The
Burbank Volunteers' Guide
to
Disaster Service Work

The California Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Program, or "DSWVP", is a statewide program designed to help and protect volunteers that are willing to render aid in a disaster. The State gives limited liability, as well as medical coverage, to registered volunteers who assist during declared disasters. Given that California is subject to earthquakes, wildfires, flash floods, mudslides, tsunamis, heat waves, tornadoes, volcanoes and terrorist threats, there is, unfortunately, ample opportunity to volunteer as a Disaster Service Worker (DSW).

The key element to the DSW Program is registration. This helps keep the program – and the use of volunteers – accountable. For more on why that's really important, scroll down and learn a little of the history of disaster volunteerism. In the meantime, it's handy to know that in order to be used as a volunteer, during a disaster, in any official capacity, a person must first be registered as a DSW.

In Burbank, and technically every municipality in the State of California, City employees are, by default, DSWs. This is also an unfunded mandate, so not every city (including our sister city of Los Angeles) follows that principle. Burbank does. Burbank also maintains a State-registered Disaster Council, which is a way of giving it's citizens the chance to register as DSWs as well.

One of the primary elements of the Burbank Fire Corps Program is creating a trained pool of Disaster Service Worker volunteers. This is reflected on the application. The training and preparation of volunteers for their disaster service assignments is a critical aspect both of volunteer safety and accomplishing our missions. Part of this process is categorizing volunteers based on their preexisting skill set. Certain classes of skills allows volunteers to utilize their expertise when the community needs them the most. To maintain compliance with the DSW volunteer classifications approved by the California Emergency Council, volunteers are asked to select a classification assignment.

By default, all new volunteers are classed as "Logistics", a reflection of Fire Corps' auxiliary function in the Burbank Fire Department. You are, however, encouraged to review the approved categories. If you qualify into one of the following classifications, some of which are further defined into specialty areas, specifying this will allow you to be deployed for that given task with expediency.

Pick one classification. If you have multiple skills, you may note a secondary classification on your application. While your ID will only specify your primary class, your secondary class will be recorded, noted and considered during activations. You will also be required to bring a copy of any appropriate professional certificates or licenses to the Live Scan office during your initial finger printing. Note that prior to deployment, all classifications will also be trained on applying their skills in the special, high-stress circumstances of disaster situations.

In our little corner, Burbank is subject to earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, hazardous materials incidents and terrorist threats. We have the potential to provide mutual aid to communities subject to tsunamis, floods, tornadoes and riots. The range of potential disasters means volunteers will always be needed, though particular classifications may not. Actual service assignments, therefore, will vary depending on the circumstance. If a volunteer is assigned to a task outside of their classification, they will receive training in that assignment prior to deployment.

• Communications: Install, operate and maintain various communications systems and perform related service, to assist officials and individuals in the protection of life and property.
  NOTE: The most common qualification for this category include the various classes of FCC ham licenses via ARRL training and certification.
• Community Emergency Response Team Member: Under the direction of emergency personnel or a designated team leader, assist emergency units within their block, neighborhood, or other area assignment; survey area conditions; disseminate information; secure data desirable for emergency preparedness planning; report incidents; and generally assist officials and individuals in the protection of life and property.
  NOTE: CERT certification must meet the FEMA-approved, 17.5 hour minimum curricula (though programs that go beyond this are also welcome). The CERT certification may be in certificate or ID card form, but a copy must be submitted for review and approval.
• Human Services: Assist in providing food, clothing, bedding, shelter, and rehabilitation aid; register evacuees to promote reuniting families and to support the needs of special populations; compile authoritative lists of deceased and missing persons; and other phases of emergency human services, such as maintaining morale and administering to the mental health, religious or spiritual needs of persons suffering from the effects of the disaster.
  NOTE: Accepted qualifications for this category include American Red Cross Mass Care and Sheltering, as well as certification in psychological and psychiatric counseling. Certifications from faith-based organizations volunteering for disaster counseling roles may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.
• Logistics: Under the direction of the emergency organization, assist in procurement, warehousing, and release of supplies, equipment materials, or other resources. Assist in mobilization and utilization of public and private transportation resources required for the movement of persons, materials, and equipment.
  NOTE: This is the default category for BFCP volunteers. The BFCP interpretation includes both the administrative and physical aspects, from coordination to transport.
• Medical & Environmental Health: Staff casualty stations, establish and operate medical and public health field units; assist in hospitals, out-patient clinics, and other medical and public health installations; maintain or restore environmental sanitation; assist in preserving the safety of food, milk, and water and preventing the spread of disease; perform laboratory analysis to detect the presence and minimize the effects of nuclear, chemical, biological, radiological or other hazardous agents.
  NOTE: This category includes doctors, nurses, radiologists, pharmacists, Paramedics, laboratory technicians, EMTs, etc. However, you do not have to be a professional to request this category. If you have a current First Aid or CPR/AED certification, this may be a suitable category.
• Safety Assessment: Survey, evaluate and assess damaged facilities for continued occupancy or use; assist in emergency restoration of facilities for utilities, transportation, and other vital community services; and provide recommendations regarding shoring or stabilization of damaged or unsafe buildings or structures.
  NOTE: The Safety Assessment Program (SAP) includes Evaluators, Coordinators and Assistants. Safety Assessment Evaluators must be professionally registered engineers, professionally licensed architects or certified building inspectors. Coordinators must have attended and completed the SAP Coordinator class. Non-qualified individuals who have gone through the SAP Evaluator class may note their availability as Assistant Safety Assessment Inspectors, and may, at the discretion of the City of Burbank, be utilized as SAP Evaluators within City limits. Individuals trained at any SAP level are encouraged to note this on their application.
• Search & Rescue: Under the direction of the appropriate authority, perform search and rescue operations in one or more of several areas including: search and rescue; urban search and rescue; or mine and confined space rescue.
  NOTE: Accepted criteria includes certificates of completion of SAR courses from NASAR, TEEX or equivalent.

This is not the complete list of California DSWVP approved classifications. The State recognizes the additional categories of Animal Rescue, Finance & Administration, Fire, Laborer, Law Enforcement and Utilities. Unfortunately, Burbank doesn't have the resources required to check the credentials outside of our already-approved categories. This list may change in the future and any questions regarding the list may be directed to the Volunteer Coordinator.

Note that disaster service, as defined for the DSW Volunteer Program, is designed primarily to aid in disaster events. Additionally, it covers authorized, documented and planned disaster training activity or disaster exercise. It does not include the day-to-day emergency response activities typically associated with, for example, law enforcement, fire services or emergency medical services.

For those functions, Fire Corps maintains additional training and certification protocols that have been approved by the Burbank Fire Department. Once certified for these daily operational missions, members receive similar liability and Workers' Compensation coverage through the City of Burbank.

Volunteerism, especially helping our fellows in times of extreme need, is both very human and very noble. The act itself has been described as being a "Good Samaritan" and the description has had enough history and impact that laws have been named after it, laws that now protect disaster volunteers. Simply becoming a Burbank disaster volunteer can be a little daunting itself, from the background check to taking a disaster volunteer oath. Both of those hurdles, though, have very good reasons they were created...

Modern disaster volunteerism has it's earliest roots with the Council of National Defense (CND), established with the U.S. Army Appropriations Act in 1916. In 1941, having grown from one world conflict to another, President Roosevelt overhauled the CND with the Office of Civilian Defense.

As the second world war intensified, concern over California's vast Pacific border sparked the California legislature to pass the State War Powers Act in 1943. This led to the creation of the California War Council. Soon after, every county in California had a local War Council. By the close of the war, many of those councils made a transition to a peacetime Disaster Council. Burbank registered their own Disaster Council in 1946.

During the war itself, volunteers were often liable for the injuries they received while volunteering. Obviously, no matter how patriotic we may be, that's still astonishingly unfair. To reform that, the Disaster Councils advocated for the volunteers, including limited immunity from liability and securing Workers' Compensation for injuries sustained while volunteering. With those benefits, though, certain qualifications had to be included to make certain the system was not abused. The safeguards included accrediting the Disaster Councils, legally requiring a loyalty oath, and training and preparing volunteers for their disaster service assignments (Cal. Code Regs., §2573.1 (5)(b)(c)(2)(3)).

To learn more about the history of disaster volunteerism in the United States, from World War I, through the Cold War and to the present, read Civil Defense and Homeland Security: A Short History of National Preparedness Efforts.

• Q: I'd like to join Burbank Fire Corps with a CERT DSW classification. Do you accept CERT training certificates from other organizations?
• A: Yes! Most fire and police departments teach at least the minimum 17.5-hour FEMA curriculum. If your training meets that criteria, we'll accept it.

• Q: I took CERT a couple of years ago, and I'd like to join as a CERT-classified DSW... but I can't find my certificate. Can I just verbally inform you that I've passed a CERT class?
• A: No. It would be convenient if you could, but liability being what it is, we need to keep a copy of your CERT certification in your file. However, that doesn't mean you're doomed to repeat the class (though if it's been over two years, we highly recommend it). Your alternative is to fill out an affidavit affirming that you have completed a CERT class, as well as a completion certificate from IS-317 (Intro to CERT).

• Q: If there's a disaster, can I volunteer in an "unofficial capacity"?
• A: Absolutely. Especially in the first moments after a disaster strikes, we encourage citizens, especially CERT-trained citizens, to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. There is nothing preventing you from rendering aid to your neighbors.

• Q: That's just what I wanted to hear! I'm in a Homeowners' Association that also runs a neighborhood watch. Somebody in my HOA thought that forming a CERT team would be a good idea, too!
• A: They're right. In that first hour, often called the "Golden Hour" by professional medical responders, you have the chance to do tremendous good. This holds especially true for large apartment complexes, housing subdivisions, etc. We encourage everybody to be CERT trained. If, after you're trained, you choose to organize or participate in a private CERT group, more power to you. At one time, Burbank even used to assist neighborhoods to do that through the BRACE program.

• Q: Used to? Burbank doesn't do CERT anymore?
• A: Burbank both teaches CERT and deploys CERT teams. Burbank Fire Corps CERT, however, deploys City-wide and is an integral part of the professional command structure in the wake of an incident. While we do encourage our citizens to do the greatest good for the greatest number, when it comes to volunteer rescue operations, there are inevitable complications and dangers...

• Q: What are those "complications and dangers"?
• A: The dangers are dependent on the event, but anything that hurt people you might help might hurt you, too. If you get hurt helping them, it'll be a similar circumstance to getting hurt in the initial event: you are entirely liable for the medical cost. Further, if you unintentionally hurt somebody in the process of rescuing them, you may be liable for their costs as well.

• Q: That is so unfair!
• A: Yes... and no. In one respect, there can be a perception that no good deed goes unpunished. The reality is: once you lend assistance, you take on a level of responsibility for those you're helping. In this case, you still have some protection from the California Good Samaritan statute (Health & Safety Code §1799.102). Those who act in good faith to provide emergency care at the scene of an emergency are immune from civil liability.

• Q: Wait, didn't California's Good Samaritan statute get pummeled in the "Van Horn v Watson" case?
• A: In that 2008 case, the California Supreme Court narrowed the application of the statute to provide immunity to those who rendered emergency medical care at the scene of a medical emergency, but interpreted it as excluding those who provide nonmedical care or assistance (which would include the kind of CERT-style search and rescue one might do in the wake of a disaster). On the bright side, a week after the Van Horn decision, Assembly Bill 83 was introduced that proposed an added provision to the Health & Safety Code to provide immunity from civil liability for anyone who provides medical and/or nonmedical care or assistance at the scene of an emergency. That Bill eventually passed and was signed into law by the Governor on August 6, 2009.

• Q: So California's Good Samaritan statute is fixed and now we're back in business?
• A: Yes... but that doesn't absolve folk from knowing what they're doing if they attempt a rescue. Assembly Bill 83 specifically exempts coverage from anyone who acted with "gross negligence" or "willful or wanton misconduct" in providing emergency medical or nonmedical care.

• Q: That sounds serious. Define "gross negligence" and "willful or wanton misconduct"
• A: In California, "gross negligence" is an exercise of so slight a degree of care as to justify the belief there was indifference to the interest and welfare of others, while "willful or wanton misconduct" is conduct by a person who may have no intent to cause harm, but who intentionally performs an act so unreasonable and dangerous that he or she knows or should know it is highly probable that harm will result. If you're untrained, but want to do the right thing – and you think before you act – you should be fine.

• Q: "Should be fine" doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
• A: It really depends on what you attempt versus the circumstances. For more information, look up the 'Volunteer Protection Act of 1997' (42 USCS § 14501) as a starting point. Also, since all disasters are ultimately local, FEMA has some topical research; you can read their "Citizen Corps Volunteer Liability Guide", an overview of legal issues and approaches to address liability for emergency volunteers. If you're looking for an opinion outside of federal government, you might consider researching in "State Liability Laws for Charitable Organizations and Volunteers," a free publication from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center.

• Q: So, if I'm CERT trained in Burbank, would that make me "Burbank CERT"?
• A: No. CERT training provides a skill set. It will improve your personal and family readiness, your disaster awareness, as well as introduce the capacity to engage in Light Urban Search and Rescue and Disaster Medical operations. However, unless you're registered as a DSW with the City of Burbank, and follow the Fire Corps activation protocols, you're not actually "Burbank CERT".

• Q: Is there some benefit to being "Burbank CERT"?
• A: That depends on your perspective. If you'd like to engage in volunteer disaster rescue and relief operations around the City, and possibly beyond, then joining Fire Corps is definitely the way to go. Additionally, Burbank Fire Corps CERT falls under the protection of both the City of Burbank and California Civil Code §1714.5, which provides immunity to disaster service workers whenever they are acting within the scope of their responsibilities at the direction of a government emergency organization. Private CERT does not have those additional protections.
  

• Q: Is it even worth it to organize a private CERT group?
• A: There's a level of risk management here that only you can judge. However, considering that "golden hour" window of life-saving possibility, we can't discourage it. With liability being what it is, we just can't encourage it, either. If you've been CERT trained, and you follow what you learned in class, you should be fine.

• Q: Would it be possible to be in both a local, private CERT group... and be in Burbank Fire Corp CERT?
• A: Technically, there's no conflict there. While we'd like our volunteers ASAP in the wake of a disaster, taking care of your family and your immediate surrounding should be your priority. If you stabilize your subdivision, then report for City deployment, it means we'll get you after a delay... but it also means you'll have confidence the home front is safe, you'll be able to focus better under some challenging situations – and you'll be able to bring knowledgeable reports on the status of your neighborhood.