Get ready.
That’s the message of Emergency Preparedness Week, which is being celebrated in New Westminster May 1 to 7. The week aims to remind citizens of the need to prepare their families and communities for an emergency.
“Throughout the week our emergency management office is holding a number of seminars around the city,” said Fire Chief Tim Armstrong. “It’s more to heighten awareness about being prepared for up to 72 hours in the event of a major disaster in the city.”
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr noted a national survey about how prepared people are for an emergency, with more than 50 per cent indicting they aren’t prepared.
“On the West Coast, 61 per cent are not prepared. We have a higher chance of having a seismic event here,” he said. “People literally just aren’t prepared. People need to be prepared, so get your kit, have it ready.”
City staff, including firefighters, are going to be busy responding to the emergencies and won’t be able to get to residents for a while, said Puchmayr, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to be prepared.
Armstrong said the city has also been doing a number of exercises with its emergency operation centre, by activating it to a Level 2 and Level 3 response, and practising with staff and the city’s mobile command unit.
In the event of an emergency, Puchmayr said the emergency operations centre would open at the Glenbrook fire hall, as trucks would be out of the hall responding to emergency calls and the space would be available. He said a number of exercises have occurred to set up the emergency operations centre in that location.
“It is an excellent location,” Puchmayr said.
