Locals prepped on handling emergencies at fair

If you had to pack a 72-hour kit, would you know where to start?

Learning how to pack one was one of the tips and tricks locals learned at the fifth annual emergency preparedness fair Saturday. The fair was put on by the Pocatello East Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to inform the community on how to prepare for any kind of emergency that could happen. It was held in the cultural hall of the Caldwell Park Building.

Del Symons, who chairs the committee that organizes the fair, said it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“The Northeast has had a lot more things this year than we have,” Symons said. “A lot harsher weather than we have, but you never know. Next week could be 10 feet of snow, even though it’s 60 degrees outside today.”

Booths at the fair touched on a variety of topics, like how to legally and mentally prepare for emergencies. There were also several booths showcasing things like ham radios and tools for food preparation.

A new feature to the fair this year were classes by local experts. They covered things like how to financially prepare for a situation, child care with limited resources and how to cook without electricity.

Cooking without electricity isn’t new for Devin Miller. Since he’s gone backpacking and hiking a lot with his dad, he’s had to make many meals with his homemade wood burning stoves.

“If a power outage came and it was off for a couple hours, we could still cook eggs, bacon,” he said. “All the normal breakfast, lunch, dinner stuff that we eat every day.”

Another emergency preparedness fair is headed for Shelley High School Feb. 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. That fair is sponsored in part by the Shelley, Shelley South and Firth Stakes.