Mercer County Buys Shelter Supply Trailers For Towns To Use In Emergencies

Mercer County recently purchased five supply trailers to boost local municipalities’ ability to provide shelter for their residents during large-scale emergencies, county officials announced Friday morning.

The five shelter supply trailers were purchased using a total of $89,000 from Mercer County’s 2015 Homeland Security grant. They each contain 180 cots and blankets.

The Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders unanimously approved a pair of resolutions authorizing agreements to put two of those trailers in Ewing and Hamilton townships during their meeting Thursday night.

The towns were selected based on recommendations by the Mercer County Mass Care Committee, which was established following Superstorm Sandy to help the county and its communities be better prepared for future emergencies.

The two towns will be responsible for storing and maintaining the trailers and their contents.

“In the past, municipalities have requested shelter supplies as a precautionary measure, but we never had enough supplies to deploy ‘just in case,’” Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes said. “These supplies will help increase our towns’ preparedness for a large-scale emergency such as Superstorm Sandy or Delaware River flooding.”

The next municipalities to receive the trailers, pending Freeholder Board approval, will be Trenton and Robbinsville, again based on recommendations by the Mass Care Committee. The recipient of the fifth trailer has not yet been determined.

Hughes said the county hopes to purchase additional shelter supply trailers in the future using its annual Homeland Security grant.

In the meantime, he noted, should a town that lacks shelter supplies need them in an emergency, the County’s Office of Emergency Management can make another town’s supply trailer available for temporary use.

The attached image of a supply trailer was provided by Mercer County officials