Description and Support

Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge

Required for Eagle - "Be Prepared" is our motto, but how exactly do you do that? Our counselors can help you get ready for anything and learn the important skills that go with this badge. Knowledge is the father of confidence.

Support provided:

Approved Merit Badge Counselor.
Daytime meeting to review pre-reqs and already completed worksheets.
Daytime class work if needed.
Great location for doing a disaster drill.
Additional support and background materials.

This is currently supported at Camp Acahela.

Class size: No restrictions

Advance notice needed: Two weeks is preferred.

Cost to the unit is: $6.00 per participant

Patches for the completed award are available at a cost of $2.29 each and can be purchased at Camp Acahela or at the Scout Service Center's Scout Shop.

THE KEY to the Requirements

Below are the current requirements for this Merit Badge. This color key is designed to help you understand what requirements can be completed at our facilities, what has to be done ahead of time, and what we can't support (or what will require special arrangements). Certain requirements may require additional fees to cover the costs of materials used and will be noted with this symbol set (*) .

Text that is green like this means these are fieldwork requirements we support at our camps and can be completed with our Counselors. In some cases this means that you use our camp to fulfill or host an event.

Text that is blue like this means that you can arrange to meet with our Counselors and and review or complete these requirements with them. This usually means you must complete these in advance using a worksheet and then sit in a class-like meeting to discuss the material or requirement.

Text that is in red like this is not supported in our program. If you elect to do this requirement, you must complete these requirements with local Counselors or your Scoutmaster.

Text that is in purple like this means this is a Pre-Requisite and needs to be completed ahead of time. (In some cases we also support these Pre-Reqs separately).

Text that is pink like this means that this requirement can be done either by our counselors or by some other local counselor but usually requires additional outside work that won't be completed in a single weekend. This usually means special arrangements need to be made, but this can usually be worked out by speaking with us ahead of time.

Text in brown like this means that this requirement can be satisfied at a location near one of our camps by either visiting the site, or participating in an activity at that nearby site (such as visiting Steamtown for the Railroading Merit Badge). In this way, you can use Acahela or Goose Pond as basecamps and then travel to the nearby site.

Merit Badge Requirements

Earn the First Aid Merit Badge.

Do the following:

Discuss with your counselor the aspects of emergency preparedness:

Prepare for emergency situations

Respond to emergency situations

Recover from emergency situations

Mitigate and prevent emergency situations

Include in your discussion the kinds of questions that are important to ask yourself as you consider each of these.

Make a chart that demonstrates your understanding of each of the three aspects of emergency preparedness in requirement 2a (prepare, respond, recover, mitigate) with regard to 10 of the situations listed below. You must use situations 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 below in boldface but you may choose any other five listed here for a total of 10 situations. Discuss this chart with your counselor.

Home kitchen fire

Home basement/storage room/garage fire

Explosion in the home

Automobile accident

Food-borne disease (food poisoning)

Fire or explosion in a public place

Vehicle stalled in the desert

Vehicle trapped in a blizzard

Flash flooding in town or in the country

Mountain/backcountry accident

Boating accident

Gas leak in a home or a building

Tornado or hurricane

Major flood

Nuclear power plant emergency

Avalanche (snowslide or rockslide)

Violence in a public place

Meet with and teach your family how to get or build a kit, make a plan, and be informed for the situations on the chart you created for requirement 2b. Complete a family plan. Then meet with your counselor and report on your family meeting, discuss their responses, and share your family plan.

Show how you could safely save a person from the following:

Touching a live household electric wire.

A room filled with carbon monoxide

Clothes on fire.

Drowning using nonswimming rescues (including accidents on ice).

Show three ways of attracting and communicating with rescue planes/aircraft.

With another person, show a good way to transport an injured person out of a remote and/or rugged area, conserving the energy of rescuers while ensuring the well-being and protection of the injured person.

Do the following:

Tell the things a group of Scouts should be prepared to do, the training they need , and the safety precautions they should take for the following emergency services:

Crowd and traffic control

Messenger service and communication.

Collection and distribution services.

Group feeding, shelter, and sanitation.

Identify the government or community agencies that normally handle and prepare for the emergency services listed under 6a, and explain to your counselor how a group of Scouts could volunteer to help in the event of these types of emergencies.

Find out who is your community's emergency management director and learn what this person does to prepare, respond to, recover from, and mitigate and prevent emergency situations in your community. Discuss this information with your counselor and apply what you discover to the chart you created for requirement 2b.

Take part in an emergency service project, either a real one or a practice drill, with a Scouting unit or a community agency.

Do the following:

Prepare a written plan for mobilizing your troop when needed to do emergency service. If there is already a plan, explain it. Tell your part in making it work.

Take part in at least one troop mobilization. Before the exercise, describe your part to your counselor. Afterward, conduct an "after-action" lesson, discussing what you learned during the exercise that required changes or adjustments to the plan.

Prepare a personal emergency service pack for a mobilization call. Prepare a family kit (suitcase or waterproof box) for use by your family in case an emergency evacuation is needed. Explain the needs and uses of the contents.

Do ONE of the following:

Using a safety checklist approved by your counselor, inspect your home for potential hazards. Explain the hazards you find and how they can be corrected.

Review or develop a plan of escape for your family in case of fire in your home.

Develop an accident prevention program for five family activities outside the home (such as taking a picnic or seeing a movie) that includes an analysis of possible hazards, a proposed plan to correct those hazards, and the reasons for the corrections you propose.

On-Line and Additional Support

Worksheets and Requirements

Details about this Merit Badge can be found at the US Scout Service Project Website at the following URL:

http://usscouts.org/usscouts/mb/mb006.asp

At the end of the description at that location, you will find copies of worksheets that you can easily save and print out. This will make the task of completing the Merit badge much easier and give your boys a guide to the information they need to know.

Having this done ahead of time can make the difference between leaving our camps with a signed "Blue Card" or not.

If you have any questions or need further guidance or help, we're here for you! Contact Ranger Tim Bongard at (570) 335-0283 or e-mail him at tbongard@nepabsa.org .