Effective disaster response requires good planning, which comes from effective leadership. Your household leaders need to create communication plans, supply plans, transportation plans, and meet-up plans.

With 13 large wildfires currently burning in Washington State and more fires in British Columbia, Idaho, and Oregon, our air quality is, of course, being affected. In Washington State alone we’ve had 1,132 wildfires to date this year, burning 541,791 acres and sending our Air Quality Index (AQI) up into undesirable categories.

Meeting places are where we gather to exchange information, gather resources, and make a plan. In some situations, they’ll be where we go to get first aid.

Although we had a dump of rain last week—0.60 inches—fire danger still lurks here and in neighboring communities. We’re four inches short of our average rainfall to date: 21.60 inches. Three major fires continue to burn in western Washington.

A disaster almost always means a power outage as well. How will you power the essentials when the lights go out?

Ensure that, during a disaster, you and your family will keep safe from secondary emergencies such as fires, broken glass on the floor, falling objects, and downed wires.

Here are the five best things you can do today to protect your family.

A disaster will likely make roads impassable. How will you move around the island to seek first aid, information, and other resources? If needed, how will you evacuate?

A disaster is likely to result in serious injuries, overwhelming the capacity of first responders. What will you be able to do to help your injured family members and neighbors?

This month in our Prepare in a Year program, we’re focusing on communication: the technology and the plans required to keep you and your family connected. Take a few minutes in March to think through the following three potential scenarios.

You know that substance that falls throughout a good part of the year and makes mud, turning floors into dust rinks and dog undercarriages into shake-triggered couch-destruction devices?

When a disaster occurs, the first thing people want to do is find out what happened, get a sense of what will happen, and make sure the people they care about are okay. This month we focus on communication.

Preparing for emergencies can be expensive. When it comes to building an emergency food supply, the high cost is exacerbated by the fact that food expires more quickly than other resources. Add to that the rising cost of food in 2025 and 2026, and you might be tempted to ignore the issue altogether.

Prepare in a Year 26 starts now. You can take care of all of your worries about being prepared for disasters by following our monthly readiness program, which tackles one topic per month.

The Dumpster Fire of 2025 is coming to an end. We can hope for a better 2026, but there will certainly be more natural and unnatural disasters near and/or far in the upcoming year.

The two most important things you can do to prepare for emergencies are to ready your household and connect with your neighbors.

After our series of atmospheric rivers, we are now being gifted with blizzards in the Cascades and Olympics. Try not to travel through the mountain passes, but if you must then be sure to add these items to your vehicle.

With the wind whipping us all over the place today, it seems like a good time to remind everyone about Bainbridge Island Fire Department and Puget Sound Energy rules regarding downed wires:

Nothing says I love you and care about you quite like the gift of emergency preparedness. Show your family and friends this holiday season that you’re thinking about them by giving them something they actually need and that might just save their life.

Our Prepare in a Year program helps you get ready for disasters, like large-scale earthquakes that isolate us from outside help for weeks or longer. By tackling one simple task per month, you can get your household in good shape by the end of a year.

The task for December is to work on increasing the resilience of your neighborhood and community.