internet, and power are down. Trained volunteers run simple stations to share information, match people who need help with people who can provide it, and connect available resources.
What this looks like
- •A known location — park, intersection, community building lawn
- •A small core team of 3–7 volunteers who maintain it
- •Minimal supplies: whiteboards, paper forms, pens, reference guides
- •Low-tech information sharing that works without electricity
A Radio Link
A Communicator is a trained volunteer with a two-way radio who can relay information between your neighborhood and the WPV-CERT response team and Woodside Fire Protection District. When cell towers are down, this radio link may be the only way to request or receive help.
What this looks like
- •One or more neighbors trained in radio procedures
- •Personal two-way radios provided through the program
- •Weekly practice nets to stay proficient
- •Direct communication path to CERT and WFPD
How It All Fits Together
You start by preparing yourself and your family.
Sign up for alerts, make a plan, build a go-bag, harden your home. This is Level 1 and it is the foundation.
Then you connect with your neighbors to form a Ready Community.
Get to know the people around you. Exchange contact info. Identify who might need help and who has skills to offer. This is Level 2.
Your Ready Community sets up a Node.
Pick an outdoor location everyone knows about. Train a few volunteers to run simple information stations. Now your neighborhood has a place to gather and organize when phones and internet are down.
One or more neighbors train as Communicators.
They carry two-way radios and can relay information between your Node and the WPV-CERT response team and fire district. This is the link between your neighborhood and the professional responders.
At the district level, WPV-CERT coordinates the response.
CERT teams handle search and rescue, medical triage, and fire suppression. They receive information from Communicators at each Node and direct resources where they are needed most. Visit WPV-CERT.org ↗
Get Started
You do not need to do all of this at once. Start wherever makes sense for you.
Attend a Nodes Class
Learn how to set up and run a neighborhood Node. No commitment required — just come learn.
Become a Communicator
Get trained on two-way radio and become the link between your neighborhood and emergency responders.
Start a Ready Community
Want to organize your neighborhood? We will help you every step of the way. Email us and we will get you started.
organize@wpv-ready.orgJoin the Firewise Program
Ready Communities can apply for Firewise USA recognition to systematically reduce wildfire risk and qualify for insurance benefits.
Questions?
We are here to help you organize your neighborhood.