Volunteers Save Lives During Natural Disasters In Clark County

n Battle Ground, Camas, La Center, Ridgefield, Vancouver, Washougal, and Yacolt Emergency Response falls under the jurisdiction of Clark Regional Emergency Response Agency. During times of natural disaster CRESA’s Emergency Operations Center activates to assess the disaster and begin a response. Volunteers are critical to this effort.

Volunteers in Clark County

CRESA 911

Volunteers in Clark County Help Save Lives

In Clark County, an emergency that is too large for any single first responder agency (fire, law enforcement, EMT), is assessed, managed and responded to by an organization called CRESA, the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency. CRESA’s job is to coordinate the other first responder agencies to work together during an emergency, be it a natural disaster, a terrorist attack or a viral epidemic. CRESA also houses the 911 call center. If you ever call 911 in Clark County, the call will be received by one of the 911 dispatchers at CRESA’s main office.

Eric Frank, CRESA’s emergency coordinator, spoke about the organization’s three main branches: the 911 call center, emergency management, and technical services.

“Technical services, which ranges from handheld radios to radio towers, supports everything we do, as well as what first responders do out in the field,” Frank said. He explains that the 911 call center is sometimes used to coordinate other emergency agencies, like fire and public works, while emergency management is an overarching umbrella that is activated in times of great need in the county.

Volunteer

CRESA is responsible for the roughly 420,000 people who live in Clark County in the event of a natural disaster or other similar emergency. Unfortunately, CRESA, as well as the first responders it works with, does not have the staff to meet the needs of every individual in the county. This means that volunteers are incredibly important to the success of the agency.

“Volunteers make up 80 percent of first responders in a natural disaster; there are literally not enough paid professionals in a major disaster,” said Frank. “We are counting on [volunteers] immensely, lots of ways citizens can volunteer, churches and red cross, they can volunteer through citizen core, or as an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) volunteer here at CRESA.”

To volunteer, a resident of Clark County can email CRESA directly or visit the organization’s website to apply. Frank said that the interview process is slightly more intense than some people expect for a volunteer position.

“A lot of times people think they will be out in the field filling sandbags, and with us in the EOC it's not really like that.” The Emergency Operations Center more involves handling 911 calls, managing resources and directing other emergency response agencies than actual field work.

However, Frank mentioned that if filling sandbags and moving fallen trees was more your area of expertise, there are other local organizations that need volunteers as well. “If they wanted to fill sandbags we would connect them with CERT, community emergency response teams, get some of that basic training, working to make sure cert teams are deployable. If there is a need and they call for volunteers, those people are who we would contact first.”