Although Hurricane Isabel won’t reach Story County, citizens are preparing now for disasters of another sort through a series of educational classes.

The classes are called “Story Disaster Preparedness 101: Disaster Training for Local Community Preparedness.”

“We have a disaster volunteer response program in Story County,” said Jen Buckingham, president of the board for the volunteer center of Story County. “However, citizens need to be prepared if a disaster does happen here in Story County. This is what these classes are for.”

Thursday night was the first session in a series of four classes on disaster preparation held at Memorial Lutheran Church, 701 11th St., Nevada.

“The class teaches citizens what to do when a disaster happens in Iowa,” said Lori Morrissey, teacher of the class and emergency coordinator of Story County.

“We will train you about disasters like tornadoes, flooding, and hazardous material spills or contamination,” she said.

Morrissey said the most important thing to know about a disaster is how to react.

“It is important for people to know what to do in a disaster because you never know when one will happen,” she said.

A grant was given to the Story County Volunteer Center and the Emergency Coordinator from the Federal Emergency Management Association, Buckingham said.

Morrissey said the $7,000 grant paid for the brochures, the class, the speakers and the training.

She said the last disaster she was at convinced her a class needed to be taught in Story County.

“I was in Story City last month after the wind storm hit and cut off power to the whole city and the whole 911 system went down,” Morrissey said.

Volunteers from the emergency response team went to Story City and set up emergency headquarters, she said.

“A lot of citizens were unprepared and unaware of what to do, which is why this class will help,” Morrissey said.

Around 10 to 12 people were in attendance at the first class.

Buckingham said they were expecting 10 to 12 people and a few walk-ins.

The registration for the first session ended Sept. 15 and registration for the second session will end on Oct. 6, Buckingham said. The second session will meet twice for four hours, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Ames at the Story City Volunteer Center at 130 S. Sheldon Ave., she said.

“The next class we expect more of a crowd because a lot of businesspeople are interested in sending a representative to the class,” Buckingham said.

Both Morrissey and Buckingham hope the class will continue in Story County.

“We hope to go to apartment buildings and do some training there,” she said. “Then maybe we’ll go to local businesses and have training on safety in the workplace.”