CERT

Community Emergency Response Teams  

The next CERT Academy begins on September 13th and will end on October 25th.  If you would like to sing up for the academy or have any questions please call 425-486-2784.

CERT is about readiness, people helping people, rescuer safety, and doing the greatest good for the greatest number. CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens will be initially on their own and their actions can make a difference. Through training, citizens can manage utilities and put out small fires; treat the three killers by opening airways, controlling bleeding, and treating for shock; provide basic medical aid; search for and rescue victims safely; and organize themselves and spontaneous volunteers to be effective.

Following a major disaster, Fire and Police emergency responders will not be able to meet the demand for these services. People will have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life saving and life sustaining needs.

The CERT program will provide citizens with an understanding of their responsibility in preparing for disaster. It increases their ability to safely help themselves, their family and their neighbors. The CERT course will benefit any citizen who takes it. This individual will be better prepared to respond to and cope with the aftermath of a disaster.

The CERT training for community groups is delivered in 3 hour sessions, one evening a week over a 8-week period. The training consists of the following:

·         Week 1, DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: overview of various disasters and preparedness.

·         Week 2, DISASTER FIRE SUPPRESSION: Briefly covers:  fire chemistry, hazardous materials, fire hazards, and fire suppression strategies. However, the thrust of this session is fire extinguishers, sizing up the situation, controlling utilities, and extinguishing a small fire.

·         Week 3, LIGHT SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS: search and rescue planning, size-up, search techniques, rescue techniques, and rescuer safety

·         Week 4, DISASTER MEDICAL OPERATIONS PART I:  airway obstruction, bleeding, and shock by using simple triage   

·         Week 5, DISASTER MEDICAL OPERATIONS, PART II:  evaluating patients, establishing a medical treatment area, performing basic first aid

·         Week 6, DISASTER PSYCHOLOGY AND TEAM ORGANIZATION: Signs and symptoms that might be experienced by the disaster victim and worker. It addresses CERT organization/management principles, & need for documentation.

·         Week 7, TERRORISM & CERT: Applying CERT principles to a suspected terrorist scenario; identify possible terrorism targets within your community; identify actions to take following a suspected terrorism event

·         Week 8, COURSE REVIEW AND DISASTER SIMULATION: Participants review their answers from a take home exam.  Students practice skills they’ve learned in a variety of simulation drills

Join the Northshore Fire Department CERT Program!

Contact the Headquarters Fire Station for class dates.

Call 425-486-2784 or e-mail terrij@northshorefire.com