Photos by Keira Wight
Outlook Valley Sun
PHOTO GALLERY
The city of La Cañada Flintridge and the Chamber of Commerce held their first Community Connections event last week, giving residents the opportunity to connect with each other and learn more about emergency preparedness and the Chamber of Commerce.
The event offered residents fun, food trucks and a discount on a Chamber of Commerce membership, along with a chance to meet first responders.
Chamber President/CEO Pat Anderson said that usually, they would have held their Night on the Red-Carpet fundraiser, but decided to do something different that didn’t require a lot of work and was more community based.
“We said, let’s try it, and let’s see what happens,” Anderson told the Outlook Valley Sun. “And it’s been very successful.”
The event offered residents a chance to learn more about the city emergency preparedness plans in place and interact with first responders like deputies from the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, the California Highway Patrol of Altadena and the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
“Events like this help us connect with the community,” said Deputy John Hong with the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station. “It builds a bridge and lets [the community] know that we’re approachable. We’re not scary, and we’re actually quite friendly.”
Hong also wanted to highlight the importance of being prepared for emergencies or a disaster.
“It’s not ‘if’ a disaster happens or occurs, it’s ‘when’ it happens,” he said. “And when that happens, the community needs to be prepared, whether they have the supplies themselves or the training, or going out to get it. But beyond that, it’s about neighbor helping neighbor, [and] about coming together as a community helping one another. Because in a large disaster, it’s going to be very difficult for us and the fire department to get to every single need of every community member, so it’s going to be important for neighbors to help one another.”
The city’s Emergency Coordinator Jared Hartel and Community Liaison Officer Eric Matejka were present and gave community members informational flyers on what to look out for.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department has launched Genasys Protect, a program and app that encourages residents to Know Your Zone, in partnership with law enforcement and the L.A. County Office of Emergency Management. The city of LCF now has the opportunity to benefit from this program since it is contracted through the L.A. County Fire Department.
Know Your Zone is a program designed to keep residents informed about the status of an emergency threatening their community. Residents just type in their address and are able to see what zone they reside in along with their fellow family members or friends.
Like ActiveLCF, Know Your Zone is an easy way for first responders and the city to see what areas might be in danger and need to evacuate. To learn more about Know Your Zone, visit protect.genasys.com.
Residents are also able to have a smoke alarm installed by the American Red Cross for free. They just need to schedule an appointment by visiting redcross.org/LAHomeFire or calling (310) 445-9914. The appointment should take 20-30 minutes.
Hartel said he is thankful for the events that give the community a chance to learn more about the programs available.
“Events like this tie directly into preparedness because it gives people awareness of who’s who and allows them to meet their first responders like sheriff and fire so they can kind of see their faces, talk to them, get to know them, go in their vehicles, and it gives them a sense of community,” said Hartel.
First published in the September 21 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
