Each community throughout the U.S. is always working to keep its residents safe. This involves a lot of work and involves hundreds if not thousands of skilled workers in each city or town. The threats to homes and businesses include weather disasters, wildfires and crime. While the federal government often plays a role in this effort, often it is the local government and business leaders that do the most work. Many of the actions that go into this widespread monitoring and preparation happen out of the sight of most citizens.
Fire Safety
Fires happen every day across the U.S. It is crucial that fire departments have the equipment in place to fight fires. This equipment needs to be maintained and in good working condition. A hydrant flow test is one way a community or business knows that the fire hydrant will work when it is needed. The following procedures are needed to ensure the readiness of this prime component of fighting fires:
- Regular and detailed reports on the hydrant
- Quality transmitters and transducers and other hardware
- Regular testing to ensure proper pressure
The fire department cannot head out on a fire run only to find a hydrant that has low pressure. For the safety of the community, it is vital that hydrants are monitored and tested.
Crime Safety
Every community, whether it is a town, village, county or state, has different layers of crime prevention. These come in the form of state police, local police, sheriffs and even personnel such as crime prevention for individual stores. When it comes to only police and detectives, there were just over 813,000 of these workers in 2019. Job growth is expected to continue at a steady clip for the next 10 years. In addition to a uniform presence, communities engage in numerous activities and programs to keep crime low. These include such actions as neighborhood watch groups, school safety programs and Amber alerts.
Weather Safety
One of the biggest threats to people is severe weather. This comes in many forms:
- Floods
- Tornadoes
- High Winds
- Snow storms
- Hurricanes
- Lightning
A community has many resources to help people stay safe. One of the most common is local weather reports. These come in the form of television news, but now there are also apps that people have on their phones and other devices. Alerts go out when a bad storm is in the area or when the danger of flooding is imminent. The weather is just another example of people pulling together to keep everyone safe.