Volunteer Opportunities

There are numerous opportunities to volunteer throughout the Greater Spokane area--either directly with Spokane County Emergency Management or with one of our many partners. If you are proud of your community and would like to meet like-minded people, volunteering is a good place to start. In addition, it feels good to give back and help others.

In times of an emergency or disaster, First Responders (law enforcement, fire, medical services and utility companies) are under a lot of time pressure to resolve issues as quickly as possible. In some situations, they count on the assistance of trained volunteers. If you would like to assist in times of crisis, consider volunteering with one of the following groups:

• Spokane County Search & Rescue
• ARES/ACS (Amateur Radio Emergency Service/Auxiliary Communication Services)
• MLST (Mobile Logistics Support Team): This group provides law enforcement, fire departments and Search & Rescue with mobile services needed for the command and control of diverse situations. If you are interested, there is no website for MLST, but please see the application information below, or you can contact the MLST Coordinator, Chris Barnes, directly at (509) 477-3007 or via email at cbarnes@spokanecounty.org
• SCOPE (Sheriff Community Oriented Policing Effort)
  SCOPE is a 501c3 non-profit corporation and primarily supports the Spokane County Sheriff's Office and its jurisdictions, but also supports all the incorporated cities within the County except for the City of Spokane. The City of Spokane receives support from COPS (see Community Partner Opportunities page for more information). 
• HEART (Humane Evacuation Animal Rescue Team)
  HEART is a 501c3 non-profit organization that helps rescue animals impacted by a crisis. HEART volunteers are trained to handle pet first aid, temporary animal shelter operations and identification of pets during local, state or national emergencies. 
• SLEET (Spokane County Livestock Emergency Evacuation Team) was created to fill a need in the county. This team is tasked with the safe evacuation of animals being temporarily displaced by an incident (i.e. wildfires). They may also assist the county’s animal sheltering team, Humane Evacuation Animal Rescue Team (HEART), in caring for the animals at the shelter. Anyone can join the team, and there are positions for those with or without direct animal experience. The positions within the SLEET are: Team Leader(s), Staging Coordinator(s), Evac Teams and Shelter Liaison(s). Multiple people are needed to fill each position and all positions are extremely important.  
• DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team): This group is for individuals who want to assist Spokane County in a major emergency or disaster. Please visit the page for more detailed information. NOTE: Current Sheriff's Office volunteers are pre-qualified and only need to contact Simone Ramel-McKay with Emergency Management about their interest.
  

Since all volunteers may work directly with Sheriff's Deputies, and in terms of policies, are like employees of Spokane County, you are required to complete a thorough application, including a detailed background check. Spokane County Emergency Management (SCEM) assists the Spokane County Sheriff's Office in managing volunteer information, including coordinating some of the training.
 
For all interested volunteers, please fill out the online application and the document will automatically be emailed to the Sheriff's Office for review. If you cannot fill out the application online, please contact Simone Ramel-McKay--contact info below.

For more information, please call Simone Ramel-McKay at (509) 477-3006 or contact her via email.

Community Partner Opportunities lists other emergency-related and public safety volunteer opportunities.