CAMDEN and ORONO — During the last weekend in September, P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption Center Board President Joe Ryan learned a lot about what it takes to shelter animals during emergencies and disasters, both natural and man-made.

As someone who knows well what goes on at P.A.W.S. on a daily basis, as well as the husband of a firefighter, Ryan wanted to make sure that as the organization made plans to expand into a new building, that they took advantage of as much of the resources at hand as they could to handle animals in times of distress.

And as it turns out, Ryan started connecting the dots between P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption Center and federally mandated need for communities to have a plan for animal emergencies because of a generator.

Ryan said he realized that P.A.W.S. would be the logical place to shelter animals when the organization purchased the former Camden First Aid Association building on John Street. Not only was the facility a sturdy building with plenty of room for a lot of dogs and cats, it had showers, communications and most importantly, that generator.

"I called a friend, Ray Sisk, who happens to be the director of Knox County Emergency Management and I said, we have this great facility and we should use it for more than just adopting out pets," said Ryan.

That's when Ryan said he learned about the Knox County Animal Response Team. In 2006, following Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed legislation called the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act. It came about after post-Katrina reviews found that many Gulf Coast residents would not evacuate without their pets.

For some of those who stayed because of their pets, the decision proved dire and sometimes fatal for people and/or pets. And many who did evacuate with their pets were turned away at emergency shelters and/or on emergency transportation. It was heartbreaking for people to have to make decisions to leave pets behind, and for the pets, being left to fend for themselves during the hurricane was not only most definitely traumatizing, it was inhumane.

To ensure that doesn't happen again, the PETS Act requires that state and local EMA agencies address the emergency sheltering and transportation needs of people with household pets and service animals.

"Ray said Knox County already had a federally mandated team in place, and that they have been conducting exercises in a number of shelters around the region to practice for an emergency — how they would house animals," said Ryan.

Ryan attended one of CART's next practice sessions, held at Camden Hills Regional High School, and observed how they prepared for an emergency, and how to receive animals and people.

"I recognized that in any emergency situation, everybody is going to do the best they can with what's available to them and the high school can certainly serve as a shelter, but we are just two miles away, with an actual animal shelter built to receive and serve animals," said Ryan.

In an emergency, such as a hurricane or nor'easter that knocks out power due to downed trees and wire, or that brings with it ice, a lot of snow or a mix of both, the CART team works under an Incident Command System. It's the same system that police and fire departments now officially use that enable them to essentially go into any community — or state — and find the same organizational structure and system for getting things done safely and efficiently. It allows for quicker responses and an established chain of command, so there is no question who is calling the shots and what shots they are responsible for calling.

"Everybody falls under the Incident Command System, but it also about being prepared and knowing and utilizing the resources you have for any given situation," said Ryan. "So P.A.W.S. would be one of the resources. We would not be leading the animal shelter part of this, we would simply be a resource, our shelter and our people would be. And when our resources reached capacity, the incident commander would make decisions to reach out for other resources."

In the exact same way that fire departments hold joint training and practice sessions with other mutual aid towns, CART groups hold practice sessions with other communities, and counties.

"Each county is establishing one [CART]. This team could be dispatched anywhere in the state, or even out of state to help when needed. The training is good for teams to meet each other, get to know what they are doing and also training under the same system. So if a CART from Knox County is deployed to Aroostook County, everybody is working under the same program, process and system," said Ryan.

After monitoring the Knox CART's practice session at CHRHS, learning more about CART and the Incident Command System, Ryan said that Sisk extended an invitation for someone from P.A.W.S. to attend the state program. Ryan offered himself up as that someone, he said.

A prerequisite for Ryan to participate in the Sept. 27-28 Maine EMA program for statewide CART teams in Orono was to complete the ICS 100 training course, which he did online. He learned about the system, and how P.A.W.S. would/could fall under it and become a part of it the Knox County program.

In addition to determining where to stage holding area(s) for animals, CARTs discuss and eventually practice implementing what needs to be done to receive the animals. That includes properly identifying them and their owners and documenting any health, medical or special needs they have.

"Practice runs are all about making sure they have a good process, how they unload gear and set up, what paperwork is needed and who does it. A leader is established and the team is created to do the various tasks," said Ryan.

During the program in Orono, Ryan said he got the attention of three agencies that were leading the training. They hadn't had participation from animal adoption groups before, especially when it comes to being a resource to shelter animals.

What came out of it was that if a new shelter is being built, or expanded, emergency sheltering consideration could be a part of the plan And an emergency generator is critical to that, said Ryan, among other things that the new P.A.W.S. has already built in.

"What's exciting to me is that we have this resource, and we are going to do this for our community," said Ryan. But what's more exciting is that other communities are going to be looking at us and what we do, because we will be more than just a place where you come and adopt a pet."

P.A.W.S. takes in strays and is a responsible solution for someone who can no longer care for a pet, and it also holds seminars and programs on pets and has a dog park for the community to utilize.

"This is another great example of what this organization can do for the community as a whole, not just for dog and cat lovers," said Ryan. "That idea of the model for other communities and other animal shelters and how they can serve their communities is really exciting to me. What we do here can actually spread elsewhere."

Like any major disaster planning and training, be it by a fire department, EMA or the American Red Cross, there is not a tremendous amount of personal time commitment until there is an event, said Ryan. There is training every few months, or maybe annually, but there is also online training you can do at home.

Armed with that training, when there is an event CART members/volunteers just show up and are aware of what's needed and how to do it. Ryan said it's a system that anybody can get involved in, and it's not an overbearing commitment to know what to expect in case of an emergency.

And Ryan said he knows firsthand that the Knox CART would love to have more people volunteer and come to the training sessions.

"It's not a huge undertaking at that level, but as your interest grows, you can get more involved," said Ryan. "And Just like the Red Cross, anybody who shows up and wants to help, trained or not, they will be given a job. But having some advance training is very useful to the team. Knowing that 10 people will show up that know the system and the tasks, they can help orient the volunteers who show up cold."

Today, the P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption Center is working toward a revised capital campaign to move out of the building it has outgrown and move into the former CFAA building it purchased earlier this year.

Looking back to where they started with the expansion plan, Ryan said more than three years ago the then-board of directors recognized that the current building was inadequate and unsustainable as the organization continued to grow.

And P.A.W.S. has grown to become the solution or towns that don't have their own shelters for pets.

"The building was built to handle Camden and Rockport animal services," said Ryan. "Since then, we have contracted with nine towns, extending out to Searsport, Morrill and Islesboro, among others. Belfast is a significant growth area for us. And we do it well, which is why we now have these contracts. They want to bring the pet someplace where they know the animal will be well cared for."

Ryan said that research was done to establish the facility's needs now and into the future, and a lot of effort going into designing that facility, including looking at other recently built shelters an what worked for them and what didn't. They worked to keep the building on the same footprint and then expand off of that within the two acres they had to work with.

Then they spoke with campaign counselors to get advice on how to move forward with money for the new building, which was going to cost $2.2 million.

"Even at that price, there were no bells or whistles," said Ryan. "There was no generator, no air conditioning, no additional spaces we would have included if we had not felt that $2 million was the top threshold of our fundraising capacity," said Ryan.

P.A.W.S. was in the process of completing the things the campaign counselor recommended they do before kicking off the fundraising campaign when the Camden First Aid building was brought to the board's attention.

"After looking at that building, it was remarkable how close to the building we had designed that building was," said Ryan. "In addition, it had the emergency generator, utilities built in, it was larger, was on a 4 acre lot and in a better location. We were able to buy that at $550,000 versus building a $2.2 million building. It was a better building and suited perfectly for our needs, a building that has already served the community for a number of years, and reduced our capital needs by more than 50 percent."

Today, Ryan said the P.A.W.S. capital campaign is just over $900,000, which includes paying off the building and leaving the organization without a mortgage. That money also includes the renovations they need to move in.

"We are working just as hard and as fast we can to get the money raised so we can move forward. We now own this building, and we own the other building, though the current one is paid for. So it's really important that we get moved into one location as soon as possible," said Ryan.

Ryan credit's the P.A.W.S. staff, which he called "remarkable," for growing the organization to what it is today, and what it does to serve the communities. He said that the day-to-day operations have not been affected by the behind-the-scenes part of the capital campaign ongoing.

He said that staff members are focused on taking care of the animals, as they should be. And he said that all of the fundraising responsibility falls on the board of directors, the campaign committee, the volunteers and the members of the community who he said recognize "what a great opportunity this is, and want to see it happen."

"People count on us. They know we will take care of the animals we take in, and the animals that we adopt out are in good health and well cared for. The work our staff does is the reason for the success of this organization," said Ryan. "And the P.A.W.S. connection to CART is something we can do for our immediate area, while being a model for other communities to emulate."

Related stories:

• Camden approves first step in animal shelter's move; planning board considers matter in January

• PAWS Animal Adoption Center closes on Camden First Aid Association building

• P.A.W.S. under contract to buy former Camden First Aid building

Related links:

• P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption Center

• P.A.W.S. on Facebook

• To reach Joe Ryan, call 213-0383

• Knox County Animal Response Team

• Knox County Emergency Management Agency

• American Humane Association

• Red Star Animal Emergency Services and Humane Intervention

To find the nearest open pet friendly shelter in case of an emergency or evacuation, dial 211 from any phone in Maine, visit 211maine.org or contact Knox County Emergency Management at 594-5155.

Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards can be reached at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com or 706-6655.