FARMINGTON — The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the National Sheriffs’ Association are sponsoring an All-Hazards Homeland Security Initiative Community Partnership and Awareness Training for Disaster Preparedness in Farmington.

This unique training opportunity is designed to educate the community on how best to prepare and respond to a disaster when emergency responders are overwhelmed.

The class will take place at the Farmington Fire Department training room on Saturday, May 11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The classroom will be open at 8:30 a.m. for check-in and a complimentary continental breakfast. The training is free for all attendees. All interested community members are strongly encouraged to participate.

Hurricane Katrina has taught us that citizens may be left to cope with a crisis on their own for the first hours or even longer.

Training includes:

* How to create a family disaster plan

* What to include in a family disaster kit

* Developing a community resource database

* Crisis response

* Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive information

* Terrorism awareness

* A desktop exercise specific to Farmington

To attend, you must register by contacting Sheriff Scott Nichols at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, 778-2680, or Tim Hardy at Franklin County Emergency Management, 778-5892.

Class size is limited to 30 attendees.