September is National Preparedness Month and the first week of the initiative has focused on making a plan. 

Dallas County Emergency Management Agency Director AJ Seely says that National Preparedness Month is a campaign to emphasize the importance of being ready when a disaster strikes. Seely says part of being ready when a disaster strikes is making a plan with loved ones, friends, pets and the community. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that it’s a perfect time to assess the hazards surrounding a household and evaluate the response. 

“You know, at the most kind of simple level or often taught in school a plan for if your house catches on fire, where are we going to go outside, whether it’s the mailbox, you know, a neighbor’s front step, just having an understanding so that when something does happen, we we know that there’s a plan in place that we can rely on others to be in a specific location versus trying to find it out during the emergency.”

Seely mentions that it’s a perfect time for anyone that already has emergency response plans in place to refresh their family members on those plans.