Frontline Preparedness

09/03/2026

Helping others!

MCSAR is a 100% volunteer search and rescue team. Our members are ordinary community members who have chosen to do extraordinary things — train to a professional standard, respond at any hour, and bring people home. If that sounds like you, we want to hear from you.

09/03/2026

Get Prepared!

September is National Preparedness Month, and this year’s national theme is "Americans Stand Ready."

Starting this month, we are working through Washington Emergency Management’s Prepare in a Year guide alongside you. One step a month, about an hour each. Here is the whole list so you know what is coming:

1. Communications plan
2. Action plan
3. Water
4. Grab and go kit
5. Important documents
6. Get 2 Weeks Ready
7. Fire safety
8. Utility safety
9. Under the bed
10. Drop, Cover and Hold On
11. Shelter in place
12. Home hazard hunt

Twelve hours of effort spread across twelve months, and by next September your household is in a completely different place when it comes to preparedness.

Step One is free and starts with a conversation.

Download the guide at https://mil.wa.gov/prepare-in-a-year and get on board for building Mason County resilience!

09/01/2026

Being Prepared comes in many different ways!
Narcan is free and can be found at community health clinics and transit stations, for example.
💉☠️

09/01/2026

Looks like a great event to help those who help others!

https://masoncountysearchandrescue.ticketspice.com/2026-comedy-night

08/21/2026

08/17/2026

🔥🔥🔥
If a fire starts in your area and there’s an immediate evacuation order, it is up to you to have a plan in place for quickly grabbing what you need and leave.
The fire department will simply give the evacuation order and then focus on fighting the fire. They do not have an immediate plan for where you should go. They will just tell you where not to go.
So you and your family, and your neighbors need to talk it over. Because you are going to need each others help when the time comes.
So when the order is given, you leave and go as far away from where the fire is that you feel safe. Then contact your family and friends to see where you can go.
We would suggest going to local grocery store or shopping center just to put yourself in an area where you are away from the danger and around services such as restrooms and food supplies.

If you do not have family and friends in the area, be patient with the local authorities while they create evacuation centers.

Always, always have a Go-Bag ready. Even if you live in the city!

Go-Bag list link..
https://www.ready.gov/kit

08/15/2026

Fascinating!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a... bolide?

A bolide (large meteor) was observed in Washington State in the early morning hours of August 14. In addition to several eyewitness videos and disturbed pets, our infrasound instruments at several volcanoes recorded the bolide quite well. Infrasound refers to sound waves that are below the sensitivity of human hearing. Bolides are excellent infrasound generators because of their supersonic speed and fragmentation as they enter the atmosphere. Though dramatic to observe, bolides are common with thousands entering our global atmosphere daily.

This infographic shows what the infrasound signal looked like at each volcano. Look how different the signal is from volcano to volcano, what do you think it means? What could a scientist observe from this data?

The Cascades Volcano Observatory update for Friday, August 14, 2026: All volcanoes in the Cascade Range of Oregon and Washington were at normal background levels.

During the past week, small earthquakes were detected at Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Hood. Scientists conducted geologic fieldwork at Glacier Peak.

📷: This infographic shows the infrasound signal that was detected at each of the volcanoes listed on the figure (Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood) between 12:55 AM and 1:10 AM Pacific Time. Data from USGS and Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.