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EMERGENCY SERVICE VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

Palo Alto’s Emergency Service Volunteer (ESV) Program is an official program sponsored by the City of Palo Alto. It was started in 2008.

Before any disasters, ESVs help residents prepare for emergencies and are part of the City’s Neighborhood Watch. During a disaster, when there are not enough First Responders to help everyone, we step in to help our neighbors and organize our response as a community.

There are five main groups of volunteers  in the Emergency Services Volunteers Program: 

• Block Preparedness Coordinators (BPC) – check on neighbors during and after a disaster 
• Neighborhood Preparedness Coordinators  (NPC) – coordinate the neighborhood’s response
• Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) – hands on help for neighbors
• ARES/RACES – Ham radio – communications unit
• Medical Response Unit (MRU)

For more details  about each of these groups, please watch the video above, then check the links to the right for more information. You can also contact us at epvolunteers@paneighborhoods.org.  

ESV CATEGORIES

• BPC/NPC
• CERT
• ARES/RACES
• Medical Response Unit
• Find your NPC
• Where are Palo Alto ESVs