Urban search and rescue demos at Central Market, Saturday, May 1

This Saturday, May 1, from 10 am to 3 pm, Central Market, in the Sears shopping center at 155th and Aurora, will host an Emergency Preparedness Fair sponsored by the City of Shoreline. The fair will feature demonstrations from a number of City organizations. 

The ham radio team will be there with their communications van, as will the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). At 11 am the two teams will collaborate on a mock Urban Search and Rescue (USAR). The CERTs will show off their rescuing skills on a group of volunteer "victims," complete with gruesome make-up, who will be in various hazardous situations. 

CERT will be back at 1 pm to show their cribbing and lifting skills by picking up a fake wall collapse with nothing more than a few 2x4s.

While those two events are scheduled, there will be demos going on continuously. Representatives from the Shoreline Fire Department will be on hand to explain and demonstrate proper fire extinguisher usage throughout the day. 

The ham radio team will also be performing a number of communication drills. Prepare Smart will be present with a number of preparedness kits and tools for sale as well as demonstrating how to build an effective emergency kit. 

All events are free, and the City of Shoreline's Emergency Management department will be raffling off prizes all day long, giving you more than enough reason to stick around and take in the sights. 

To recap, there will be five hours of fire extinguishing, teenagers in gory make-up, dramatic rescue attempts, wall-lifting, kit-building, two way radioing and, best of all, free prizes.