Important Question from TJ! (Seriously)

[Egon Spengler]

Hey guys... I figure that since I am going to make an effort to visit here more often I can ask a question and it will give me a reason to check the site for your responses! Here it is....

Whenever I have seen things like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake I find myself watching tv and wanting to help. My question is how do I go about getting on a list of some sort or whatever to be a part of relief efforts? I know there are a lot of military people on here and people with good hearts so I am sure that there has to be some input on how I can accomplish this! Thank you in advance for any input!

[-Matt-]

Red cross..

[CBT]

Red cross..

+1, donate blood. Not everyone has money to give, but a pint of blood to someone who is bleeding out is worth more than money anyway. And usually, you get free juice and cookies:beer:

[Egon Spengler]

Yeah, but I mean like help out on scene! I'll give blood, but I mean like go down and help with sifting through the carnage to help in rescue and recovery efforts

[CBT]

Yeah, but I mean like help out on scene! I'll give blood, but I mean like go down and help with sifting through the carnage to help in rescue and recovery efforts

Dunno, brother. Maybe the Red Cross as a volunteer force for this type of event that you can apply for?? Other than joining the military I don't know what to tell you. Mebbe Peace Corps; help rebuild??

[johnnyrauder]

find a local christian church and join a missions trip

[-Matt-]

Join the National Guard. You would get a first class ticket down there.

[Egon Spengler]

Don't want to enlist in military to do it! haha

[fastblackmerc]

Most relief agency's don't want people on the ground, they'll take the money instead.

[MM03MOK]

http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/

CERT usually involves a 10 week course and I'm sure you already know most of what is taught. There are also FEMA courses you can take online: NICS, NIMS, etc.

http://www.training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.asp

I took the CERT training two years ago. Our instructor, who is also a deputy sheriff with the county, has travelled to many disasters including hurricanes in FL, flooding in GA and Katrina for FEMA.

All of this won't get you any immediate opportunities but you never know where they may lead.

[-Matt-]

All of this won't get you any immediate opportunities but you never know where they may lead.


Networking, its all about networking

Its not what you know, its who you know

[Stoneblue]

Noble intent. Good luck.

[Bluerauder]

Move to Northern Virginia and join the Virginia Task Force 1 -- Fairfax County International Urban Search & Rescue resource, sponsored by the Fairfax County, Virginia Fire and Rescue Department. They have been on all of the big domestic and international disaster rescue efforts. See link below.

>>>> http://www.vatf1.org/about.cfm?CFID=3774950&CFTOKEN=43087322

[Pat]

find a local christian church and join a missions trip

That's what my youngest son did. Spent a month or more at an orphanage in the Hatian hills building toilets. Loved it, going back to live there after he graduates from College in the fall.

The Methodist church has a big presence in Haiti, or did. Send me a PM with your email addy and I'll have him contact you.

Good luck

[Vortex]

Best way to help is with your creditcard. Sometimes very well intentioned folks just get in the way in events/calamities like this. There are numerous reputable, experienced charities/aid organizations that will put your money to work immediately and you can feel like youve done more than just sit on your duff watching tv. I recommend the Salvation Army.

[MM03MOK]

When the evacuees of Katrina were due to arrive at our local ANG base, volunteers...hundreds of them....showed up wanting to help. The Sheriff's Dept. needed trained help to help with all the volunteers!! Made it very difficult. Good intentions caused more problems. Same thing with donations of clothing and toiletries. Too much came when people were told to hold off and storage and sorting became a big problem. More is often not better but putting the resources in the right hands gets the job done. Bob and I personally made a sizeable donation.

[gdsqdcr]

TJ

I don't know what you do but here are my thoughts as one who is on a team.

To go to those events and work in the trenches takes alot of training and dedication. Most of the first responders are Fire, PD and highly trained private industry folks. I am the latter of the list. My company allows me to participate with California Task Force 3 out of Menlo Park, Ca. It is a FEMA team, just like VATF-1 that was linked above.

I get asked similar questions from my colleagues at work; 'how can I help', 'what can I do?' and on and on. I tell them, donate money. Join the red cross. To my boss, let me have the time to train (4-6 hours a month) and time for deployment when it comes. I get paid to review documents ... my position on Task Force is Weapons of Mass Destruction, used to be known as Hazmat. I have a good boss, but the time for training and the uncertainty of when deployment occurs drives alot of people/families away from this line of work.

If you are serious about doing, start training. Find your local search and rescue teams; train with them, do the simple lost hiker search. Most Sheriff departments have volunteer search and rescue programs. Some are minimalistic in their training, others will train you to OSHA levels and certifications.

The other place to volunteer to get the training is your local volunteer fire department. Same rules apply, train, participate and get as much information as you can.

When I decided I wanted to do this, it took a year of training before I joined anyone. I wanted training, NIMS, ICS etc ... Then 4 years of participating on my company team and increasing my experience and training. My company runs approximately 650 calls a years with volunteers. My training includes Hazmat and Rescue certifications as well as CSTI instructor certifications. I joined CATF-3 2 1/2 years ago. First deployment they had, my partner went ... spent 2 weeks in hotels waiting for Hurricane Gustav to do some damage. Then he came home.

If you want some more specific information on classes, instructors etc, feel free to PM or email me and i will be happy to provide you class information specific to your state and local instructors. The instructor names may be harder to come by, but I might know someone.

Thanks!
Anthony

[Egon Spengler]

Anthony, At the moment I am unemployed, but I am an on-call firefighter in my town as well and I hear around the water cooler that there are fire task forces in the area that do send guys to these events. I know of a couple people on my FD that joined up with a group and went down for Katrina. I guess I will just have to dig more with these task forces and see what they do and what their reqs are to be a party of it. Thanks for the info sir!

[gdsqdcr]

Anthony, At the moment I am unemployed, but I am an on-call firefighter in my town as well and I hear around the water cooler that there are fire task forces in the area that do send guys to these events. I know of a couple people on my FD that joined up with a group and went down for Katrina. I guess I will just have to dig more with these task forces and see what they do and what their reqs are to be a party of it. Thanks for the info sir!



If you can get your rescue systems 1 and 2 certification. Everyone should have that before they get involved as well as hour EMT certification. Most community colleges offer that for the cost of tuition.

After that you consider advanced search certifications or hazmat which requires alot of training.

Also go to FEMA website and take all th online NIMS and ICS classes you can. They are prerequistes for most task forces.

Thanks!
Anthony

[Egon Spengler]

I am already an EMT-B as well as a firefighter... Been an on-call firefighter for 7 years now