Moose Jaw's EMO program has volunteers ready to assist our cities emergency services in case of emergency.

To honour and thank those who volunteer and give their time when needed, the city of Moose Jaw and the Fire Department held a special luncheon for those involved on Thursday.

"Certainly we have our paid professionals, but, if I can use the phrase to raise a child it takes an entire village, well I think that holds true in the EMO community as well," said Fire Chief Rod Montgomery. "If something goes wrong we rely on our citizens, we rely on people and people to step forward and we know in the city of Moose Jaw, they've shown again and again that they're willing to step up."

Volunteers in the EMO community include members from Emergency Social Services, Moose Jaw Search and Rescue, Red Cross, Salvation Army and Moose Jaw Amateur Radio Club.

Everyone gives their own time in order to be a part of the EMO groups, and are ready to go when needed. They've even built relationships with those in their group.

"Our team, we're like a family," said Dave Dryburgh, President of Moose Jaw Search and Rescue. "I love everybody on the team. We basically all share the same interests, we all come from different walks of life, everyone brings a little but something different to the table, it's brought great deal of success to our team anyway."

Also, to assist better with emergencies in Moose Jaw, not only will the EMO volunteers always be ready to go, but the SaskAlert app will have a more important role in getting important information on emergencies to Moose Javians come the new year.