Volunteers needed for disaster response teams

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - The Salvation Army is forming disaster response teams in Pocatello. 

The nonprofit is looking for volunteers to form several Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) teams. 

So that in the event of a disaster, they will be able to respond to feed and offer emotional care to victims and first responders.

Currently the Pocatello Salvation Army has the only mobile kitchen, or canteen, in the state of Idaho. If a disaster was to take place today it would be a minimum of 5 hours before a Salvation Army EDS team could be on site in southern Idaho or western Wyoming.

"If you get woken up in the middle of the night, because there's a wildfire coming down the mountain and you have to evacuate your home, you need to go to an evacuation center or a shelter, depending on the length of it. And somebody is going to need to have to feed you. You're going to want food, you're going to want drink and people are going to be unsure on what they're going to have to go back to. So they're going to need some emotional support," Salvation Army's EDS coordinator for Bannock County Bill Costello said.

The Salvation Army is hosting its first training event for volunteers on May 20.

This event will be held from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the building on North 4th Ave in Pocatello.