Photo By Lt. Col. Margaret St. Pierre | Spring weather in Kansas can be extreme and unpredictable. To help people prepare,...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT RILEY, KS – Spring weather in Kansas can be extreme and unpredictable. To help people prepare, the staff of Fort Riley’s Emergency Management Office spearheads their Severe Spring Weather Awareness campaign every year following the four main tenants of the Ready Army program: Be Informed, Make a Plan, Build a Kit, and Get Involved.
The final in a series of five, this article will cover elements of the fourth and last Ready Army tenant, Get Involved.
Being prepared for severe weather emergencies is everyone’s responsibility. When individuals take the time to prepare and get involved with emergency management, it can make a difference to entire communities.
According to ready.army.mil, research on personal preparedness indicates individuals who believe they are ready for disasters often are not as prepared as they think.
One way to combat this is to follow the first three Ready Army tenants – Be Informed, Make a Plan, and Build a Kit. Another way is to participate in disaster preparedness on a community level.
Chris Hallenbeck, Fort Riley Emergency Management coordinator, said there are several opportunities to get involved on Fort Riley.
One way is to attend a Severe Weather Awareness Class, offered by the National Weather Service on the installation held annually around the February or March time frame. Personnel who attend this class can also become NWS Skywarn Storm Spotter volunteers. These volunteers help keep our community safer by being trained severe weather spotters on the ground.
Individual Fort Riley community members can also join CERT, the Community Emergency Response Team. CERT instructors educate volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Fort Riley partners with our local county emergency management offices to maintain a regional robust team made up of members from the installation and the surrounding counties.
Ready.gov promotes CERT as a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks.
For more information about the program and how to get involved, contact the Fort Riley Emergency Management Office.
Hallenbeck also called on individuals to get involved through volunteering.
“Volunteer in your community, volunteer on the installation — anywhere you think you can help,” said Hallenbeck. “Whether it be with the USO, Red Cross, Army Community Service — anywhere that accepts volunteers.”
As another option, Hallenbeck pointed to the National Weather Service website, weather.gov, as a resource. Weather.gov has a listing of classes and educational materials available for parents, teachers, teens and kids. Additionally, individuals can enroll as a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador for their business or organization. The NWS program information page notes that WRN Ambassadors will serve as change agents and leaders in their community and will inspire others to be better informed and prepared, thus helping to minimize, mitigate, or avoid the impacts of natural disasters. Registration can be completed online at weather.gov/WRN.
“It all goes back to awareness and preparedness for the Army community,” said Hallenbeck. “We are trying to create a culture for the community about being prepared and resilient. This overall contributes to mission readiness and mission assurance for the installation.”
| Date Taken: | 05.26.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.26.2020 10:47 |
| Story ID: | 370747 |
| Location: | FORT RILEY, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Severe spring weather season arrives in Kansas: Get involved, part 5, by LTC Margaret St. Pierre, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
