FEMA 244b Reflections

EAM 3003 TC-1

Mark Maxwell

If you have ever been on the scene of an emergency or disaster situation then

you know there are always people who want to help. Now, in an active emergency or a

disaster event this can get complicated, that's why you need this course. This course

helps in giving you the ability to prepare for volunteers and how to use them and their

expertise to benefit the community and all stakeholders within the emergency or

disaster situation.

One of the main objectives of this course is to help you learn how to properly

train, strategically identify and assign, and ultimately supervisie and motivate all

volunteers who will be coming to help in a disaster situation. One of the factors and

goals of this course is to get the emergency manager to have a bank of VOAD’s and

CBO’s who are ready to respond in times of disaster. I hadn’t thought of the

implications to the community of not having a large network of volunteers available

should a disaster strike, until taking this course. This course pushes the fact that

properly trained volunteers who know their role and all aspects of the plan at their level,

are an asset to any disaster or emergency situation.

I hadn’t realized just how prevalent volunteerism is in the United States until

taking this course. This course points to the aspects and uses of “spontaneous

volunteers”. Spontaneous volunteers are essentially neighbors and those in and around

surrounding communities who come in to help. An example would be Bob from down

the road; Bob shows up with his chainsaw to cut some trees out of the way for
emergency and utility personnel to access an area. This course helped me to better

understand and identify the need and use for spontaneous volunteers in certain

situations and what to do if/when Bob, or others from the community or surrounding

area show up to help.

This course helps to identify the different forms of volunteers such as

professional, unskilled, spontaneous, and affiliated. Until taking this course I did not

realize that there were four different variations of volunteers available to the public and

emergency management personnel. This course helped me to understand the benefits

and challenges associated with volunteers and how to handle many situations of

volunteerism. The course teaches you how to develop and recruit a volunteer program

and gives you ideas and insights into proper training and management of volunteers.

Outside of things such as the rural fire departments, I had not even thought about

creating a volunteer network for emergencies or disasters to help aid and supplement

paid personnel. This course has provided valuable insight into how to properly manage

the response and functions of volunteers.

This course is a must have for all of those who are in the emergency

management field. Through sound and proven structure, this FEMA course presents

the student with skills that are an asset to any emergency manager, or emergency

responder within an emergency or disaster area. Through this course I have learned

how to prepare to form a volunteer system for disasters and emergencies and what to

do in the event that some volunteers are spontaneous in nature. By learning about
volunteer fundamentals it has prepared me to better help all stakeholders of a disaster

or emergency situation.