The city of Coquitlam is offering free emergency preparedness training to residents this month.
The next session will be take place at the Dogwood Pavilion (624 Poirier Street) on Jan. 22 between 10 a.m. and noon, with a second class held at Glen Pine Pavilion (1200 Glen Pine Court) on Jan. 31 between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
Called the HEROS program, the goal is to encourage residents to be self-sufficient and help their neighbours in the aftermath of a major emergency or natural disaster.
"We are trying to encourage the public to be self sustaining," said Kimberley Anderson, the HEROS public education coordinator. "The idea of the HEROS program is you should be a hero and help each other."
The free sessions will include information about the kinds of hazards residents will face around their home and community should a major disaster occur. Participants will learn things like how to shut off their gas line and how much canned food they should have on hand.Â
While emergency preparedness officials often state that people be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours after an emergency, that timeframe could be longer depending on the disaster, said Greg Kanya, Coquitlam's manager of emergency programs.
The information sessions are popular with residents, particularly when a disaster or emergency has occurred or received a lot of attention in the media, he said.
"Often it is driven by what is going on around us," he said. "If we have a big event like a windstorm… we are bursting at the seams to provide this kind of training."
Registration and more information for the HEROS information sessions can be found here.
gmckenna@tricitynews.com
@gmckennaTC
