The Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team will offer a one-day training session for potential volunteers later this month.
Deborah Silk of CDART said those who wish to assist with the emergency animal services must take the training so they are able to work with other emergency workers.
Volunteers with CDART respond during disasters and emergencies when animals must be rescued and sheltered.
The morning portion will cover incident command, the system for coordinating emergency calls.
“They have to know who to talk to and what the chain of command is,” Silk said. “
By understanding incident command, they can respond anywhere.”
While volunteers have been called to disasters and emergencies elsewhere in the Okanagan Valley, Summerland has not yet had a serious incident, Silk said.
“We’ve been really lucky in Summerland, but you can only be lucky for so long.”
Disasters in the area can include fires, ice storms and wind storms. Silk said ice storms are the most difficult as it is difficult for volunteers to travel to the site to respond.
Silk would like to have at least 100 trained animal disaster volunteers in Summerland.
“We have really good volunteers in Summerland. They just have to be trained,” she said.
The training session will be held Sunday, Sept. 25 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen offices, 101 Martin St., Penticton.
Those interested in participating are asked to call Silk at 250-493-9752 during the day or 250-809-7152 in the evenings or to register at www.cdart.org.