Ready for Anything is a volunteer scheme run by the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum.
Our volunteers play a vital role in supporting emergency services and local councils. You can help keep people safe, share important information, and provide practical support to communities during emergencies such as floods, severe weather, or major incidents.
Register to become a Ready for Anything volunteer
Getting involved
You don't need to offer a regular commitment, but we will contact you occasionally by email or phone about any incidents or upcoming training sessions, so having your own mobile phone is essential. If you are able to help with an incident, please reply to our text message with ‘RFA YES’. If you are not available, just ignore the message.
You could be deployed to assist with numerous incidents, from helping in rest centres for evacuated people to door knocking to warn and inform residents.
You don’t need to have a disclosure and barring (DBS) check - when called upon to volunteer you will always be in pairs.
Unfortunately we are not able to pay expenses, but we are extremely grateful to our volunteers - and can often provide a cuppa and a biscuit!
You can leave our volunteer list at any time. Simply contact us and tell us that you no longer want to be a volunteer. We will delete all your personal details from our database.
Volunteer roles
These are the different ways you can get involved as a volunteer:
- community support - help residents during emergencies by sharing updates and offering reassurance
- practical assistance - help with tasks such as setting up rest centres or distributing supplies
- specialist skills - if you are a trained first aider, have a background in logistics or other relevant skills, you can use them to support our response efforts
Training and development
All volunteers receive free training so that they feel confident and prepared.
You will have an induction training session. There will be additional optional training sessions in the Spring and Autumn, which often include other agencies such as the emergency services.
Training covers:
- introduction to being a Ready for Anything volunteer
- North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue awareness training and station tour
- a Tactical Coordination Centre tour in Northallerton
- Ready for Anything annual conference
You will also have access to ongoing development opportunities and regular updates. Opportunities include taking part in live multi-agency exercises throughout the year, either as an observer or to play a role in a live exercise, such as an evacuee, to help test our response plans.
Insurance and equipment
We will provide you with any equipment you may need. All our volunteers are provided with a Ready for Anything lanyard, but you should also bring some form of identification with you, such as a driving licence, when you are registering with the volunteer coordinator.
Our volunteers are covered by North Yorkshire Council’s public liability insurance and employer's insurance. If you use a private vehicle, you are responsible for arranging your own insurance cover. You should check with your motor insurer that you are fully insured to drive the vehicle you will use when volunteering for Ready for Anything. Not all insurers need to be notified, so check the Association of British Insurers (ABI) guide to volunteer driving insurance, which lists each insurer and if you need to take any action.
If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to help.
