THE NEWS DESK
The News Desk is a collection of news, notes and breaking items affecting the Fredericksburg community.
Mineral teen who helped after earthquake chosen for FEMA Youth Preparedness Council
Donald “Diesel” Embrey of Mineral is one of 13 teens selected nationwide by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its new Youth Preparedness Council.
All of the youth are between the ages of 13 and 17 and have already proven their interest in disaster preparedness.
Members of the Youth Preparedness Council will “voice their opinions, experiences, ideas and solutions to help strengthen the nation’s resiliency for all types of disasters,” FEMA said in a release announcing the group Monday. The youth council will be providing their perspective and taking back information to their communities.
“Engaging youth is an integral step in preparing the nation for all hazards,” FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said in a prepared statement. “Youth have a unique ability to influence their peers and families to be more resilient, and children play an important role in disaster preparedness, during and after a crisis.”
According to the bio provided by FEMA, Donald Embrey has been involved in emergency services for several years and is already a Virginia certified firefighter and emergency medical technician, a Community Emergency Response Team volunteer and is trained in Incident Command Structure.
He played a leadership role at his school when the Aug. 23 earthquake rattled his town, helping evacuate students and performing triage on those injured, according to FEMA. Later that day, he also served at the Mineral firehouse where he helped set up an evacuation center and then helped secure damaged buildings and search for anyone who was injured.
-Pamela Gould
