CHARELSTON, W.Va. — The annual West Virginia Safety Expo, held each spring in Charleston, is a go for 2021, but it will look a lot different than usual. Like so many things amid the Covid 19 pandemic, this year’s expo will be a virtual affair.
“We don’t want to have a whole lot of responders together and then the first thing we know a whole lot of them are out of action,” said Kanawha County Emergency Management Director and Fire Coordinator C.W. Sigman.
The Kanawha County Commission helps fund the expo which serves as a gathering each year for emergency workers all across the state. Crews from EMS, fire departments, and police departments from all over West Virginia typically attend the event. There are even some from other states who make the trip to Charleston.
One of the big draws is the opportunity to get required certifications and re-certifications through training classes offered at the annual event. Sigman said they realize the importance of those classes to many and will try to line those up as much as they can.
“For me, it’s hard to get away and you don’t want to be in a crowd, but it makes it convenient because you can still get the training from your own desk,” he said.
Manufacturers of emergency equipment usually travelled to the expo as well and brought a lot of the most modern and up date gear available for paramedics, police, and fire fighters. Those won’t be available for hands on viewing and there won’t be any of the normal networking opportunities. However, Sigman and other officials believed it was important enough to at least get the training classes in place.
“Looks like that’s the way it’s going to be until the fall anyway. We’re proud of the Health Department for what they’re doing, But at the rate the vaccines are coming in, it’s going to be a while. We can’t go back to normal for a while, we don’t want the cases to start building back up,” he said.
The expo is usually held the weekend before Mothers Day. Sigman said planning is underway now to arrange all oft the online coursework and said it may or may not be confined to the normal expo weekend. Other larger emergency expositions across the nation have again been cancelled for 2021.