Residents encouraged to create support systems during Emergency Preparedness Week

BRANTFORD, ON – The City of Brantford joins communities across Ontario in recognizing Emergency Preparedness Week from May 3 to 9, 2026. This year’s theme is Prepared Together, and encourages residents to work collaboratively with family, friends, and neighbours to establish support systems in the event of an emergency.

"Strength in numbers definitely applies to community resilience," says Kris Lutzi, Community Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Brantford. “We should be able to rely on each other during times of crisis. By establishing your own support system, residents can exponentially increase their access to resources that can help them get through an emergency.”

Working together, families, friends and neighbours can build a support system by:

• Identifying each other’s skills (e.g. first aid, home repair), resources (e.g. BBQ, generator, chainsaw), and unique needs (e.g. children, pets, older adults, people with disabilities).
• Exchanging contact information.
• Establishing a buddy system to check on each other.
• Sharing emergency plans or working on them together.
• Collaborating with neighbours to identify a neighbourhood gathering site (e.g. someone's garage or patio) to organize an effective neighbourhood response.
• Assigning responsibilities to share the workload during an emergency, such as checking on utilities and potential hazards, monitoring media, securing properties and removing debris.

Beginning Monday, May 4, 2026, the City of Brantford will be hosting emergency preparedness trivia on the City’s official Instagram page. Residents are invited to comment the correct answer to the emergency preparedness trivia question for the chance to win a vehicle emergency kit valued at $100. All correct responses will be entered into a random draw. Entrants must be a resident of Brantford. The contest closes on Saturday, May 9, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. The winner will be announced on the City’s Instagram page on Monday, May 11, 2026. The prize must be picked up with valid photo ID at the Station 1 Fire Hall, located at 60 Clarence St.

To learn about how you and your family can prepare for all types of emergencies, visit Brantford.ca/EPWeek.

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Media Contact:

City of Brantford Communications and Community Engagement

519-759-4150 | communications@brantford.ca