Friday, August, 26 2011 Nature: Hurricane Preparedness Briefing for fire company members The Indian River Volunteer Fire Company hosted a hurricane preparedness meeting to notify our firefighters what are the expectations of each volunteer. Chief Steven Deery provided valuable operation information and action response plans as well as what the expectation of our organization is within our local area of response. Briefing information included that history teaches that a lack of hurricane awareness and preparation are common threads among all major hurricane disasters. By discussing and knowing your vulnerability and what actions you should take, you can reduce the effects of a hurricane disaster and assist with actual event mitigation activities. Hurricane hazards come in many forms, including storm surge, high winds, tornadoes, and flooding. This means it is important for the fire company organization to have a plan that includes all of these hazards. The first and most important thing anyone should do when facing a hurricane threat is to use common sense. Hurricane Hazards: • Basics • Storm Surge • Marine Safety • High Winds • Tornadoes • Inland Flooding Hurricane Information: • Forecast Process • Disaster Preparedness • Take Action You should be able to answer the following questions before a hurricane threatens: • What are the Hurricane Hazards? • What does it mean to you? • What actions should you take to be prepared? Chief Deery provided valuable information which included trends and projections, history of various, what are incident responses would be and how we will be responding to events and incidents. Indian River’s contingency plans for apparatus and equipment relocation were also discussed and identified.