Activation Procedures

Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services - Denver


Initial Call for Assistance:
Call 303 296-2456, Harbor Lights.

1. Harbor Lights will be the point of contact for all requests for assistance. The Harbor Lights shall get the following information, and let the caller know that they will get a call back shortly.
Organization requesting assistance:
Name of the person calling:
Phone number at which they can be reached
Location of the incident or staging area.
Time that the request was received:
Whether the request is for immediate assistance or for a future date:

2. The Harbor Lights should attempt to contact the head of EDS. (Bart Banks, Cell phone 303 918-3020).  If the head of EDS is not available, contact Sue Garrity at home 303 750-5937 or cell 303 594-4365 or Richard Ferguson at home 303 499-2871 or cell 720 273-0331.  If neither the head of EDS nor Ferguson nor Garrity are available, Harbor Lights will call the EDS drivers until one of them has been reached and is available to respond.

The head of EDS will provide Harbor Lights with the names and phone numbers of the EDS drivers. The drivers will have the complete EDS roster.

EDS Response

Whoever is contacted first, whether it is the head of EDS or one of the EDS team leaders or drivers, becomes the planning team leader.

1. The planning team leader will call the person or organization requesting help, get any additional information, especially the number of meals needed, and assure them that EDS is working to get a team there. The goal is to be on scene in the metro Denver area in one hour, although the actual response time can be up to 2 hours, depending on drive time and other circumstances. Depending on the incident, the response could be as little as one vehicle and two people, or multiple vehicles and many people. The planning team leader will determine the scope of the response.

2. The planning team leader will start calling EDS drivers to respond.  In most cases, the driver is also the site team leader, although that may not be the case for larger events.  When the site team leader is identified, the planning team leader and the site team leader will discuss the situation.  Once the driver and site leader are determined, the planning team leader will continue calling EDS members until there are enough people to meet the need. For a very small event, the planning team leader could be the site team leader, but this is not recommended, because a situation can escalate very quickly, and it is hard to drive and do call outs at the same time.

3. The driver goes to the warehouse, and prepares the vehicle. The other team members respond as directed, either to the warehouse or directly to the incident.

4. When the vehicle arrives at the incident, the driver asks the police or other authority where the vehicle should be parked. After parking the vehicle, the driver and other team members provide drinks, food, and other services as appropriate. The site team leader will contact the Logistics chief (or the incident commander where there is no Logistics chief) to better understand their needs, and then call the planning team leader to discuss the situation and any additional people or food needs, if appropriate. It is critical that the site team leader provide regular updates to the planning team leader. If needed, the planning team leader will contact additional personnel for the next shift.

5. The site team leader, in consultation with the incident commander, determines when the EDS response is over. The site team leader then contacts the planning team leader to inform him that the incident is over. The driver returns the vehicle to the warehouse and restocks the vehicle, ideally with the help of other team members.

RAF 4/21/10