BERT to host Preparedness Fair

The Bigfork Emergency Rescue Team is hosting their first annual preparedness fair at Bigfork Elementary School on May 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Attendance is free and guests will learn about several ways to prepare for emergencies from multiple experts and organizations in the Flathead.

The preparedness fair will cover how to prepare for the economic rise in inflation and increase in food prices, what to have in a 72-hour pack, and what to do during fire, earthquakes, floods and other disasters.

Booths, lectures, demonstrations and informational sessions will be held with the Red Cross, Army Corp of Engineers, the United Way, Salvation Army, Flathead County Emergency, Lake County Disaster, the Federal Protection Agency, Army Navy, Amateur Radio Emergency Services, NOMAD, Montana Cad, Montana State University Gardening Extension, Kalispell Regional Hospital, and various local experts.

The following is a tentative lecture schedule for the fair:

• 10 a.m. - Red Cross

• 11 a.m. - Bigfork fire history and potential

• Noon - Rainbow restoration

• 1 p.m. - Container gardening

• 2 p.m. - Army Corp of Engineers

• 3 p.m. - Gun Safety

The following is a list of booths and demonstrations for the fair:

Cooking with sour dough, guarding your home from flooding, Ham radio, growing gardens in bails of straw, container gardening, Dutch Oven cooking, milk that can be kept on a shelf for two years, Veteran’s Club, sandbagging, freeze dried food, Fourth of July free breakfast, BERT emails about preparedness information, signups for preparedness training classes to be held at the LDS Church, and water well hand pumps.