By just witnessing or being nearby when a disaster hits, anyone can suddenly find themselves in the role of first responder, whether they want that role or not. Also, depending on the severity of the disaster, people may be left to fend for themselves for either a few minutes while waiting for help to arrive, or much longer if emergency services are overwhelmed by the situation. This is where a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) can come to the rescue. CERT training provides basic emergency preparedness, response, and survival skills to help citizen “first responders” become trained first responders, which can mean the difference between minor damage and major damage, minor injuries and major injuries, and even life and death.
CERT Training
Communities that offer CERT training provide their citizens with basic preparedness and response skills that can help them protect their homes and assist their neighbors in an emergency ranging from a house fire to an earthquake and everything in between.
The CERT concept was started by the Los Angeles Fire Department in the mid-1980s, and was later expanded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Fire Academy. CERT took on greater urgency after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and Congress now provides funds for CERT through Citizen Corps. The funds are made available through grants to communities throughout the United States to start CERT programs.
CERT training comprises eight training sessions (held once a week) followed by a “hands-on” drill at the end of the eight weeks where students apply the skills they’ve learned in an outdoor setting, most likely at a fire department’s training facility. The following is an overview of the areas covered in CERT training.
Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Medical Operations
In these sessions, students learn about types of disasters, their impacts on community infrastructure, and ways to mitigate possible damage to homes and businesses, such as bolting older homes to their foundations, anchoring furniture to the walls, and labeling shutoff valves and switches for gas, electricity, and water. Citizens also learn about creating a disaster supply kit.
In the Disaster Medical Operations sessions, citizens learn about the three “killers” for those injured in a disaster: airway obstruction, bleeding, and shock. Citizens will also learn how to open a person’s airway, control excessive bleeding, and treat someone for shock. In addition, learning to triage patients is also covered. Finally, CERT students learn, among other things, how to evaluate injured victims and provide basic first aid, including treating burns, bandaging wounds, applying splints, and treating hypothermia.
Fire Safety and Light Search-and-Rescue Operations
In these sessions, CERT students learn about reducing fire hazards in the home and office, how to turn off a gas meter valve, fire suppression safety, and the proper ways to extinguish a fire, including hands-on training in how to use a fire extinguisher.
Students also learn the best techniques for sizing up a structure to determine if it’s safe to enter, searching a building for victims, the safest ways to remove debris and extricate people, and how to stay safe when performing light search and rescue. The most important lesson is to ensure that CERT members have the training to know not to take unnecessary risks that could make them victims, too.
CERT Organization, Terrorism, and Disaster Psychology
In addition to how to become a CERT member, citizens will also learn something about how professional fire, police, and emergency management organizations respond to a disaster because the CERT is part of the same structure. That structure is the Incident Command System (ICS). ICS is a flexible, scalable structure with an Incident Commander in charge and sections covering operations, logistics, planning, and administration reporting to the Incident Commander. When a CERT is activated, it becomes part of ICS and reports to the Incident Commander.
Finally, CERT students learn some basics about terrorism, what it is, what weapons are often used in terrorist attacks, and how CERT members should handle themselves in incidents involving terrorism. CERT training also briefly covers the psychological reactions to disasters, helping citizens understand signs of trauma that they might experience, as well as recognizing it in the victims of disaster.
The CERT Program Needs Citizen Responders
CERT members are valuable resources in their communities. In smaller emergencies, such as house fires or a car accident, CERT-trained citizens can provide first aid, light search and rescue, and be a source of comfort to the victims until an ambulance or fire truck arrives on the scene. In large-scale disasters, CERT members can play an important role in organizing their families and neighbors to help minimize damage, injuries, and even prevent deaths.
There is power in knowing that one has the basic skills to take care of him- or herself after a disaster, and be able to help others as well. Such training and education is also a benefit to the local community, whose fire and emergency services may easily be overwhelmed in a major disaster. Citizens should check to see if CERT training is offered in their community if they wish to sign up.
Scott Anderson - Scott Anderson works in the emergency management/homeland security field, but also has an interest and a background in writing and ...
Join the Conversation