ABOUT EQUINE EMERGENCY EVACUATION
OF YAVAPAI COUNTY
Horse owners and EEE working together for success
The EEE Mission is to provide the best possible outcomes for large animals affected by disaster.
Equine Emergency Evacuation of Yavapai County (“EEE”) is a tax-exempt, all-volunteer organization that assists equine owners in the event of a wildfire, flood, and other emergency situations, including technical rescue and emergency transport. EEE is the only County 911 resource that performs this function and all EEE services are free. EEE coordinates with County Emergency Management and obtains prior permissions from the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Incident Command to transport large animals out of evacuated areas. EEE is a Community Organization Active in Disasters (COAD) which is a FEMA designation.
Our objective is to provide flexible and responsive evacuations as circumstances dictate.
EEE does not have fixed sites for its operations. It has over 30 designated staging areas around Yavapai County that can be used as a base of operations near (but not at) the site of the Incident Command for a particular wildfire, flood, etc. For smaller incidents, EEE operates on a virtual basis with Dispatchers at home receiving calls on the EEE Emergency Hotline and directing evacuation rigs directly to the locations where they are needed. EEE also transports animals to various locations, including shelters, commercial stables and addresses that owners have pre-arranged with friends and relatives. These locations must be within the County and EEE will determine if the distance is reasonable. If not, the animal(s) can be temporarily held at the EEE Staging Area to be picked up.
EEE has adapted and adopted best practices from other large animal evacuation groups in The West.
We aim to minimize risk and liability and safety is paramount in everything we do. We are pleased at the generous involvement of the staging area owners and managers and are pleased with the number of volunteers who are veterinarians and horse trainers who have joined EEE. We appreciate our volunteers with law enforcement and emergency management experience. BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A RIDER OR OWN A TRUCK AND TRAILER OR BE A HORSE HANDLER TO HAVE AN IMPORTANT ROLE WITH EEE. During incidents, we will always need volunteers willing to be involved as Dispatchers, Communicators, and Staging Area Helpers. When no incident is occurring, we need Administrative, Training and Outreach volunteers.
In addition to evacuations, technical rescues and emergency transports, EEE provides owner awareness programs as well as incident preparation and planning materials.
Go to the Are You Prepared? page. EEE also offers:
- Ongoing training program for volunteers that includes mock drills.
- Targeted training on horse-handling topics such as loading and veterinary triage for horse-owning volunteers.
- Awareness Program presentations for the equine-owning public.
WANT TO LEARN MORE? If interested in joining EEE or just want to learn more about us, please contact us at info@eeeyc.org. We will be delighted to hear from you!
