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.

Texas

In response to the recent fatal flooding at a Texas summer camp, the American Camp Association (ACA) has highlighted the importance of emergency preparedness at camps nationwide. Henry DeHart, interim president and CEO of the ACA, explained that while most weather-related risks at camps are minor, such as sunburn or heat, camps are required to have comprehensive emergency plans tailored to their specific locations and risks, including floods and wildfires.

These plans involve regular staff training, risk assessments, and coordination with local first responders. Accreditation by the ACA mandates that camps connect with emergency services and review their procedures annually or more frequently. The ACA is currently developing additional educational resources to support camps and reassure parents in light of recent events.

How summer camps prepare for severe weather emergencies

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

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