In the wake of the deadly floodwaters that devastated Camp Mystic in Texas, Henry Dehart of the American Camp Association explains how summer camps prepare for severe weather emergencies.
00:00Safety is always a priority at summer camps, but after this week's deadly flooding tragedy in Central Texas,
00:06there's a renewed focus on severe weather safety planning.
00:09The American Camp Association is a national nonprofit that accredits camps across the country on health, safety, and risk management.
00:17Joining us right now is Henry DeHart, Interim President and CEO of the ACA.
00:24Sir, thank you for joining us. I know it's been a difficult time for everybody.
00:30Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me here. It's just such an incredible tragedy.
00:34And while the whole country's mourning for the tragedy in Texas, it's been really exciting to see how the camp community has rallied to support those camps and those communities there.
00:45But thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that is what camp is all about, too.
00:48So let's talk about emergency plans for summer camps.
00:51What are they expected to have in place for severe weather events? And are there drills to practice these?
00:56Yeah, great question. Let me just start. And I know parents are really nervous right now, appropriately.
01:02So let me just start by saying that the most common weather related risks that a parent is likely to have their their child face at camp is sunburn, dehydration, heat, thunderstorms.
01:15You know, the basic things that we see all the time. Those are things that parents can help their kids actually prepare for.
01:21And camps have well-honed strategies. So I just want to put that out there that that while we're all thinking about national disasters,
01:28that's probably the things that we want to focus on as we're sending our kids to camp.
01:33But camps do have emergency plans. They spend a lot of time doing risk assessments.
01:39They look at location specific concerns, which can be different in different parts of the country, might be flooding in one part, could be wildfires in another part.
01:49Once they have these plans, they do staff train around them and rehearse those plans.
01:54And a part of those plans are how are they going to communicate? How do they get their information about potential challenges?
02:01But then also, how do they communicate out to parents in an emergency?
02:05So lots of planning in place. What is required of them changes from state to state.
02:11States regulate camps and it varies widely, which is one of the reasons ACA has an accreditation program.
02:18We're really the only national set of standards around health and safety.
02:22And we try and support camps in enhancing those health and safety practices.
02:28And as we move forward, how do camps, if we could go to number three, please,
02:34how do camps coordinate with local officials and emergency management teams?
02:40Great. So it's a great practice for camps to connect with local first responders, have a relationship,
02:47let them know when their session dates are. And then ideally, they'll also sit down with their emergency plans
02:53and they'll review those with the local first responders because they'll often have good insights into things
02:58they might want to tweak based on their experiences. So this is a good practice.
03:02If you're accredited by the American Camp Association, it's a mandatory standard that you reach out and connect
03:08with these local first responders. But many camps are doing this because it just makes good sense.
03:13We talked a little bit about drills and preparing. So what else does preparedness include at camps for staff
03:19and campers? And is the guidance changing as severe weather becomes more frequent?
03:25Well, the practices include a lot of what we just talked about, reviewing all of the different practices,
03:32having those in place, training and rehearsing ahead of time on those things.
03:35They're very localized to what the camps concerns are. Camps are reviewing these at least annually and often more than that.
03:47I will say that whenever you have a major event like this, there's going to be learning that comes out of it.
03:52And so I do expect across the country right now, camps are taking their emergency plans
03:56and just evaluating them based on what's happened and seeing if they should tweak them.
04:01I also know that camps are reaching out to parents to try and let them know what their plans are
04:07because they know that parents are anxious about that. And of course, ACA is watching and we're developing
04:13educational resources right now in the moment. But as we learn more over the coming weeks and months,
04:19we will also be focused on evaluating what practices make the most sense and what changes might happen.
04:26And then we'll make that available in educational resources to camps across the country.
04:31Henry DeHart, interim president and CEO of the ACA, thank you for joining us here in AccuWeather early.
04:38And I think after hearing you speak, I think a lot of parents feel a lot better.
