Day of Preparedness Makes a Big Splash

NewsEvents

Sep 20

Chief Clark, Chief Moravec, Anne Lesage, and Stephen Richardson after getting dunked in the tank

Our eleventh annual Day of Preparedness saw more than 200 people visiting Fire Station 21 to learn about emergency preparedness and watch four key figures getting dunked in a very chilly dunk tank.

The event, which happened Saturday, September 19th, started at 10 a.m. when couples, families, and individuals began to trickle into the engine bays of Station 21, which firefighters had cleared out for the day. People collected free giveaway items like lightsticks, first aid kits, hand sanitizer, and rain ponchos, and they posed their questions to the volunteer experts at category-specific tables set up around the room including Domestic Animal Care, Flotilla, Bainbridge Emergency Auxiliary Radio service, WASH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene), Child Safety and Reunification, Bloodwork’s Northwest, the American Red Cross, Disaster Hubs, Map Your Neighborhood, the Fire Department, the Police Department, Access and Functional Needs, TechOps, BIGWEELS, Food Resilience, Puget Sound Energy, Kitsap 911, Medical reserve Corps, Bloedel Reserve (for invasive species weed control) and the City of Bainbridge Island.

There was a also a table featuring two giant sheet cakes from Town and Country in honor of Bainbridge Prepares’ 15th birthday and a table where BP board members were selling BP T-shirts and sweatshirts.

Participants completed Bingo cards by visiting each table to collect answers to specific questions. A raffle of Bingo cards at the end of the event awarded two Jackery generators, a weather radio, an emergency vehicle kit, and a flare kit to five lucky winners.

The event's grand finale was the dunk tank. Bainbridge Police Chief Joe Clark and Bainbridge Fire Chief Jared Moravec were long overdue for a dunking since the annual National Night Out event scheduled for August had to be canceled due to wildfire smoke. A quick on-the-spot fundraising effort added City Emergency Manager Anne LeSage and BP Executive Director Stephen Richardson to the dunk tank hot seat and $200 to the event’s fundraising take.

Special thanks to Puget Sound Energy and Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island for sponsoring the event.

Enjoy these photos from the event. See you at Day of Preparedness 2027!