EXETER — Now that a generator has been installed at Metcalf School, the town is just one fuel tank away from having its emergency shelter.

That tank holds 470 gallons, and filling it will cost from $1,880 to $2,350 if diesel fuel is selling between $4 and $5 a gallon.

Thomas McMillan, Exeter’s deputy director of emergency management, says generator diesel usually costs more than home heating oil or automotive diesel, plus the additive to keep it from going stale or thick if the fuel isn’t used for long periods.

Exeter has an emergency management budget of $10,000.

With a mock disaster planned for Sept. 13, volunteers are needed: some to help operate the shelter and some to pretend that some emergency has forced them to leave their homes.

Some of the volunteer jobs will be registering people, preparing food, showing them where they can sleep, helping them get settled, providing security or first-aid, and helping to set up cots or air mattresses and move goods.

“We’d like to interest some citizens” in being trained to help in the shelter, McMillan said.

About a dozen volunteers are enough to run the shelter for a few hours. If hundreds of people had to stay for several days, however, backup volunteers would be needed to work in shifts.

People who want to learn shelter duties are asked to report at 7 a.m. on that second Saturday in September. Volunteers serving as walk-ons for the disaster rehearsal are asked to arrive at 9 a.m.

McMillan said the emergency management team was in discussions about whether the drill can be held at Metcalf, where students will have just begun their academic year, or at the Job Corps Academy campus off Route 2. The Job Corps site is a large facility with many capabilities, McMillan said, but no generator.

To install the generator at Metcalf School last week, National Grid disconnected power Aug. 4 and removed the transformer, replacing it with a transformer that has an emergency switch. Sensors detect when electricity stops flowing from National Grid, and the generator kicks in automatically.

An installer worked all week connecting the room-size generator to the school’s wiring, McMillan said, and National Grid planned to have power restored by Saturday.

The shelter has only a few cots, and additional cots could be borrowed from other communities. Major retailers have promised to supply necessary items such as diapers, bottled water, bedding or air mattresses in the event of a larger disaster.

McMillan said the shelter has not stockpiled food, but those seeking shelter could eat food stored at the school for student lunches.

McMillan has attended seminars sponsored by the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, the state’s preparedness agency. At one session, speakers from the National Weather Service emphasized that hurricanes can give as little as a half-day’s warning. “That’s why you have to be prepared,” he said.

The state has assembled emergency information on its Web site: www.riema.ri.gov/.

Advising that families are responsible for their own safety, the site lists resources, provides links and offers checklists for dealing with any kind of emergency.

Different disasters require different preparedness measures. Besides severe storms, flooding, blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes and extreme heat, drought or wild fires, disasters such as infectious diseases, terrorist attacks, biological or radiation hazards, hazardous materials, utility failures, computer viruses, solar flares, asteroids, comets, civil disorder and riots can occur.

Another useful site is: www.citizencorps.gov/cert/

The shelter managers are John and Karen Comeroski.

The local contact for the Citizen Corps is Rick Andreano. He can be reached by mail at Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, 645 New London Avenue, Cranston, RI. 02920, by phone at (401) 462- 7115 or by e-mail at: rick.andreano@us.army.mil

McMillan said he has written and, after Hurricane Katrina, rewritten plans for dispensing medications in case of an outbreak of infectious disease or biological terrorism. He participated in a town of Cumberland drill for distributing medicine to fight anthrax.

Another drill, in Charlestown, introduced him to the logistics of getting assistance to people with special needs who might be unable to reach a shelter.

Anyone can go to any shelter for refuge. Exeter’s facility is not limited to Exeter residents. Pets, however, are not allowed. People are advised to bring copies of important documents such as passports, insurance policies or birth certificates in case the originals are destroyed in a disaster, but proof of citizenship is not required for entrance.

dnaylor@projo.com