Animal Lifeline Emergency Response Team needs volunteers
The Animal Lifeline Emergency Response Team is looking to increase its volunteer base in Kelowna and the Central 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 in Summerland, but under names including ESS Pet Services, Noah’s Wish and CDART.
“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.
ALERT also deploys for larger events, such as flooding and the Mount Eneas Fire between Summerland and Peachland last year. 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.”
Volunteers must complete a one-day course to learn the incident command system. The next available course is Saturday, Feb. 23, from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Enterprise Way firehall in Kelowna. The cost is $40, which includes a one-year membership, but participants must register prior to Feb. 15. (For those unavailable on that date, there is also a course on Saturday, Jan. 26 in Penticton.)
Monthly meetings are held in Kelowna on the second Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m., at the same fire hall. The next meeting is Feb. 13, and anyone interested in learning more about the program is invited to attend.
For additional information, phone McBride at 250-809-7152, visit alertcanada.org or follow the group on Facebook at “Animal Lifeline Emergency Response Team.”