One of the “lessons learned” from Sandy and from every other response that we’ve had over these last few years is that there is no such thing as having too many volunteers. With any particular event, only a fraction of our overall volunteer base will actually be available to assist. People have to work, they…
While our friends, families and neighbors in the NY/NJ area really took a beating in this storm, we managed to squeak by with some downed trees, beach erosion and power outages. And although these did result in damages and inconvenience, they just don’t compare to the total devastation that those areas experienced (and will be…
When and why did you first join SMART? I went to the first SMART Summit in 2005 in Marlborough. I was very interested in what they had to say so I joined right then and there. I was always interested in helping animals in any way I can and thought this was a perfect way.…
Incident Command System 400 at Ashburnham Public Safety Building on December 4, 2012 NIMS-700 / ICS-100 at Spencer Rescue Squad (Behind the fire station) on November 13, 2012 Visit our web site at http://mematraining.chs.state.ma.us/TRS/ for more details.
When a disaster or emergency occurs and you have to leave your home, always take your pets with you. People think they will be able to return shortly to care for their animals, but too often the situation worsens and people cannot make it back to rescue their pets. Do not put your pets’ lives,…
Please visit the MEMA page: ENSURE THE SAFETY OF YOUR PETS DURING A HURRICANE for information about what to do to prepare for Hurricane Sandy.
The State of Massachusetts Animal Response team held their first combined ICS100 and NIMS700 Training class at the MEMA bunker in Framingham on Tuesday 26-June-2012. Over 20 new and current volunteers, along with those interested in joining SMART were in attendance. We are happy to report that all of those in attendance passed and received…
SMART volunteers have been very busy these last few months. Although things have been somewhat slow in Massachusetts (thank goodness) that has not been the case in other parts of the country. In January, a team of SMART volunteers responded to a request from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to assist with another…
On another deployment, a number of SMART volunteers were a part of a major cat rescue in Florida. At the end of February, a number of animal welfare organizations worked together to round up close to 700 cats that were living in crowded and unsanitary conditions at a cat sanctuary known as the Caboodle Ranch.…
On February 12, SMART held a special informational session at the MSPCA at Nevins Farm in Methuen. More than 80 people took time out of their weekend to learn more about SMART and the possibility of establishing a disaster animal response team (DART) in Northeastern Massachusetts. During this session, we discussed: the nature of disaster…