How Do I Become a DART Volunteer?
How Do I Become A DART© Volunteer?
As first responders for their local communities during disasters, DART Volunteers must meet a number of criteria.
Basic DART Training
The first requirement is that you must take our 20-hour Basic Training class. These classes are offered by registered Disaster Animal Response Teams (DARTs) and will be posted on usDART.org, the central DART web site.
An alternative to our Basic Training is the Noah's Wish In-Field Training. Noah's Wish is one of our partners and we recognize their training as equivalent to ours.
CERT Training
In addition to the graduating from Basic Disaster Animal Response Team (DART) training, we would like you to be a CERT graduate. The Community Emergency Response Team is a FEMA-sponsored group of disaster response volunteers. The Community Emergency Response Teams are organized by jurisdiction. To find a Community Emergency Response Team near you, please follow this link
FEMA Certifications
In order to be eligible for deployment in a disaster FEMA requires that you have the following certifications:
- IS-100
- IS-200
- IS-700
These FEMA certifications can be obtained by taking a free online training offered at http://training.fema.gov, look under Independent Study.
In addition any agency that DART has a Mutual Aid Agreement with may impose additional requirements.
DART Volunteer Waiver and Consent Form
We require that every volunteer signs the DART Volunteer Waiver and Consent Form, carries their own health and vehicle insurance, and has the ability to pass background checks and home visits. At various stages, we may ask for references who may be checked as needed.
Certification
DART volunteers are certified as disaster animal responders by DART and by the Disaster Council that approved the DART training (their local jurisdiction).
More information about DART Basic Training can be found in our DART CORE© Training Section
