I was re-reading "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes -- and Why and I saw a mention of DC CERT that I'd forgotten about. The author said she "signed up online to participate and never got a response." Yep, par for the course.Then I read "Answering 911: Life in the Hot Seat," by a 911 operator/dispatcher in Minnesota. After a raid on a meth lab, a guy led officers on a foot chase, running through 3 houses, then taking an old man hostage. It wasn't known whether he had a gun. The operators were going crazy trying to keep up with the calls and dispatching for that -- plus a separate incident with an armed perp; a cop who hasn't answered calls and might be hurt or dead; and a choking baby.
"There was no way to remember it all and no way to type it. Her backup guy was busy paging the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)..."
There's a full search and rescue call-out for a missing 83-year-old man. I'm in the negative on leave, but technically I'm allowed to go another day or two in the hole. Except it's near Pittsburgh, a 9-hour round trip. With my luck, they'd find him by the time we got there. (Wouldn't be the first time.)