Emergency Preparedness

To find cooling stations available in Fairfield County, please call Fairfield County 211 (opens in a new window, leaves this site) at 211 or 740-687-0500.

Cooling sites available in Lancaster

• Maple Street United Methodist Church, 438 E. Wheeling St. — meals served Monday through Friday starting at 9:00 AM.
• The Foundation Dinners, 1000 W. Fifth Ave. — open every day for lunch at 11:30 AM and dinner at 4:00 PM.
• Fairfield Center of Hope, 230 Venture Place — open Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
• Salvation Army, 228 W. Hubert — open Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM.
• Connexion West, 625 Garfield Avenue — meal and food pantry Saturday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

• Stay hydrated: dehydration increases the risk of heat-related illness. Drink plenty of water as temperatures rise. Avoid sugary beverages or drinks with caffeine, which can affect the body's ability to cool off.
• Seek shade or covered areas: if you begin to notice signs of heat exhaustion, find a shady or covered spot to bring your body temperature down.
• Take frequent breaks: avoid intense exercise or long stretches of outdoor activities on hot days. Allow your body to rest and cool down frequently to reduce heat exhaustion symptoms.
• Wear proper attire: dress in loose-fitting, lightweight, and light-colored clothes that cover the skin. Wear sunglasses and a hat, and reapply at least an SPF 30 sunscreen every two hours.

Everyone can be vulnerable to heat, but some more so than others. The following groups are particularly vulnerable to heat. Check in with your friends and relatives who fall in one of these populations, especially if they do not have air conditioning.

• Young children and infants are particularly vulnerable to heat-related illness and death, as their bodies are less able to adapt to heat than adults.
• Older adults, particularly those with pre-existing conditions, who take certain medications, live alone, or have limited mobility.
• People with chronic medical conditions are more likely to experience an adverse health reaction during a heat wave.
• Pregnant individuals are vulnerable, as their bodies work harder to cool both themselves and the developing baby, increasing the risk of dehydration and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Alert-Fairfield County is an emergency notification system used by city and county public safety organizations throughout the United States to issue government-related messages to residents and businesses. The system can send thousands of messages via landline, cell phone, TTY, e-mail, text, and fax within minutes. Only authorized officials have access.

Activation depends on the emergency and the allowable warning time. Tornado warnings are sent automatically when the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning.

Our county always has the potential for emergencies related to floods, tornadoes, snowstorms, thunderstorms, and extended power outages. Your Fairfield County Health Department staff tries to anticipate what emergencies we could face and then develops plans to respond to threats to health and safety.

For weather-related emergencies, health department plans address things that could put public health at risk. For instance, if there is a flood and power goes out for an extended period, the health department might be called on to inspect temporary shelters for hygiene and health issues, or inspect restaurants and grocery stores to make sure food stays safe during and after the outage.

A health emergency for your family could be as simple as everyone getting the flu and having to stay home for several days. Think about what you would do, do you have everything you would need at home so you would not have to go out?

There are many good lists of what your family would need for an emergency kit (opens in a new window, leaves this site). Everyone should have at least a three-day supply of food and water stored at home, with at least one gallon of water per person per day. If you have the space, experts recommend a week's supply. Don't forget your pets or any livestock. Choose foods that don't require refrigeration and are not high in salt, such as ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits, and vegetables, and other non-perishable items.

Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain cold temperature, each time the door opens, a significant amount of refrigeration is lost. A refrigerator kept at 40°F or below will keep food safely cold for about four hours if unopened, according to the USDA. A full freezer holds temperature for about 48 hours (24 hours if half full) if the door stays closed.

Food may be safely refrozen if it still contains ice crystals or is at 40°F or below. If the power has been out for several days, check the freezer temperature with an appliance or food thermometer. Discard refrigerated perishable food, meat, poultry, fish, soft cheeses, milk, eggs, leftovers, and deli items, after four hours without power.

Across the country, local, state, and national government agencies have worked together for years to protect citizens from both manmade and natural disasters. Locally, the Fairfield County Health Department works with the Fairfield County Emergency Management Agency and other county agencies to be prepared for health emergencies and disasters.

To stay prepared, health department staff complete ongoing required emergency response training and participate in local and regional training exercises.

Individuals and families should be prepared too. If you live alone, getting the flu or a bad cold and having to stay in bed for a few days could be an emergency if you are not prepared. Plan ahead and make sure you have food and water easily available at home so you can rest and take care of yourself.

Being prepared also means understanding how diseases spread so you can take precautions. Maintain good health habits: cover your sneeze with a tissue and dispose of it promptly, wash your hands often, and cough into your elbow or sleeve, not your hands.

You can also prepare for a longer stay at home during a natural disaster such as a tornado, flood, or pandemic flu outbreak. Ready.gov (opens in a new window, leaves this site), created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is an easy way to learn more about being prepared. When preparing, think first about the basics of survival: fresh water, food, clean air, and warmth.