This year USFA is encouraging fire and emergency medical services (EMS) departments across the country to join with us and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in raising the awareness and preparedness of citizens in protecting themselves, their residences, and places of employment from all hazards and risks due to national, regional, or local disasters.

As the first wave of response to every emergency and disaster, whether natural or manmade, the United States fire and EMS can make a real difference in educating citizens in strategies that will mitigate the impact from all hazards and risks. Firefighters and EMS personnel have the opportunity through National Preparedness Month activities to send an important message. We are an all-hazard service with proactive solutions to save lives!

Each year, FEMA designates the month of September as National Preparedness Month to raise awareness about the importance of being prepared for disasters of any kind. The support for National Preparedness Month has grown on a national, state, and local level since its inception. The recent disasters across the United States and around the world have inspired the public to take action. With your help, we hope to make this our most successful and coordinated effort to date.

The theme for this year’s National Preparedness Month – "A Time to Remember. A Time to Prepare." – is intended to help encourage activities that will:

National Preparedness Month Activities

There are many ways to get involved with National Preparedness Month, particularly as an opportunity to fulfill your local outreach goals. Some examples include:

• Host a preparedness open house that doubles as a volunteer sign-up to assist you in Fire Prevention Week activities.
• Reach out to youth and their families by planning a visit to a local school or daycare to discuss emergency and evacuation plans, and distribute information to staff, family members, and children about the importance of preparedness, mitigation, and fire safety.
• Consider using a press release or social media effort to announce the launch of Teen CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) or a new partnership with a local youth program that will integrate preparedness.
• Reach out to older adults by planning a visit to your local senior center to discuss emergency and evacuation plans.
• Host or take part in a 9/11 service day activity with an emphasis on preparedness (Click here for more information).
• Host a CERT day where community members can assemble emergency kits and learn about CERT or other volunteer programs. More information can be found here.
  
• Work with your CERT program manager to coordinate a small business outreach effort with CERT volunteer.
• Promote a day in your community to sign up for future preparedness events such as the ShakeOut Earthquake Drill (click here for more information).

Coalition Membership

Join us as a Coalition Member and post your event at Ready.gov to advertise and link with other preparedness activities nationwide. As a Coalition Member, you will receive information and tools in the coming months; here are some examples of what you can expect:

• Your event will be promoted to the public on a national calendar of events;
• We will send you information about posting your volunteer needs for promotion on a volunteer website with millions of annual users;
• We will provide you with widgets, web banners, and hyperlinks to add to your website along with templates for flyers and/or posters; and
• You will receive new research findings about effective messages to use with the public.

We applaud and support your continued commitment to Fire Prevention Week in October and want National Preparedness Month activities to be flexible enough to complement your ongoing efforts. The topic of preparedness will be highlighted on the national, state, and local news throughout September and October. We hope you will leverage that opportunity to get additional media attention for your planned activities in your local communities. The more we all work together, the more effective our message will be.

The National Preparedness Month team will be working with USFA to provide additional materials, information, and ideas. You are the trusted source of information for your community and we hope that you will partner with the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and USFA for the 2011 National Preparedness Month ˜ A Time to Remember. A Time to Prepare.

For more details on FEMA click here.