Provo emergency manager outlines April 16 ProPrepared neighborhood drill to build preparedness 'muscle memory'

Provo’s emergency manager presented a neighborhood-focused preparedness exercise and asked residents to take part in an April 16 ProPrepared drill.

Chris Bloemzinger, who introduced himself as the emergency manager, said the exercise will be part of the statewide ShakeOut and focuses on building neighborhood communications and contact reporting to the city's emergency operations center. “We’re trying to create this muscle memory,” he said, describing a two-hour window where block captains will call into area coordination centers and log household contact counts.

Bloemzinger described neighborhood coordination centers and partnerships with churches and community organizations, and said the exercise is intended to test grassroots communications when first responders are overwhelmed. He said police and fire are already outnumbered by residents in many incidents and that the city wants to practice gathering basic situational information quickly.

Residents asked how a 'block' is defined and how apartment complexes should be handled; Bloemzinger recommended scalable assignments (a single block captain for up to a small number of homes, and internal organization for large apartment buildings). He also clarified that the monthly preparedness trainings are single-session, ongoing topics without formal certification, and encouraged residents to sign up for radio and preparedness classes.

Bloemzinger said the city expects between 30 and 50 participants in typical trainings and welcomed volunteers for the April exercise. No formal action was taken at the meeting; residents were encouraged to register and to recruit block captains.