American Red Cross holds disaster relief training session in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The American Red Cross hosted disaster relief training at the Bay Area Neighborhood Resident Resource Center Monday morning.

These training events come at a crucial time, as the Southeastern U.S. could experience another major hurricane later this week. Luca Calvani has been training volunteers for 4 years. He told 22News why the need for volunteers is urgent.

“No region can possibly deal with something like this on their own, but we are seeing an increase in the number of national climate-related disasters and unfortunately, after COVID decrease in local volunteering,’ said Calvani.

The training timeline for volunteers has been expedited from 3 weeks to 1 because of limited resources in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina.

Bill Boyer is a retired EMT. He described how these vehicles save countless lives in emergencies.

“It’s the first response because you know we try to get there early before things start to deteriorate and before people scatter… we’ve already sent people in that’s waiting so we can be first on scene and take care of the people’s immediate needs with these type of vehicles,” said Boyer.

They’re also providing online training for those who want to help but can’t make it for in-person relief.

You can sign up to volunteer at your local American Red Cross here .

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