Imagine a catastrophic earthquake occurs and first responders are all tied up responding to other calls. Meanwhile, a building collapses with people trapped inside. Who can help? In some cases, trained and certified Community Emergency Response Team members might come to the rescue.
Approximately 100 CERT members from community teams around the county were “deployed” to a recent exercise at the Chula Vista Fire Department training center to dig people portraying injured victims out from rubble. In other scenarios, they had to extract “victims” from a three-story building, a low-level mock roof top and a nearby canyon.
“The exercise went really well,” said Hugo Bermudez, Chula Vista Fire Department Volunteer CERT Program Manager.
The CERT volunteers rotated among five stations to demonstrate skills in medical operations, light search and rescue, assessing injuries and performing first aid, removing or stabilizing hazards, preparing victims for a backboard and for lifting in a “Stokes basket,” a type of litter commonly used in resuces.
“We were exercising skills that are within the CERT guidelines, but one thing that was a new skill was utilizing the Stokes and using webbing to strap in patients,” said Bermudez.
Every CERT member practiced lifting people or weighted dummies into the rescue baskets, strapping them in, then carrying them a short distance to get the feel for teamwork involved in that kind of rescue, he said.
Teams were randomly mixed to help members work with other trained CERT members. Countywide exercises serve as an opportunity to train and work together with CERT teams from other parts of the region.
Two countywide exercises are planned every year in addition to the community team’s training schedule. All curriculum comes from the FEMA Basic CERT Guidelines. The Community Emergency Response Team program provides disaster preparedness training to volunteers on topics that include fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. CERT members must undergo 24 hours of training to receive certification, and purchase personal protective equipment to participate.
San Diego County has 32 CERT programs with more than 4,000 volunteers. To find out more about the program and to see if there are any opportunities to join in your community, visit the County’s CERT page.
