Kirsten Larsen
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 05/99) - A newly-formed emergency response team was called into action for its first duty last week when a Yellowknife couple lost their home to fire.

Since the Canadian Red Cross Emergency Response Team formed in Yellowknife three months ago, the three trained volunteer members and a member-in-training have been preparing for duty.

The team was called out to the scene of a house fire at 5039 Forrest Drive on the evening of Feb. 25 to assist the owners of the home while firefighters and police officers hustled to control the situation at hand.

At first, the owners were not at the scene, but by the time the couple was located and rushed home to stand watching their house burn, the team was already taking care of business for them.

The couple was given an emergency bag filled with necessities such as toothbrushes and shampoo, and they were checked into a hotel for the night. The team also made sure the couple had arranged a place to stay later on with family and friends and had all the information they needed to get additional help.

Ann Kall, one of the three trained team members who is also with the Yellowknife Fire Department, said although the couple didn't require much assistance, the team is prepared to do all it can to help in cases where people do not have friends and family to rely on.

"We can give assistance up to 72 hours and hook them up with other agencies...the Salvation Army, victims services, social services.

"We help them meet the basic needs (in the 72 hours). We contact the hotels, make arrangements to get any medication they need or if they lost their glasses. If they need special baby formula and the stores are closed we make arrangements and go with them. It's a community effort."

Barb Hoddinott, a trained member, said one of main reasons the team formed was to provide immediate assistance to people at the scene of a fire.

"People (homeowners) were standing around in past years, with no coffee and unable to get to a warm place right away while firefighters were doing their job," said Hoddinott.

The Red Cross Emergency Response Team is the first of its kind not only in Yellowknife, but in the NWT. The Emergency Measures Organization provides core funding for the team and the Red Cross provides free training for the members.

A Red Cross instructor is scheduled to conduct the two-day orientation training this spring in Yellowknife for the team's newest member as well as anyone else interested in applying to be a member.

"We are actively recruiting," said Kall. "A good sized team would be about six to eight (trained) people, because what happens is some people might be out of town, so that way we will always have back-up."