There is a very good chance that your neighborhood will be on its own in the first days after a catastrophic disaster. But depending on where you live, a band of citizens will be there to help, thanks to the Community Emergency Response Team.
CERT 98328, as the zip code portion of its name implies, is the team that will be ready to help in the Eatonville and Roy areas. The local group is part of a national network of CERT participants.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Pierce County’s Department of Emergency Management, and the Pierce County Citizen Corps have developed a program to help communities and neighborhoods prepare for and respond after disasters such as winter ice and windstorms, flooding, earthquakes, fires, and other major emergencies.
Once trained, CERT graduates can increase their neighborhoods’ disaster readiness, perform triage and provide emergency first aid, perform light search-and-rescue operations, extinguish small fires and teach
Basic training in disaster survival and rescue skills improves the ability of citizens to survive until emergency responders or other assistance arrives, said Larry Dorothy, a South Pierce Fire and Rescue chaplain who is a leader of CERT 98328.
The basic training course gets participants ready for CERT’s functions. Each volunteer must complete nine two-and-a-half-hour classes to become certified. The classes are on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 9 at Eatonville Community Center. Among other things, team members-in-training learn
• Community preparedness. How to prepare themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods for local specific hazards that may occur.
• Fire safety. The use of extinguishers and other equipment to suppress small fires.
• Post-disaster medical care. How to conduct triage, establish medical treatment areas, and provide basic first aid for victims. This class takes two evenings and usually are taught by professional emergency medical technicians.
• Search and rescue. Planning, techniques, and rescuer safety, plus how to rapidly assess damage by using a standardized format that’s common nationally.
• Team organization. Management principles necessary for CERT volunteers to operate successfully.
• Disaster psychology. Stress-management for victims and relief workers alike.
• Terrorism. Identifying potential targets in communities, the eight signs of terrorism, and responses to a terrorist incident. Local police officers have been instructors.
Training also includes a small-scale disaster simulation, refresher classes that are held several times a year, courses such as CPR and first aid, and presentations by professionals from the public and private sectors throughout the year. A large-scale disaster simulation is staged once a year for all CERTs as a group.
Dorothy, a chaplain for South Pierce Fire and Rescue, said CERT information and registration forms are available at www.spfr.org. Completed forms can be mailed to Dorothy at P. O. Box 1185, Eatonville WA. 98328, or hand-delivered to the South Pierce Fire station at 5403 340th St. E. Dorothy can be reached at 253-888-2563 for more information and training updates.
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