Community Emergency Response Team

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CERT

Shoulder Patch of CERT
Program Offered Nationally: 1993
Offered In: 50 States

In the United States a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), sometimes known as a Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT), or Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET), is a group of volunteer emergency workers who have received basic training in disaster preparedness, disaster fire suppression, basic disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, and team operations. They are designed to act as an auxiliary to existing emergency responders in the event of a major disaster.

Contents

[edit] History

The concept of widespread local volunteer emergency responders was implemented and developed by the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1985. The Whittier Narrows earthquake of 1987 showed the need for preparing citizens to take care of themselves and their loved ones after a disaster.[1]

In the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, residents of San Francisco's Marina District help run lengths of fire hose from a fireboat to firefighters ashore after the hydrant system failed. Later, the Fire Department worked with the community to form the City's NERT program [2]

By 1993, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had made the program available nationwide; by 2003, CERT programs were offered in 45 states. [3]

CERT and Citizen Corps were transferred to the Office of Domestic Preparedness (now the Office of Grants and Training) in August 2004.

[edit] Rationale

The theory behind CERT is based on a simple observation: in major emergencies, professional emergency services overload instantly. Not every area in the world has earthquakes or tornadoes, but just about everywhere has some form of natural disaster. The most common disasters are floods, fires and severe storms. Common mass emergencies include flood, hurricane, tsunami or earthquake. These can all create mass emergencies, and thus CERTs have a mission everywhere.

The most basic goal of the CERT program is preparedness. The belief is that a civilian who receives the CERT training is more likely to prepare in advance and be knowledgable about what to expect in a major disaster and is aware of the proper steps to take after such a disaster. This reduces the likelihood that they will need assistance from emergency responders and thus relieves pressure on scarce resources such as rescuers and their equipment.

The next goal of the CERT program is to provide an auxiliary force of trained emergency workers who can respond to situations that are not life-threatening. This can include anything from light search and rescue operations to paperwork and dispatch. These non-urgent or time-consuming tasks would otherwise fall to the area's emergency professionals, diverting them from rescue operations.

In a major emergency, the community needs mass emergency services. Although amateurs are not able to work as skillfully as professionals, they are immensely better than nothing. First take care of yourself, then your family and then those around you. Do the most good for the greatest number possible.

[edit] CERT organization

A local government, usually a city, attempts to recruit a CERT in each neighborhood. Most governments with CERTs maintain a full-time community-service person as liaison to the volunteers who form the rest of the organization.

CERTs provide their own personnel, supplies, tools, organization and equipment, but they are activated by, trained by, promoted by and liaise with the government. They are temporary volunteer government workers, usually organized as auxiliaries to the fire department. In some areas, (such as California) during declared disasters, registered, activated CERT members are eligible for worker's compensation for on-the-job injuries.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends that the standard, ten-person team be comprised as follows:

  • Team Leader. (1 person)
  • Safety Officer (1 person)
  • Fire Suppression Team (2 people)
  • Search and Rescue Team (2 people)
  • Medical Triage Team (2 people)
  • Medical Treatment Team (2 people)

It is important to note that CERT teams often use the Incident Command System, and as a result their organizational structures are varied and tailored to the individual incident and the required response.

The city directly liaises with the neighborhood CERT team leader through the CERT's organic communication team. In some areas the communications may be by amateur radio, FRS/GMRS/MURS radio, or dedicated telephone or fire-alarm networks. In other areas, relays of bicycle-equipped runners can effectively carry mail between the teams and the city's emergency operations center.

[edit] CERT Team Member Roles

  • CERT Team Leader. If there is only one CERT team member on-scene, they are also the Incident Commander until the arrival of someonr more competent. Makes IC initial assessment of the scene and determines the appropriate course of action for team members; checks team members prior to deployment to ensure they are safe and equipped for the operation; determines safe or unsafe working environments; assigns team member roles if not already assigned; designates triage area, treatment area, morgue, and vehicle traffic routes; coordinates and directs team operations; determines logistical needs (water, food, medical supplies, transportation, equipment, etc.) and determines ways to meet those needs through team members or citizen volunteers on the scene; collects and writes reports on the operation and victims; ensures team accountability; communicates and coordinates with the Incident Commander.
  • Fire Suppression Team (2). Work under the supervision of the Team Leader to suppress small fires in designated work areas or as needed; when not accomplishing their primary mission, assist the search and rescue team or triage team; assist in evacuation and transport as needed; assist in the triage or treatment area as needed, other duties as assigned; communicate with Team Leader.
  • Search and Rescue Team (2). Work under the supervision of the Team Leader, searching for and providing rescue of victims as is prudent under the conditions; when not accomplishing their primary mission, assist the Fire Suppression Team, assist in the triage or treatment area as needed; other duties as assigned; communicate with Team Leader.
  • Medical Triage Team (2). Work under the supervision of the Team Leader, providing START triage for victims found at the scene; marking victims with category of injury per the standard operating procedures; when not accomplishing their primary mission, assist the Fire Suppression Team if needed, assist the Search and Rescue Team if needed, assist in the Medical Triage Area if needed, assist in the Treatment Area if needed, other duties as assigned; communicate with Team Leader.
  • Medical Treatment Team (2). Work under the supervision of the Team Leader, providing medical treatment to victims within the scope of their training. This task is normally accomplished in the Treatment Area, however, it may take place in the affected area as well. When not accomplishing their primary mission, assist the Fire Suppression Team as needed, assist the Medical Triage Team as needed; other duties as assigned; communicate with the Team Leader.

In the short term, CERTs perform data gathering, especially to locate mass-casualties requiring professional response, or situations requiring professional rescues, simple fire-fighting tasks (e.g. small fires, turning off gas), light search and rescue, damage evaluation of structures, triage and first aid. In the longer term, CERTs may assist in evacuation residents, or assist with setting up a neighborhood shelter.

[edit] The Community Emergency Response

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[edit] Step 1: Self Rescue

You and your family are at home asleep when suddenly you are awakened by a violent shacking. If you are prepared, each family member reaches into their grab-and-go bag, gets a flashlight, and puts on their shoes. It's very tempting to just run, but glass on the floor can instantly create a casualty if one is bare-foot.

To prevent their injury, children should be trained to wait for a parent unless they see fire or feel heat. The family should establish an outside meeting place, and evacuation methods from every room.

California's experience with earthquakes suggests that every family member should have a "grab and go" bag, attached to their bed. It has to be attached to the bed, because in earthquakes (and perhaps other emergencies), bags in closets or under beds were lost when furniture moved and structures failed.

The bag has to include shoes and a flashlight. The most common injury in surprise emergencies is a foot injury, when people try to run on broken glass. The most common problem is a power or lighting failure, and a flashlight is an immense help to self-rescue at night.

Many people pack an entire personal emergency kit in the grab and go bag, but a shopping bag with shoes and a flashlight is enough.

Prepare for pets as well. During an emergency animals are likely to panic. Place them in a controlled environment before they leave the house. Make sure family members know who is responsible for bringing the pets to the meeting place.

[edit] Step 2: Family Rescue

Turn off gas only if you suspect a leak (the dials on the meter may be turning rapidly or you may smell the telltale odor of gas). Only your utility company can turn the gas back on once it has been turned off. If you suspect a gas leak, turn off the electricity also to prevent a fire or explosion. Then rescue other family members. Do not re-enter a burning building.

FEMA advises that families prepare a kit of essential items that they will need to survive for up to 72 hours after an emergency or disaster. The following items are recommended for your kit:

  • Water, one gallon of water per person per day, for drinking and sanitation
  • Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
  • Battery-powered radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert, and extra batteries for both
  • Flashlight and extra batteries
  • First Aid kit
  • Whistle to signal for help
  • Dust mask or cotton t-shirt, to help filter the air
  • Moist towelettes for sanitation
  • Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
  • Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
  • Plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
  • Unique family needs, such as daily prescription medications, infant formula or diapers, and important family documents
  • Garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
  • Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or a print out of this information
  • Rain gear
  • Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils
  • Cash or traveler's checks, change
  • Paper towels
  • Fire Extinguisher
  • Tent
  • Compass
  • Matches in a waterproof container
  • Signal flare
  • Paper, pencil
  • Medicine dropper
  • Feminine supplies
  • Personal hygiene items
  • Disinfectant
  • Household chlorine bleach

You should learn where to turn off your home's gas, electric and water service. If this requires tools, attach them to the service box, or place them in your kit.

ready.gov recommends medical supplies for a family, as well as suggestions for storing food.

[edit] Step 3: Neighborhood rescue

After self-rescue, the neighborhood goes to their team's neighborhood "command post," established at earlier meetings. The object is to centralize and prioritize resources. This one step is the single most powerful act of a CERT. The CERT command post is always marked by a flag, sign or tabard to help people locate it.

The neighborhood is usually informed about the command post at a neighborhood block party or picnic.

If the teams lack trained staff (likely, as most people will be volunteers), The Incident Commander will organize teams as others arrive at the staging area.

The leader assigns street teams to systematically gather information from arrivals and assess damaged buildings in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, the Incident Commander assigns people to specialist teams.

When the leader takes charge and a communications person is present, the team reports that it started-up to the city's emergency operations center or fire station battalion house.

In a good team, various families have agreed to lend supplies, tools and equipment to the team in an emergency. They bring these to the logistic team, who issues them. Logistics people also canvass new people for needed tools, food, water, tents, paper, field commodes and other needs listed by the planners.

When the street and block assessments come back, the planners try to track current problems and anticipate future needs so the leader can assign teams well. Usually the critical planning aid is a couple of greaseboards (which work in rain).

The assessments include details like addresses of: destroyed buildings, unrescued persons, and hazards, as well as people who need immediate professional care or professional rescues.

[edit] Step 4. Coordination with Regional Authorities

The CERT team's communicators send a digested summary of damage and critical injuries to the city's (or regional) emergency operations center. The 5% of rescues that require professional training and equipment are also reported in the summary. The reports include exact addresses, and damage assessments.

Soon, the CERT begins light rescues, and brings injured people to the first-aid station. Planners track the injuries, especially triaged injuries requiring immediate professional care. The communicators inform the city when local rescues are complete, and give an updated summary of severe injuries and damaged buildings.

At some point, a fire or police team may appear at the command post. The planners and leader can brief them from the summaries. This saves professional responders huge amounts of time, and directs them to important problems.

Eventually, the city's emergency operations center tells the CERT where the injured people who need immediate care can be taken. Note that the regional center can coordinate to balance loading of local hospitals. The logistics people recruit vehicles, the leader assigns drivers and first-aid people, and the severe injuries are evacuated. Later, less immediate injuries will be evacuated.

[edit] Step 5. Local sheltering

Throughout the emergency the CERT's shelter workers, register people and children so family members can find them, and feed and house people and (if possible) pets (in tents, eventually). As time passes, the communicator passes lists of registrees as designated by the emergency operations center. In most situations, the Red Cross, Red Crescent or other such agencies will help family members locate each other.

The CERT team should prepare the shelter area in advance, getting permission to locate an emergency tent city on a school grounds, park, parking lot or other open space.

After some time, the regional EOC may choose to relocate people to a larger, more professionally-managed shelter. Even in this situation, local CERT shelters can still provide services to people with property, livestock or pets, because these are not usually permitted in large shelters. Neighborhood churches are in a unique position in the community to be utilized as designated relief sites, as they provide an established service structure and personal knowledge base of its members and the community they serve.

The result is a trained volunteer system with the full backing of the state through the use of the Incident Command System capable of light search and resue, medical triage and first aid, open communication channels with first responders and knowledge of your neighborhood and its residents.

[edit] Training and Organization


A San Francisco NERT Helmet

CERT training is easy for government. The training can be organized as mass-classes using pre-existing training facilities. Training usually combines expert lecturers, take-home emergency manuals and self-study materials with hands-on classes in small groups with previously-trained CERT volunteers. The result is a very good value for the cost.

Most effective programs run a program on a very predictable schedule so civilians can locate the training. For example, one effective format has a four-hour training program on the first Saturday morning of each month.

About 1% of adults will train simply because the training is available. More will train if the area is prone to periodic disasters, or the government effectively recruits public-service groups and schools. Civilians are recruited with advertising in schools, businesses, parks, recreation programs, libraries, and open-houses for fire and police departments.

CERT participation becomes much wider if the recruiting and training is made into a social occasion. One of the best social recruiting methods is to ask trainees to go door-to-door in their neighborhoods. This mobilizes CERT trainees to establish neighborhood teams. Typically, the volunteer distributes flyers that offer a "yard party" on a patriotic holiday, and then hosts it.

The classic way to recruit a neighborhood team is to offer food. Most people will come for the food. After that, the neighborhood at least knows where to go. The flyers or pamphlets usually also give the schedules of training sessions. The social occasion gives people a place to meet and lets interested persons find each other and organize.

The first step of each training meeting is always to register attendees. A notice and newsletter is mailed or e-mailed to previous attendees to arrive just before the next training session. The city also uses attendance to certify people, giving the city a database of trained volunteers.

As a last step, before graduating and certifying volunteers that complete the training, the city can run a criminal check on them. This means that even criminals can train (they need disaster preparation, too!), but the city can avoid depending on them.

During registration, the trainee gets a name tag, with a colored dot, or group number.

As part of registration, the trainee collates a self-training booklet for the class, and adds it to the notebook binder he was requested to bring to each session. This notebook forms an important resource to help remember procedures in a real disaster. It also assures that a trainee has an exact record of the areas in which he was trained - many trainees make up missed classes to fill their notebook.

The CERT organization may run a lottery to encourage attendance. The tickets are given at registration. The premiums are given after the training, and may include items purchased by the government (tools or supplies) as well as commercial promotional offerings from local businesses, such as free lunches or sample products.

After this, the group splits into parts (assigned by the colored dots on their badges) and trains. Having several groups permits smaller facilities to be used in rotation with lectures and demonstrations.

Topics for a week-end training session usually include: "need for disaster preparedness", "fire safety and fire extinguisher use", "first aid and triage", "cardiopulmonary resuscitation", "logistics and communication", "sheltering", "search and rescue", and "team organization".

In some areas, auxiliary classes are offered to train communicators, radiological safety officers, shelter cooking and organization, staffing of the emergency operations center, and advanced CPR and first-aid.

After the training, the lots are drawn and the premiums are distributed.

After a trainee graduates and passes the background check, they may get a service uniform, possibly a protective helmet or emergency-colored windbreaker with organizational logos.

More information: Starting and Maintaining a CERT Organization: Resource Center.

See also: ZAKA

[edit] External links

[edit] CERT Teams

[edit] California

[edit] District of Columbia

[edit] Florida

[edit] Georgia

[edit] Illinois

• Woodford County

[edit] Kansas

[edit] Maryland

[edit] Missouri

[edit] Nevada

[edit] Ohio

[edit] Oklahoma

[edit] Oregon

[edit] South Carolina

[edit] Texas

[edit] Utah

[edit] Virginia

  • [15] Arlington CERT

[edit] Similar Articles

[edit] References

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