Recently we sent out an email that said, “It’s OK to say No”, but have you thought about how you can help?
What steps might it take to help in an emergency properly? I want to explore where you can get started.
Before you begin by contacting organizations and government agencies, there are a few steps that you should take on your own to ensure that you want to go forward. With that being said, one of the first steps would be to look at your vehicle and trailer insurance. Will it cover damages to your rig in the event that you or your equipment is harmed in any way during the time you are volunteering your services?
Remember as I’ve discussed before, you are a volunteer and neither the state or government agency you are working with will cover any damages and then you as a volunteer with a badge, cannot turn to the animal owner either to help cover damages. Take this seriously and talk to your insurance agent or agency and see if you need to add additional coverages (if possible).
After you’ve explored and gotten answers or additional coverage if needed, then get real with yourself on how you drive your rig. Be honest with yourself. To me, this means looking at how you are able to park during an event, trail ride, horse show etc. Do you always and only use a pull through camp site or pull in a parking lot where you can pull forward? Or are you able to “brag” to friends that you can parallel park, back up or down a hill, do a 3-point turn? You may be asked to go into a tight property that doesn’t have a turnaround, or a boarding facility that only has one way in and out. Can you back your rig around a corner, on a narrow driveway, up a hill, down a hill?
If you have answered “I don’t know” or “No”, then get to practicing. Yes, find a friend’s house with a narrow driveway, narrow gates and ask if you can practice. Go to a college or school parking lot, put out cones and get used to the turning radius, backing and turnaround of your rig. How much room do you need and if you killed any cones? If you trail ride in a location with a narrow road, or on a hill, try backing up the hill or down, around a corner or the drive-in circle to the campground.
Practice, practice and practice.
Why you might ask, well when the task is asked of you, then you will be more confident that you can get in and out in a timely manner without impeding first responders, fire crews, etc. And you will be more likely to be activated when needed than someone who has trouble getting in and out of places without a spotter or 2nd person to help them.
What do you think should be the next activity you need to work on?
My advice is loading horses, not your own, but your friends, strangers, all and any horses you can get your hands on. Why would this be so important? You may not know how to handle a stallion or a belligerent Shetland pony or mini. What about goats, sheep or Alpacas? Yes, you may be called to load and go with any number of animals. Even pigs, chickens, duck, dogs and cats.
You can ask friends or if you are at a clinic or horse show, after the event you could ask others if you can try to load their horses for them. I know it sounds strange, but the more practice and proactive you are, the more valuable and effective you will be in an emergency.
When the rubber hits the road, you won’t get to pick and choose what farm you’re asked to go into and help. It’s all hands-on deck.
Also in this step, you should try loading horses into different trailer of all kinds. Your horses are great with your trailer, but no way will they go in a stock trailer or a gooseneck with a rear tack, or what about the trailer that just hauled pigs out? The horse owner should appreciate this gesture as their horse needs to get used to loading in different trailers.
I hope you are understanding what and why this is so important to discuss. When evacuations are ordered, it seems like everyone wants to help and I wrote before, it’s ok to say no. And yes, no is a complete sentence and ok to say if you are uncomfortable in any way. That means helping haul animals, allowing animals on your property and even helping at the local sanctioned evacuation center.
One way you can also be prepared is when you have obtained all the certificates needed to be part of the Evacuation teams in your area would be to gather used halters and lead ropes all sizes and kinds and have them in your rig, so that if there are not enough or any when you arrive, you’re not making them out of baling twine, rope or other items. You can usually purchase them rather inexpensively at tack sales, used tack stores etc. I’d get a large storage container or even a cardboard box and put them in, labeled and ready for use. Treat them just like other equipment you would be needing, hats, bandanas, goggles, gloves, water, etc.
Now, you contacted your insurance agent and have the information you need, you’ve practiced with your rig and are confident that if/when you get into a tight spot you can get out and you know now that you can load anything from draft horses to pigeons in a timely manner.
Congratulations, now you’re ready to contact your local authorities to discuss what you need to do to become certified with the ability to help with the group during evacuations.
Most areas have a training program, some are only 8-16 hours of training needed, where others may be as many as 40 hours. It just depends on your area and the organization you will be working with in your area. Some have specific officials that do the training that work for the state or county governments and some are volunteers themselves. There may not be a standard in your location. Remember to that you may have to travel a little distance for training and always ask if you need to bring your rig. Other organizations have manuals while other may only have power point presentations. And most may also have driving instructions or a test.
Emergency evacuation certification programs are available in all 50 states1. These programs are unique to each community and are essential for building a Culture of Preparedness in the United States. Some examples of such programs include:
- Emergency University Advantage: Offers interactive, multi-media training in Adult/Pediatric CPR, AED, First Aid, and BBP (Bloodborne Infection Control)2.
- Emergency Planning Course: Covers topics such as types of emergencies, crisis management teams, evacuation procedures, and communications3.
- NDEMU: Offers targeted training programs, certificates, and practical applications to enhance disaster resilience and response4.
- CDP (Community Emergency Disaster Preparedness): Provides advanced, hands-on training to emergency response professionals at different levels5.
Emergency Planning | OSHA Certificate Course
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) | FEMA.gov
These links can help you get started. But I would also advise you to contact your local forestry department, animal control, ASPCA, Humane Society as well, for they may also have certificate programs for volunteers as well. Make sure you check in your local area what is required. That may mean calls to the fire department, police or sheriff’s department and even the forestry department or other agencies who manage land in your area. May times one agency will hand off a situation to another agency for jurisdiction, so you would want to be sure that you can help with that agency should that happen.
This also brings up another subject of equine emergencies as well and TLAER Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue is another organization that we would recommend getting involved with. They train on assisting large animals out of precarious situations. They train firefighters, police and local responders how to handle livestock truck accidents, end of life (for animals) situations, removal from mud pits, hillsides, and train on how to handle these situations in the best way possible with proper equipment for both human and animal safety.
My attempt is to educate you and make you aware of when you want to help in an emergency and evacuation how you can prepare to be the best of the best.
Now, go forth and get yourself certified, practice and practice more. When you are done, practice again. For there cannot be any excuse if you and your rig gets damaged, and you don’t want to become a statistic at the end an event.
As always, we wish you safety in your training, emergencies and evacuation efforts.
