News

Get Ready for National Preparedness Month

Published Date: 08.23.2011

September is National Preparedness Month (NPM), and your department, business, or other organization can help encourage more Americans to be prepared by joining the NPM Coalition. This year’s theme is A Time to Remember. A Time to Prepare.

Membership in the NPM Coalition is free and open to all public and private sector organizations. Join the thousands of local, state, regional, and national organizations – including the National Volunteer Fire Council – that have joined the Coalition to help promote emergency preparedness during the month of September.  Visit community.fema.gov to join.

The goal for this year’s National Preparedness Month is to turn awareness into action by motivating all Americans to make and practice an emergency plan. NPM Coalition members help bring this call to action to all communities throughout the U.S. As the first wave of response to every emergency and disaster of all kinds, the fire and EMS community plays a key role in National Preparedness Month.

The U.S. Fire Administration provides the following ideas of how your department or organization can help spread National Preparedness Month messages. Post your preparedness activity at community.fema.gov to help others in your community find you.

• Leverage Existing Events: Participate in events and meetings that already exist within your community, through local farmers markets, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, Kiwanis, VFW, or the American Legion. Whether it's offering to talk about preparedness or having a representative available to talk to community members and pass out information, tapping into something that is already planned and scheduled is a great way to reach members of your community.
• Host an Event, Meeting, or Workshop: Host an event, such as a preparedness workshop, day, or fair. Ladder trucks and ambulances serve as a perfect backdrop for an educational booth where you distribute home fire safety checklists or surveys, schedule smoke alarm installations, and/or answer questions about smoke and CO alarms and offer fire safety tips. You may even offer to provide CPR training and/or blood pressure checks to community groups.
• Be Part of a Much Larger Event or Initiative: Individuals want to be part of something bigger. For example, September 11th is now an annual day of service and this year will mark the ten year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Since fire and EMS were a critical part of the 9/11 response, you might consider doing a preparedness event for this year's annual day of service. Be sure to post your event both on 911dayofservice.org and community.fema.gov.
• Spread the Preparedness Message: Include preparedness messaging in existing forms of communications, such as emails, web sites, blogs, social media, newsletters, and even as bill stuffers. Once you're signed up as a Coalition Member, you will have access to ready-to-use messaging that you can use or customize.
• Host a Preparedness Open House that doubles as a volunteer recruitment event to assist you in Fire Prevention activities.
• Reach out to youth and families by planning a visit to a local school or day care to discuss emergency plans and fire safety and distribute information that they can take home about the importance of emergency preparedness and the steps they can take to be prepared.
• Consider announcing the launch of Teen CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) or a new partnership with a local youth program that will integrate preparedness with a press release and social media effort.
• Reach out to senior citizens by visiting local senior centers to discuss emergency plans and fire safety.
   

Click here to register for the 2011 NPM Coalition and find the resources and tools you need to participate. Once you register, you will have access to countless activity ideas, ready-to-use templates and messaging, and a calendar where you can post your event and find out what else is happening around the country.

About National Preparedness Month
National Preparedness Month is the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) annual campaign to encourage Americans to take steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, schools, organizations, businesses, and communities. National Preparedness Month is sponsored by FEMA's Ready Campaign in partnership with Citizen Corps, FEMA's grassroots strategy to bring together government and community leaders to involve all citizens in emergency preparedness planning.

Media

Search