Dwikto

i am interesteed to say the least!

JMP8562

OH HELL YA CAN I CARRY A GUN

neopj3

JKGuy hit the nail on the head, that's kinda what I envisioned. Nearly everyone in Texas and Lousiana and other southern states are in some way affected yearly by hurricans and floods. Same in the plains states as well (minus hurricans, you guys get tornados). I was thinking along the lines of a Jeep group that would help the National Guard, Red Cross, and FEMA with what ever they could do. I'm not saying that it would be people going out and doing what ever and when ever, but another tool to help people stranded and or need help. Even pulling downed trees outa the street so the National Guard can get to another section or town I would think would be worth it. I have called the Austin area CERT office and got the machine several times. I'm glad to hear that people are still interested in this.

JKGuy

It's a great idea. Arizona has several of them. You might try looking at the website in Maricopa and Yavapai Counties.

I think smaller communities would be more likely to accept an outfit like this. Here in Los Angeles even the LA Sheriff's Department uses volunteers for its Search and Rescue team. But the only place out here a Jeep Posse would be really useful would be the high desert.

I hope you keep at it. It would be a really worthy group.

SiliconTi

This may have been mentioned (I did not read all of the responses), but there is a HUMMER group that does this - how did they get started?

http://www.redcross.org/article/0,10...2_3649,00.html

If a Hummer can do it, we can do it better. I'd sign up in a second.

Dwikto

They are a liability who is going to go in and rescue all those h2's and h3's when they get high centered on a 2x4 or a stack of paper plates??

VINdecent

In the winters up here, I know some of the hospitals request volunteers with 4x4's to pick-up nurses and other essential staff and bring them to work during blizzards when they can't use their cars on the road. We sometimes have driving restrictions during blizzards until the storm is over or the roads are partially cleared.

Desert Fox

When I retired a few years back, I looked for a volunteer organization that I could offer my services to, particularly Jeep services. I had no real takers but I will review what I found out.
- Local police dept volunteer. Training required. Lots of admin duties, some traffic control until a uniformed officer show up. Not interested in having a Jeep capability due to insurance liabilities. This type of position comes with no authority to do anything other than provide admin support to the entire police department. I wasn't interested.
- County Sheriff volunteer team. Same as above.
- County Sheriff Search and Rescue volunteer team. Lots of training of all types. First aid, rope work, map and compass, communications etc. Final test includes a 12 mile hike with a 20 pound pack which must be completed in a set amount of time. (Helps weed out the riff raf) There is also a written test. That being said, many of the duties are administrative in nature and are in and around the command and communications centers. Again, they were not interested in my Jeep capability due to insurance liabilities. I didn't do this either.
- Red Cross. Checked this out next. They have a bureaucracy second to none.
Lots of training. Not interested in a Jeep capability. Scratched this off the list too.
- Local State Park. California State Park Volunteers undergo about 90 hours of classroom training, 40 hours of trail training, take a three hour written test, the same one the rangers and park interpreters take, and have a one month probationary period. Primary duties include working at the Visitors Center and assisting the rangers and interpreters with anything they might need with the exception of peace officer duties. The training process never stops. After the first year, volunteers are encouraged to specialize in paleontology, archaeology, geology or becoming a Certified Interpretive Guide, just to name the major programs. I did select this volunteer program and completed the training. I do get to drive my Jeep a couple of times a month, at my own expense, which is okay with me.

I have been off roading for may years and have observed that Jeepers, in general, are very community service oriented and live to assist others, on a one-on-one basis, whenever the opportunity presents itself. As far as I know, this capability has never really been harnessed. The Hummer folks may have made the first move with the Red Cross. That being said, there are very few Hummers and a lot of Jeeps. We offer more capability to any organization we may offer to assist. But here's the catch. Any police force, fire department, sheriff's SAR team, Red Cross, Salvation Army. etc that we offer our services to will insist that we train with them frequently and adopt their methods of operations and recognize their chain of command. CERT may be the door opener for us. While we are wild with enthusiasm now, it may fade quickly after the third or forth joint training exercise with the the police, SAR team or whoever we first offer our services to.

pastorsteve

Contact your local Sheriff's office. They handle County-wide search/rescue and emergency relief. Otherwise contact the State's office of emergency preparedness.

HawesEA2

Not to be funny, but Long Island, NY gets a lot of snow? I live in Erie, PA just across Canada right on the lake and just west of Buffalo, NY, now we get some snow. 24 inches in a few hours over night kind of snow.