TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) – Pets and service animals are important members of many families but are sometimes overlooked when planning for emergencies.

Several agencies have joined forces to fix that on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Wal-Mart store in Torrance.

Participants include the California Emergency Management Agency, California Animal Response Emergency System and Los Angeles County’s Office of Emergency Management. Still others are the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s urban search and rescue K9 unit, the Torrance emergency team and the California Veterinary Medical Reserve Corps.

Veterinarian Karen Halligan will demonstrate CPR and first aid and Cal EMA will give out 200 animal emergency preparedness kits.

Experts say people will feel better if they know they’ve done all they can to ensure their pets survive or recover from a major emergency.