Learn to Prepare, Respond, and Recover from Disasters through the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training

How well you, your family, your pets, your neighborhood, your school, and your business survive a disaster comes down to this:

• Prepare
• Respond
• Recover

In the case of a disaster you probably won’t be able to count on government services to help as they will be stretched past their breaking point – you will need to help yourself (and others).  CERT provides First Responder training, usually until the arrival of (or in lieu of) professional/governmental services.

I live in Los Angeles and we have numerous natural disasters (earthquakes, fires, flooding, mudslides, etc.) and man-made disasters (train derailment, etc.) to deal with, but each community has its own mix of challenges (hurricanes, floods, terrorism, heat/cold waves, tornadoes, industrial or transportation disasters, etc.)  I’ve been involved with CERT for about 6 months and am about to complete my Level II certification (but more about that in a future post).

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations.

An important part of CERT is that it trains to do so SAFELY. You don’t want to be another victim!

CERT is a community training program available in all states (links here and here). Similar programs are available in US Territories and internationally, although I won’t be specifically addressing them.

In some areas (such as Los Angeles), it is FREE and frequently available. In other areas it may be a nominal fee, or you possibly will need to cover the full T&M of the class; find more information at the links above.

The CERT Level I course is designed as a series of seven 2 1/2 hr sessions – usually once per week. The training is customized in each community to be most effective for that community. In general, topics covered are:

• Disaster Preparedness
• Fire Suppression
• Medical Operations (triage, first-aid, safety)
• Light Search & Rescue
• Disaster Team Organization
• Disaster Simulation

The CERT FAQ’s addresses this information and more.  The CERT Participant Manual is Zipped and in Acrobat format.