If getting prepared for an emergency is on your bucket list, this is a good time to put your plan into action.
The City of New Westminster has declared May 3 to 9 as Emergency Preparedness Week. Fire Chief Tim Armstrong urges New Westminster residents to take a bit of time to reflect on whether they’re prepared for an emergency and able to be on their own for 72 hours following a disaster.
“In New West here, we have 67,000 residents that are in peril and we have less than 25 people on duty between fire and police in the whole community,” he told the Record. “We are going to be stretched thin.”
New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services kicked off the week with a project at Save-On-Foods in Columbia Square on Saturday by giving out five-gallon buckets that residents could fill with emergency supplies.
“The theme is, What’s on your bucket list?” Armstrong explained. “Rona supplied five-gallon pails. We gave them a list of emergency supplies that they should have – they went in and shopped with their buckets. Some just took the buckets.”
Armstrong said he pitched the idea to Save-On-Foods about having a display during Emergency Preparedness Week so people could pick up supplies while shopping. Save-On-Foods displayed some of the items people should have in their emergency kits, including flashlights, non-perishable food and water.
As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, Armstrong will be part of a panel presentation at the Lower Mainland Local Government Association meeting on Thursday to discuss emergency preparedness and to seek support to lobby the federal government for funding that was cut to emergency preparedness grants a couple of years ago.
“That was a funding stream that a lot of municipalities counted on,” Armstrong said. “I have seen that funding cut and I have seen the momentum built around the Lower Mainland diminish as a result of that.”
