Signs of the times?
Needs signaled for Operation Snow Melt

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — People in remote areas are finding the color code used by the Navajo Nation Emergency Operation Center’s Strike Team useful, and chapters are adopting the code as they assess their communities.

Red, green and blue signs are being used to signal emergency needs during the Navajo Nation’s weather emergency known as “Operation Snow Melt.”

Red is used for an extreme medical emergency, meaning that a resident is in need of immediate medical attention or is in an unstable condition. According to the Bio-Terrorism Preparedness Program, some examples of unstable conditions are if a person is unconscious, has breathing difficulties or uncontrollable bleeding, is experiencing an allergic reaction or has severe burns.

Green is used to indicate an extreme need for fuel such as firewood, propane or coal. Blue is used to indicate an extreme need for food and water.

The color code is directed at people in the most remote areas of the Navajo Nation where access is impossible due to deep snow or very muddy conditions, which limit access to necessary supplies. Some families are also without transportation in areas targeted for assessment by the EOC Strike Team.

The Eastern Agency EOC at Crownpoint is now asking for all emergency calls in that area to come through its office to help make monitoring of emergencies easier. For the Window Rock EOC, a dispatcher is working out of the Navajo Division of Health mobile unit.

The centers in Window Rock and Crownpoint are being flooded with calls every day with many of the request for assistance related to fuel.

According to the tribe, firewood supplies are limited at this time, but the Department of Water Resources is working with the EOC to provide trucks for wood hauling. The department would haul the wood from T & R in Gallup , where it was purchased, directly to the chapters that purchased the firewood.

Eastern Agency EOC: (505) 786-2012