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Fire chief briefs Safety Harbor on hurricane readiness; regional planner offers grant and recovery support
Summary
Fire Chief Hawkins urged residents to confirm evacuation zones, insurance and shelter plans ahead of an active hurricane season; Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council liaison offered technical and grant-assistance resources and staff discussed potential grant help for business generators.
Fire Chief Hawkins and a Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council disaster recovery liaison addressed the City Commission on hurricane-season preparedness and regional recovery resources on May 19.
Chief Hawkins reviewed preparedness priorities: life safety, incident stabilization and property conservation. He said national forecasts project an active season with about 17 named storms, nine hurricanes and four major hurricanes and urged residents to know their evacuation zone, confirm insurance coverages, prepare for pets and preregister special-needs residents who require transportation to shelters. "So now is a good time to consult your insurance agent if you haven't done so in a while," Hawkins said during his presentation; he also encouraged signing up for Alert Pinellas for county emergency messaging.
Allison Prater, disaster recovery grants coordinator and liaison from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, told commissioners the council can provide technical services, grant-application assistance and a forthcoming Disaster Recovery Resource Hub expected online June 1. Prater said the council convenes regional planning and supports local governments on economic development, emergency preparedness and resiliency planning.
Commissioners discussed whether regional grant funds could be used to help local businesses obtain backup power after storm outages. The city manager and Prater said the council could assist with grant research and application processes; commissioners asked staff to explore potential grants to secure generators for businesses or other resilience measures.
What happens next: residents were reminded to review evacuation and shelter plans and to preregister special-needs residents; staff and the regional planning council will examine grant opportunities that could fund resilience measures for local businesses and report back to the commission.
