West Hartford Helping Residents Prep For Disaster

WEST HARTFORD, CT — September in New England may be when fall weather starts to dominate New Englanders' thoughts.

But, historically, it's also prime hurricane season, with September being the month where such storms have hit the northeast.

With that, and other potential emergencies in mind, the Town of West Hartford this Saturday is hosting a free, community preparedness event aimed at helping residents help themselves by preparing for the worst.

"September is National Preparedness Month and the perfect time to get your family ready for any emergency that can affect your home or community," wrote the Town of West Hartford via social media.

The event is outside West Hartford Town Hall, 50 S. Main St., on Saturday, Sept. 10, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The rain date is the following week, Saturday, Sept. 17.

While family emergency planning is the goal of the event, there are also family friendly activities planned to make this event enjoyable for all.

Among the items planned for Saturday's event are:

• A drawing to win a free "Go Bag" packed with emergency essentials.

• Lessons on how to build a home preparedness kit.

• Guests can practice putting out an actual fire with a fire extinguisher

• Hands-only CPR lessons.

• Live demonstrations from public safety staff.

• Flu shots as well as COVID vaccination or boosters that target the newest Omicron variant.

• A "Touch a Truck" event featuring vehicles from the fire department, police department and public works department.

• Free giveaways.

• Registering for the town's emergency alert system

• Learning how to become a Community Emergency Response Team member.

In addition, the following agencies will be represented at the event: West Hartford Fire Department; West Hartford Police Department; West Hartford Department of Public Works; West Hartford Bloomfield Health District; Community Emergency Response Team (CERT); Medical Reserve Corp (MRC); American Red Cross; and the Griffin Hospital Mobile Vaccination Clinic.

For more information, contact the Office of Emergency Management at 860-561-8310 or email at OEM@westhartfordct.gov.

For the West Hartford Office of Emergency Management webpage, click on this link.