Bridgestone Americas Holding Launches Emergency Response Team

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 3, 2008) – Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. (BSAH) today announced an employee-manned emergency response team that will allow employee volunteers to respond when disaster strikes. BSAH executives were joined today by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and other local dignitaries to introduce B.E.R.T. -- Bridgestone Americas Emergency Response Team -- to the Middle Tennessee community and to tour an impromptu B.E.R.T. campus which was set up at Bridgestone Americas corporate headquarters as a special open house.

B.E.R.T.— will help agencies maximize the reach of first responders by distributing donations, food and water; providing much-needed temporary housing for first responders; and by offering emergency vehicle tire repair in times of disaster.

“Agencies such as the Tennessee Emergency Management Association (TEMA) and local Emergency Management Agencies are designed to mobilize as soon as a community is in need. Now, Bridgestone Americas’ B.E.R.T. program will support those first responders when and as requested by TEMA or other appropriate agencies,” said Christine Karbowiak, Vice President of Public Affairs, BSAH. “Two of our team members developed the concept of an emergency response team after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. We’re very proud to be the only company to offer this kind of service.”

B.E.R.T. has also already responded and served as a mobile collection station, a service that worked very effectively after tornadoes recently struck Macon and Sumner Counties in Tennessee.

“Our B.E.R.T. tractor-trailer trucks were set up at LP Field in Nashville immediately following the deadly tornados in Tennessee just over a month ago,” explained Karbowiak. “In collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, we collected and distributed more than seven trailer loads of goods destined for Sumner and Macon Counties. Our B.E.R.T. team members really felt privileged to be able to contribute to the healing in those areas.”

The B.E.R.T. group, along with Bridgestone Americas, will continue to build relationships with organizations such as state emergency agencies and mayors’ offices in the communities where the company has operations. To date, 18 Nashville-based teammates have completed the training necessary to respond to emergencies and more classes are planned to educate additional team members.

“We want the community to know what B.E.R.T. has to offer,” said Karbowiak. “We believe it’s important to be prepared and that TEMA and our Middle Tennessee communities know whom to call in case of emergency. Bridgestone Americas’ Emergency Response Team stands ready to assist the first responders who make all the difference during times of disaster.”