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This agreement is between Animal Response Group and _______________________________.
Whereas, each of the parties to this agreement has an interest in the rescue, shelter, emergency treatment, and return to legal owner of animals affected by a disaster incident;
Whereas, each of the parties to this agreement keeps a roster of trained and credentialed volunteers;
Whereas, each of the parties to this agreement has and maintains certain equipment;
Whereas, each of the parties to this agreement owns a certain stockpile of disposable supplies;
Whereas, each of the parties to this agreement has access to certain designated staging and sheltering sites;
Whereas, each of the parties to this agreement has insurance coverage adequate to the performance of animal rescue during a disaster incident in this state;
Whereas, each of the parties to this agreement has determined it is in their best interests to set forth guidelines for providing mutual assistance to each other in the case of a disaster incident;
It is hereby agreed as follows:
The Incident Commander of either party, during a response to a disaster incident within the boundaries of that party's geographical location, is authorized to request assistance from the other party to this agreement if confronted with a disaster situation in which the need for personnel, equipment, supplies, or sites exceeds that available through the Requesting Party's endogenous resources.
Upon receipt of a request for mutual aid, the Responding Party's Incident Commander shall determine if the Responding Party has the equipment, personnel, supplies, or sites available in appropriate type and number; and if so, the Responding Party Incident Commander shall then determine what equipment, personnel, or supplies should be dispatched or what sites should be opened.
In the event that the needed Resources are available, the Responding Party and Requesting Party Incident Commanders shall clear the transaction with the Lead Agency for that disaster if the lead agency is not the Animal Response Group. This is particularly important with the use of facility sites located across geographic boundaries.
In the event that the needed Resources are not available, the Responding Party Incident Commander shall inform the Requesting Party Incident Commander of that fact.
Furthermore, the Incident Commander of the Requesting Party shall remain in command of the operations to which the equipment, personnel, or supplies were sent. Responding Party Incident Command shall send team leaders in the case of personnel and these team leaders shall remain in command of their teams within the command structure of the Requesting Party.
In the case of an additional site being opened up for sheltering and/or veterinary care of animal evacuees across the geographic boundary, then the Incident Commander of the Responding Party shall be in command of that facility with the unity of command intrinsic to the Responding Party. The Incident Commander of the Requesting Party shall form a unified command structure with the Incident Commander of the Responding Party.
In regards to liability, each of the parties to this agreement shall carry liability and health insurance on all volunteers. If vehicles or trailers are included in the supplies request, their usual teams shall accompany them and the Responding Agency agrees to continue coverage on those vehicles and their associated personnel.
Upon completion of the Response Effort, equipment shall be returned to the Responding Agency in the condition in which it was loaned. Damage or loss shall be compensated for by the Requesting Agency in a timely manner. Disposable supplies shall be replaced in kind or paid for at the going rate.
The Responding Agency agrees that should it open a shelter site upon request under this agreement, that all insurance, rental fees, and other incidentals will be covered in the same manner as if the site had been opened as a primary site without request from the Requesting Agency. The Requesting Agency shall not be responsible for any costs of an additional shelter opened by Responding Agency at the request of the Requesting Agency.
Each party agrees that it will not seek compensation from the other party to this agreement for services rendered. |