IBERIA PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- Iberia Parish is discarding expired Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) at Fire Department Station One in New Iberia as part of preparations for the next hurricane season.

Crews are sorting through boxes of expired MREs inside fire stations and parish storage rooms to make room for fresh supplies. This is a routine part of Iberia Parish's yearly preparedness plan.

"Some of the fire departments, New Iberia, myself, we have a plan in place to be able to go through our MREs and pull out any expired MREs we have," said Brandon Migues, Director of the Office of Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness. "So, we have a fresh stock of MREs."

MREs can last up to five years if stored properly, but once they expire, they cannot be used. Parish officials say new stocks are usually purchased through the Governor's Office of Homeland Security or FEMA, and they are always kept on hand just in case.

Migues mentioned that the parish is also updating its hazard mitigation plan. This includes using Westgate High School as a regional evacuation center and expanding the parish's Smart 911 alert system to keep residents informed.

"We're going to be looking at the hazard mitigation plan, will be reviewing all of our ESF functions to make sure we are aligned and we have everything in place to implement those functions," said Migues. "We're going to look at sheltering plans to make sure we have localized sheltering plans in place."

Officials expect a new shipment of MREs soon to ensure Iberia Parish remains prepared for any event.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KLFY. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KLFY staff before being published.

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