Animal rescue group looking to grow its stable of helpers
The Animal Lifeline Emergency Response Team is looking to increase its volunteer base in Penticton and the South Okanagan.
ALERT is an emergency animal response team deployed during disasters and emergencies by emergency support services or directly through local municipalities and regional districts.
The present team has been around since the Garnet fire of 1994, but under names including ESS Pet Services, Noah's Wish and CDART. Volunteers come from across the valley.
“We need more volunteers to handle the load,” ALERT board member Deborah McBride said. “In the Okanagan, we are experiencing more flooding than ever before. The wildfire situation is increasingly alarming. ALERT expects that 2019 can bring more flooding, wildfires and landslides. It is imperative that we increase the volunteer base in order to handle responses effectively.”
Disasters and emergencies are varied.
A level-one response could be a house or condo fire where emergency support services respond to assist with an individual or family. When a family has to evacuate, they may own pets that require help. If given appropriate clearance, ALERT volunteers will attend and evacuate or offer temporary shelter for those animals.
In larger events, ALERT deploys for flooding or, more recently, the Mount Eneas Fire between Summerland and Peachland. Last summer, the Okanagan hosted evacuees from the Williams Lake fire and ALERT was called in to care for their animals.
Volunteer positions vary.
“The five actions that ALERT volunteers respond to are evacuation, maintenance, trapping, safe sheltering and mortality,” McBride said. “Volunteers are mobilized depending on their experience and areas of comfort. A person with expertise with horses would be working with horses. Some volunteers have little animal experience but they have good interpersonal skills with people and are efficient with paperwork. There's a job for everyone.”
CDART volunteers must complete a one-day course in order to learn the incident command system.
CDART's five-member executive includes president Barb Haynes, Cindy Campbell, Laura Dean, McBride and Meredith Birchall-Spencer.
The next available course is Saturday, Jan. 26 from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at Fire Hall No. 1 on Nanaimo Ave. W. The cost is $40, which includes a one-year membership to CDART, but participants must register prior Jan. 16. (For those unavailable on that date, there is also a course on Saturday, Feb. 23 in Kelowna.)
For additional information contact McBride at 250809-7152, visit alertcanada.org or follow the group on Facebook at Animal Lifeline Emergency Response Team.