Media Note: High-resolution digital photos from Saturday’s Door-to-Door effort are available upon request. E-mail publicaffairs@arlingtonva.us for a pdf contact sheet.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Despite the rain, hundreds of volunteers joined in the “Arlington Prepares: Door-to-Door” exercise on Saturday, June 5, delivering emergency preparedness information to virtually every household in Arlington.

In what is believed to be the first effort of its kind, Door-to-Door (D2D) successfully accomplished its two main goals: delivering basic preparedness information to Arlingtonians and exercising Arlington’s ability to mobilize and manage hundreds of volunteers, as might be required during an emergency or natural disaster.

“Arlington is far ahead of the curve in terms of emergency preparedness,” said Matt A. Mayer, Chief of Staff for the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Domestic Preparedness, who observed the exercise. “The success of this exercise demonstrates that Arlington has significant citizen involvement that greatly enhances its capability to respond in an emergency. As Secretary Tom Ridge likes to say, for the homeland to be secure, the hometown must first be secure. Arlington is setting the preparedness standard for the rest of the nation.”

D2D was a joint project, co-sponsored by Arlington’s Office of Emergency Management and the Arlington Citizen Corps Council. Civic associations and service groups were instrumental in organizing at the neighborhood level.

“Our Citizen Corps Council and Community Emergency Response Teams were essential to the success of this exercise,” said James Schwartz, director of Arlington’s Office of Emergency Management. “They along with County staff put in countless hours of planning and coordination of resources.”

County Manager Ron Carlee thanked the volunteers and County employees involved for “a very impressive effort.” He added: “It has become increasingly clear that ‘post 9/11’ and after Isabel that Arlington must have a stronger capacity to get emergency information about Arlington to Arlingtonians. Your work has established a new level of capability that few communities can match. You continue to make Arlington a leader in the region and in the nation.”

D2D by the Numbers

• 110,000 bags of emergency preparedness information produced (assembled using inmate labor)
• 100,000 bags distributed to homes/businesses or in the hands of volunteers

• 65 employee volunteers from all County departments
• A contingent of Arlington ham radio operators set up a broadcast network from three County locations, including many of the Resource Centers, and the Emergency Operations Center. (In the event of an emergency, ham radios would serve as a communications backup system.)
• Nine Resource Centers organized dozens of team leaders; providing checklists, maps and materials to hundreds of volunteers.

In the event of an emergency, County schools would be used as Resource Centers, so this capability also was tested on Saturday. At each Resource Center, County staff provided briefings for volunteers, distributed boxes with pre-packaged materials and kept counts.

The D2D exercise was managed using the County’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Program, in place since 1954 and continually updated. On Saturday, it was coordinated from Arlington’s Emergency Operations Center.

Media Note: On June 28, Schwartz will become Arlington’s new fire chief and Bob Griffin will become director of the Office of Emergency Management.