Emergency Information > Shelter-in-Place > How to Shelter-in-Place Previous Next Page       How to Shelter-In-Place   At Home   In Your Vehicle   At Work   At Day-Care Centers and Schools      At Home   Bring children and pets indoors immediately. If your children are at school, do not try to bring them home unless told to. The school will shelter them.     Close and lock all outside doors and windows.     If you are told there is danger of explosion, close the window shades, blinds or curtains.     Turn off the heating, ventilation or air conditioning system. Turn off all fans, including bathroom fans operated by the light switch.     Close the fireplace damper.   Get your disaster supplies kit and make sure the radio is working.     Take everyone, including pets, into your pre-selected shelter-in-place room and shut the door.   If you are instructed to seal the room, use duct tape and plastic sheeting, such as heavy-duty plastic garbage bags, to seal all cracks around the door into the room. Tape plastic over any windows and vents, and seal electrical outlets and other openings.     Call your family contact person and keep the phone handy in case you need to report a life-threatening condition. Otherwise stay off the phone, so that the lines will be available for use by emergency responders.     Keep listening to your radio or television until you are told all is safe or you are told to evacuate. Do not evacuate unless instructed to do so.     When you are told that the emergency is over, open windows and doors, turn on ventilation systems and go outside until the building's air has been exchanged with the now clean outdoor air. Follow any special instructions given by emergency authorities to avoid chemical or radiological contaminants outdoors. Back To Top   In Your Vehicle If you are driving a vehicle and hear advice to shelter-in-place on the radio, take these steps:   If you are very close to home, your workplace or a public building, go there immediately and go inside. Follow the "shelter-in-place" recommendations for that location.     If you are unable to get indoors quickly and safely, then pull over to the side of the road. Stop your vehicle in the safest place possible. If it is sunny outside, it is preferable to stop under a bridge or in a shady spot to avoid being overheated.     Turn off the engine.   Close windows and vents.   If possible, seal the heating, ventilating and air conditioning vents with duct tape or anything else you may have available.     Listen to the radio periodically for updated advice and instructions. (Modern car radios consume very little battery power and should not affect your ability to start your car later.).     Stay where you are until you are told it is safe to get back on the road. Be aware that some roads may be closed or traffic detoured. Follow the directions of law enforcement officials. Back To Top   At Work Check with your workplace to learn their plans for dealing with a hazardous materials emergency. Their "shelter-in-place" plans should include the following:     Employers should close the office, making any customers, clients or visitors in the building aware that they need to stay until the emergency is over. Close and lock all windows, exterior doors and any other openings to the outside.     A knowledgeable person should use the building's mechanical systems to turn off all heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems. The systems that automatically provide for exchange of inside air with outside air, in particular, need to be turned off, sealed or disabled.     Unless there is an imminent threat, employers should ask employees, customers, clients and visitors to call their emergency contacts to let them know where they are and that they are safe.     If time permits and it is not possible for a person to monitor the telephone, turn on call-forwarding or alternative telephone answering systems or services. If the business has voicemail or an automated attendant, it should be switched to a recording that indicates that the business is closed and that staff and visitors are remaining in the building until authorities advise it is safe to leave.     If you are told there is danger of explosion, close any window shades, blinds or curtains near your workspace.     Gather the disaster supplies kit.   Select an interior room(s) above the ground floor, with the fewest windows or vents. The room(s) should have adequate space for everyone to be able to sit in. Avoid overcrowding by selecting several rooms if necessary. Large storage closets, utility rooms, pantries, copy and conference rooms without exterior windows will work well. When everyone is in, shut and lock the doors.     Turn on the radios or TVs. If instructed to do so by officials, use duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal all cracks around the door(s) and any vents into the room. Seal any windows and/or vents with sheets of plastic and duct tape.     One person per room should write down the names of everyone in the room. Call your business’ designated emergency contact to report who is in the room with you and their affiliation with your business (employee, visitor, client, customer).     Keep listening to the radio or watching TV for updates until you are told all is safe or you are told to evacuate.     When you are told that all is safe, open windows and doors, turn on heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems and go outside until the building's air has been exchanged with the now-clean outdoor air. Follow any special instructions given by emergency authorities to avoid chemical or radiological contaminants outdoors. Back To Top   At Day-Care Centers and Schools Check with your children’s school or day-care center to learn their plans for dealing with a hazardous materials emergency. Their "shelter-in-place" plans should include the following:     Close the school. Activate the school's emergency plan. Follow reverse evacuation procedures to bring everyone indoors.     Have all children, faculty, staff and visitors take shelter in pre-selected rooms that have phone access and stored disaster supplies kits and, preferably, access to a bathroom.     If it is not possible for a person to monitor the telephone and the school has voicemail or an automated attendant, change the recording to indicate that the school is closed and that students and staff are remaining in the building until authorities say it is safe to leave.     There should be a way to communicate among all rooms where people are sheltering-in-place in the school.     Have all shelter rooms closed. Lock all windows, exterior doors and any other openings to the outside.     If told there is danger of explosion, make sure window shades, blinds or curtains are closed.   Turn off heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems. Systems that automatically provide for exchange of inside air with outside air must be turned off, sealed or disabled.     If instructed by officials, use duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal all cracks around the door(s), windows and vents into the room. As much as possible, reduce the flow of air into the room.     If children have cell phones, allow them to use them to call a parent or guardian to let them know that they have been asked to remain in school until further notice and that they are safe. This may reduce the potential number of incoming calls.     Teacher or staff member in each room should write down the names of everyone in the room and call the school's designated emergency contact to report who is in that room.     Everyone should stay in the room until school officials, via the public address system, announce that all is safe or say everyone must evacuate.     Once the word has been given that all is safe, everyone should go outside when the building's ventilation systems are turned back on. Follow any special instructions given by emergency authorities to avoid chemical and radiological contaminants outdoors. Back To Top   Be Responsible - Be Ready - Be Prepared! Your Emergency Preparedness Team Kings County Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management 280 Campus Drive Hanford, CA 93230 (559) 582-3211, Ext. 2634 www.kingscountyoem.com

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