COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM

The Community Emergency Response Team Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their areas and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members are also encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community. There is a CERT Overview paper located at Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) that gives you a complete description of CERT.

20 SHORELINE VOLUNTEERS GRADUATE FROM 2006 CLASS

The City of Shoreline’s sixth CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) team is trained and ready to operate in the event of a major disaster in their neighborhood or workplace. The CERT class was sponsored by Shoreline Fire, Shoreline Police and the City of Shoreline.

Twenty Shoreline residents were trained in fire suppression, basic first aid, search and rescue, disaster psychology, and other aspects of disaster response operations. CERT programs across the country are meant to provide a higher level of preparedness to neighborhoods and communities by training citizens to assist first responders when they are overwhelmed by a man-made or natural disaster. The basic tenet of CERT is that all citizens should be prepared to cope on their own for at least 72 hours after a crisis hits.

“We are proud of the people who step up to volunteer for the CERT training,” said Shoreline Fire Chief Marcus Kragness. “We are pleased to know that some of our most active, involved residents have the desire to help others in the event of an emergency. We expect they will become ambassadors of safety and preparedness in our community and we value the time they have given and the commitment they have made”. CERT team members learned to use fire extinguishers, to assess buildings for light damage, and to begin the process of searching for, rescuing, triaging and treating victims. They also learned about fire and police department operations in the event of a major emergency.

30 SHORELINE RESIDENTS GRADUATE FROM 2005 CLASS  

The recent CERT academy was conducted by the Shoreline Fire Department and sponsored by the City of Shoreline. The 8 session class teaches citizens to be leaders in their neighborhoods in the event of a major disaster where professional responders could be overwhelmed. They are trained in light search and rescue, triage, medical operations, disaster mitigation and other emergency management skills. Over 150 residents have taken the training since it's inception in 2003.

24 RESIDENTS GRADUATE FROM 1st SHORELINE CERT CLASS

In June of 2003, twenty-four Shoreline residents completed the City of Shoreline’s first CERT training program. Class participants were trained in fire suppression, basic first aid, search and rescue, disaster psychology, and other aspects of disaster response operations. CERT programs across the country provide a higher level of preparedness to neighborhoods and communities by training citizens to assist first responders when they are overwhelmed by man-made or natural disasters.
 

PHOTO GALLERIES
2006 CERT Class
2005 CERT Class
 

QUICK LINKS
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)



CONTACT
For more information contact Melanie Granfors at 206-533-6500 or by email at: melanie@shorelinefire.com