Daily Staff Writer

The Ames flood of 1996 has demonstrated a need for more people trained in emergency situations. The Story County Red Cross has designated July 12-14 as disaster training weekend.

“We’ve planned this for a long time,” said Emergency Service Director Jason Wells. Although these plans were in effect, the flood proved an even greater need for the training.

One of the main concerns of the Red Cross is to have people available to help with different types of emergency situations.

“We need someone in each community who can open and operate shelters,” Wells said. These shelters are not only for floods but also blizzards and any other major disaster.

“Basically we need more trained volunteers,” Wells said, because of the lack of shelters during natural disasters.

The Red Cross will offer free courses to provide people with emergency training. It is offering classes such as “Damage Assessment,” “Emergency Assistance to Families” and “How to Build a Disaster Team.” Some of these classes run all day, but many are just a few hours.

“Around 50 people have signed up and we’re still getting calls,” Wells said. The Red Cross will still take volunteers until Friday. Anyone who is interested may register, but volunteers must have taken the class “Introduction to Disaster Services.” This is available on a take-home video.

Anyone who is interested in these free training sessions can call the Red Cross at 232-5104 or send a fax.