Disaster Preparedness

PHS/SPCA has a comprehensive plan to help animals and animal owners in the event of a local disaster or emergency. Key points include:

  1. PHS/SPCA is committed to working with local government by making plans to help animals and animal owners.
  2. To the extent our resources will allow, PHS/SPCA will offer assistance to pets and their owners in a variety of ways depending on the scale of an emergency or disaster.
  3. PHS/SPCA is not a first responder as are Police, Fire, Public Works and human medical emergency personnel; initiation of PHS/SPCA resources will be directed by our County’s Office of Emergency Services (OES).
  4. Pet owners should never assume someone else- local government or PHS/SPCA – has the capacity to care for their pets in the event of a wide-scale disaster or Pet owners need to have their own plan, which includes a pet-friendly place to stay if they are displaced from their home.

Community Awareness

By increasing readiness among our county’s individual pet owners and caregivers, PHS/ SPCA will significantly reduce the need for our shelter’s assistance and mutual aid. Ultimately, increased readiness among individual pet owners is the single most important measure to decrease the number of pets impacted by a disaster.

Download our Disaster Preparedness Checklist

PHS/SPCA will continue to urge residents to create their own personal disaster plans, as this will impact the number of animals requiring assistance and/or temporary shelter. PHS/SPCA will speak to this topic at public events, hold periodic disaster planning events/workshops at the shelter, distribute disaster preparation materials and maintain pertinent information on the organization’s website.

Identifying Types and Levels of Disasters

Many types of incidents can trigger the need to implement disaster response plans, from local emergencies to regional disasters. PHS/SPCA has requested that our County OES make us aware of relevant high-alert situations.

The San Francisco Bay Area presents several potential hazards which could significantly impact animals and necessitate PHS/SPCA’s disaster response:

  • Earthquakes- fault lines run near our county
  • Industrial Accidents
  • Floods
  • Tsunamis- coastal communities in our county
  • Fires- thousands of hillside acres
  • SFO Disasters- fires, crashes, terrorist acts

Our Previous Responses to Small Scale Disasters and Emergencies

PHS/SPCA has had experience responding to small scale emergencies. In 2005, PHS/SPCA (and other SF Bay Area shelters) was given less than 24 hours’ notice and told a number of animals displaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were coming to SFO. With help from volunteers, PHS/SPCA turned its back parking lot into a mini shelter, and housed 60+ animals from the hurricane area for a few months. More recently, in response to the 2010 San Bruno gas explosion and the 2020 CZU Fire, PHS/SPCA provided the following support over the course of several weeks:

  • Trained volunteers helped pet owners with general information
  • Free housing at the Coyote Point Shelter for displaced pets
  • Free supplies to pet owners
  • Animal Control Officers rescued pets left behind in the affected areas and checked in on other pets who were left behind but could safely remain in their homes and yards until their owners returned

PHS/SPCA is prepared to provide this same level of assistance in any local, small-scale disaster impacting a few blocks, one neighborhood or one small community within our county.

Our Response to Large Scale Disaster or Emergencies

PHS/SPCA has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Red Cross, explaining how the two organizations will work together. In addition, PHS/SPCA has recruited a number of volunteers with specific backgrounds and routinely works with these volunteers to provide training and prepare for response activation.

PHS/SPCA will have the ability to establish a temporary field shelter in our community. Initial supplies on hand will allow us to provide assistance for approximately 100 animals for five days until additional resources can be gathered. As many people know, pets are often not allowed at shelters for humans. In addition, PHS/SPCA contacted many local for-profit veterinarians as well as various local boarding kennels and pet friendly hotels to establish which can help us expand our ability to help animals by offering staffing, supplies or accommodations for pets in the event of a disaster.

Volunteers

In the event of a disaster of any scale, PHS/ SPCA will likely receive far more volunteers than are manageable. For this reason, we’ve recruited a team of Disaster Prep Volunteers and have plans in place to manage new volunteers. New volunteers may be allowed to participate on an episodic basis in limited roles, but only after a brief interview and screening with Volunteer Department staff.

Additional Information or Questions?
Please email Disaster@phs-spca.org or call 650-340-7022.