Behind the Badge
The key takeaway from the City of Tustin’s second annual Disaster Preparedness Expo, held April 6 at the city’s historic blimp hangar, can be found right in the event’s title: Preparedness.
Whether it be a fire, flood, or earthquake, every speaker at the expo echoed the necessity to be prepared before the next major disaster strikes.
Exhibit vehicles and information booths from various agencies are displayed during the annual City of Tustin Mayor’s Disaster Preparedness Expo at the Tustin blimp hangar.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Each vendor inside the 17-story wooden structure offered products and services to help attendees do exactly that.
“This is a real important event,” Tustin Police Chief Stu Greenberg said. “It teaches all of us how to prepare better for what we know is going to happen. It’s not if it’s going to happen. It’s when it’s going to happen.”
The Tustin Police Department displayed its mobile command unit, patrol units, and motorcycles.
Among the vendors and agencies on hand were the American Red Cross, Ready OC, the Southern California Animal Response Team, Tustin’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Be Ready Earthquake Survival Products, and Hope Animal Assistance Crisis Response. The Orange County Fire Authority displayed its equipment and held live demonstrations.
Mayor Charles “Chuck” Puckett, center, leads the Pledge of Allegiance with Councilman Barry Cooper, left, and Tustin Police Chief Stu Greenberg, right, at the start of the City of Tustin Mayor’s Disaster Preparedness Expo.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Ready America featured the Big Shaker, believed to be one of the world’s largest mobile earthquake simulators.
“They’ve got great stuff,” said Doris Munn of Tustin, who visited the expo with her daughter and two grandchildren. “Where do we gather? What do we do if we don’t have water? Everyday things that we never ever think about. I think this is really important stuff that we need to know.”
Disaster preparedness includes such basics as having extra food, extra water, and enough gas in vehicles, Greenberg said.
Tustin Police Chief Stu Greenberg presents at the start of the Disaster Preparedness Expo.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
“When something happens, you need to have supplies for a couple of days in case the police department or fire department can’t get to you,” Greenberg said.
Teri Larios, who attended the expo with her husband and daughters Vivian, 4, and Kiana, 1, said it’s more critical to be prepared now that she has a family.
“Now life is complicated with two young kids,” Larios said. “Before the kids, it was just the two of us, but now it’s more important.”
Tustin Police Chief Stu Greenberg helps kick off the City of Tustin’s Disaster Preparedness Expo inside the Tustin blimp hangar. On stage behind him are Mayor Pro Tem Allan Bernstein, left, Mayor Chuck Puckett and Councilman Barry Cooper.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Macie Manns, a Tustin CERT volunteer, brought her two sons to the expo so “they can see everything that goes into helping people.”
“It’s cool just to know what is all around us,” Manns said. “What we have accessible and what we can learn. It’s good. I like it.”
People line up to get a close up view of an Orange County Fire Authority rescue helicopter after it landed next to the Tustin blimp hangar during the Disaster Preparedness Expo.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Many people don’t consider the need for preparedness until a disaster actually occurs, Tustin Mayor Chuck Puckett said.
“By then it is too late,” Puckett said. “By that time you’re scattering to get children, animals, keepsakes, and valuable papers. By then it could be too late.”
The Orange County Fire Authority displays its rescue vehicles at the Disaster Preparedness Expo.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Jennifer Richard, left, and her mother, Carole Richard, listen as Mike Grisso, utilities manager for the City of Tustin Public Works Department, talks about his display at the expo explaining how, in the event of a disaster where clean water is no longer available from the city, each person will need one gallon of water per day.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Tustin Officer Mark Sauerwein talks to Christina Wolf of Tustin and her sons Andrew, 18, and Daniel, 13, right, as they visit Tustin Police Department’s exhibit at the Disaster Preparedness Expo.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Everest Matuga, 2, tries a police mic during a tour of a Tustin Police Department patrol car with Officer Mark Sauerwein during the Disaster Preparedness Expo.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
People crowd in a safe zone to watch an Orange County Fire Authority rescue helicopter land next to the Tustin blimp hangar at the Disaster Preparedness Expo.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
