December 23, 2025 • 5 mins
Benjamin Rance, Emergency Management Administrator for the City of Grand Rapids joins us to discuss Emergency Preparedness Night at the Grand Rapids Griffins game on January 2.
https://www.grmag.com/people-places/city/emergency-preparedness-takes-center-ice-at-griffins-game/
https://www.grmag.com/people-places/city/emergency-preparedness-takes-center-ice-at-griffins-game/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And this is West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly and
Brett Akita. The day before the day before Christmas. You're
listening to Wood Radio. Benjamin Rants is the Emergency Management
Administrator for the City of Grand Rapids and is in
studio this morning and on camera as we're doing a
(00:21):
Facebook live with this as well. Benjamin, Welcome to the
role and thank you for coming in today.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thank you, I appreciate you having me here.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
There's a big event coming up a week from Friday
at the Griffins game and it's Emergency Preparedness Night. But
give us a little example of what it is that
you do for the city. What is emergency preparedness at
the city level? Me?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, emergency preparedness really is anything involving, you know, making
sure our residents and visitors have the information on the
resources that they need to not only know what is happening,
you know that might be a little out of the
ordinary when we talk about emergencies, but also then what
to do. So we're ensuring that they have the resources
and information to know what a shelter in place means
(01:07):
or where to evacuate if they need to. You know,
our role is to just work with all of the
city departments and organizations in the city to ensure that
everybody has a good, safe, enjoyable time when they're here.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
We had a little water breakage about a year ago
and it affected our area and we were getting live
updates about that and that was super helpful. That is
something that you encompassed to absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
So you know our office, you know, with the Office
of Emergency Management, we're actually responsible for sending out those
kind of emergency alerts and notifications and that's just one
of the many things that we do in our office
just to let people know, hey, there's a situation that
might not be normal like every day that we're used
to and you know, not only are we providing an
alert for it, we're providing awareness on what's happening and
(01:51):
then actions to take areas to avoid, where to go.
For instance, we set up points of distribution during that event. Yea,
so letting people know this is where you can go,
this is the resources that we have, and really just
ensuring that you know, the public has the information they
need to make the right decision.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I love this, What a great idea, And the reason
I say that is because it just needs to be
top of mind awareness. It's not saying you can't have
fun when you go downtown or you go to a
vent or wherever this thing might happen. Right, The point
is what do you do if it happens? And so
you're not completely caught off guard? And Steve and I
both have you know, wives that were teachers, and so
(02:30):
I remember growing up, right, you have a fire drill,
you have a tornado drill, and that was about it. Well,
now it's a whole different world as far as teachers
are concerned. They're prepared and I know my wife the
peace of mind of knowing what to do with her
kids if that happens. Hopefully it doesn't. And you know,
it wasn't too long ago, Steve, you and I are
coming down and there's dump trucks that are blocking the
(02:50):
streets around where we are and where we work. Yeah,
you never think that's gonna happen. But you have to
be prepared, right exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And it kind of reminds me of something that my
dad used to tell me, you know, and I'd be
called out, and you know, grab a jacket, and you know,
better to have it and not need it than need
it and not have it exactly and that's kind of
how I look at emergency preparedness as well, and the
different kind of plans you can make, whether it's at
the household level or at the community level, it's better
to have it, go through the steps, think about what
you would do in an instance, and never need it. Hopefully,
(03:20):
then all of a sudden you're in a situation that
might not be normal, might be a little kind of
out of the ordinary, and then you don't have a plan.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's exactly what we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Talk a lot about it a week from Friday at
the Griffins game. Tickets are available January second. But it's
used in this thing right to have direct communication with
the City of Grand Rapids.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
So when we talk about emergency alerts and notifications, you know,
I call it the three a's. It's alert, awareness, and action.
Like I mentioned before, you know, we're alerting you that
something is out of the ordinary, and we can do
that by sending you text messages, emails. Basically, however, you
register for our emergency alert system and then we're providing
(04:01):
you awareness what it is, how long it might last,
where it's happening, and then most importantly, the action is
it shelter in place. Do you find the safest room
in your house and you sit there and hunker down
maybe their high winds or tornado or is it really
an evacuation. You know, depending on what's happening, there are
different actions that you might want to take. And really
(04:21):
the whole goal of partnering with the Griffins, besides the
fact that they're on an amazing run right now, so true,
it's so true, is really just to help people, you know,
kind of blend fun and entertainment with a focus on
prioritizing emergency preparedness as we go into the new year.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
And hitting a lot of people at one time because
you haven't checked lately. I mean, that's a hot ticket
in town, is the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
We'll get the link in the podcast section atwood radio
dot com where this conversation will live. Buy tickets for
the second of January. Benjamin Rants, Emergency Management administrator for
the City of Grand Rapids, thank you so much for
coming in.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Thank you, and go Griffins.
And this is West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly and
Brett Akita. The day before the day before Christmas. You're
listening to Wood Radio. Benjamin Rants is the Emergency Management
Administrator for the City of Grand Rapids and is in
studio this morning and on camera as we're doing a
(00:21):
Facebook live with this as well. Benjamin, Welcome to the
role and thank you for coming in today.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thank you, I appreciate you having me here.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
There's a big event coming up a week from Friday
at the Griffins game and it's Emergency Preparedness Night. But
give us a little example of what it is that
you do for the city. What is emergency preparedness at
the city level? Me?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, emergency preparedness really is anything involving, you know, making
sure our residents and visitors have the information on the
resources that they need to not only know what is happening,
you know that might be a little out of the
ordinary when we talk about emergencies, but also then what
to do. So we're ensuring that they have the resources
and information to know what a shelter in place means
(01:07):
or where to evacuate if they need to. You know,
our role is to just work with all of the
city departments and organizations in the city to ensure that
everybody has a good, safe, enjoyable time when they're here.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
We had a little water breakage about a year ago
and it affected our area and we were getting live
updates about that and that was super helpful. That is
something that you encompassed to absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
So you know our office, you know, with the Office
of Emergency Management, we're actually responsible for sending out those
kind of emergency alerts and notifications and that's just one
of the many things that we do in our office
just to let people know, hey, there's a situation that
might not be normal like every day that we're used
to and you know, not only are we providing an
alert for it, we're providing awareness on what's happening and
(01:51):
then actions to take areas to avoid, where to go.
For instance, we set up points of distribution during that event. Yea,
so letting people know this is where you can go,
this is the resources that we have, and really just
ensuring that you know, the public has the information they
need to make the right decision.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I love this, What a great idea, And the reason
I say that is because it just needs to be
top of mind awareness. It's not saying you can't have
fun when you go downtown or you go to a
vent or wherever this thing might happen. Right, The point
is what do you do if it happens? And so
you're not completely caught off guard? And Steve and I
both have you know, wives that were teachers, and so
(02:30):
I remember growing up, right, you have a fire drill,
you have a tornado drill, and that was about it. Well,
now it's a whole different world as far as teachers
are concerned. They're prepared and I know my wife the
peace of mind of knowing what to do with her
kids if that happens. Hopefully it doesn't. And you know,
it wasn't too long ago, Steve, you and I are
coming down and there's dump trucks that are blocking the
(02:50):
streets around where we are and where we work. Yeah,
you never think that's gonna happen. But you have to
be prepared, right exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And it kind of reminds me of something that my
dad used to tell me, you know, and I'd be
called out, and you know, grab a jacket, and you know,
better to have it and not need it than need
it and not have it exactly and that's kind of
how I look at emergency preparedness as well, and the
different kind of plans you can make, whether it's at
the household level or at the community level, it's better
to have it, go through the steps, think about what
you would do in an instance, and never need it. Hopefully,
(03:20):
then all of a sudden you're in a situation that
might not be normal, might be a little kind of
out of the ordinary, and then you don't have a plan.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's exactly what we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Talk a lot about it a week from Friday at
the Griffins game. Tickets are available January second. But it's
used in this thing right to have direct communication with
the City of Grand Rapids.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
So when we talk about emergency alerts and notifications, you know,
I call it the three a's. It's alert, awareness, and action.
Like I mentioned before, you know, we're alerting you that
something is out of the ordinary, and we can do
that by sending you text messages, emails. Basically, however, you
register for our emergency alert system and then we're providing
(04:01):
you awareness what it is, how long it might last,
where it's happening, and then most importantly, the action is
it shelter in place. Do you find the safest room
in your house and you sit there and hunker down
maybe their high winds or tornado or is it really
an evacuation. You know, depending on what's happening, there are
different actions that you might want to take. And really
(04:21):
the whole goal of partnering with the Griffins, besides the
fact that they're on an amazing run right now, so true,
it's so true, is really just to help people, you know,
kind of blend fun and entertainment with a focus on
prioritizing emergency preparedness as we go into the new year.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
And hitting a lot of people at one time because
you haven't checked lately. I mean, that's a hot ticket
in town, is the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
We'll get the link in the podcast section atwood radio
dot com where this conversation will live. Buy tickets for
the second of January. Benjamin Rants, Emergency Management administrator for
the City of Grand Rapids, thank you so much for
coming in.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Thank you, and go Griffins.
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