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What is a CERT?
A "CERT" is a group of people that is organized under the leadership of a local jurisdiction and receives special training that enhances their ability to recognize, respond to, and recover from a major emergency or disaster situation. Emergency responders train citizens and emergency management personnel in areas that will help them take care of themselves and others before, during and after a major emergency.
Why do we need CERT?
The ability of a community to recover from the devastating effects of a disaster requires that citizens actively plan and participate in preparedness. By encouraging preparedness efforts, hazard identification and mitigation, CERT members can minimize the effects of a disaster and facilitate recovery.
CERT training provides community self-sufficiency through the development of response teams that can assist others by providing vital services in the absence of emergency responders, whose arrival may be delayed due to a large event.
Why do we need YOU?
CERT provides an excellent opportunity for citizens to play an important role in helping to safeguard, prepare for and respond to major emergencies and disasters in our community.
If a disastrous event overwhelms or delays the community's professional response, CERT members can assist others by applying the basic response and organizational skills they learned during training. These skills can help save and sustain lives following a disaster until help arrives. CERT skills apply to daily emergencies as well.
The CERT course benefits anyone who takes it. Graduates are better prepared to respond to and cope with the aftermath of natural disasters. Neighborhood groups receiving CERT training become closer-knit and are able to help each other when disaster strikes. CERT training provides people with information and experience that is unavailable anywhere else in most communities.
The Central Texas Community Emergency Response Teams are made up of approximately ten members that are coordinated at the neighborhood level by a designated CERT leader. This team leader acts as the official liaison between the neighborhood CERT and emergency responders.
Who Can Volunteer?
Currently we are seeking CERT team members at least 18 years of age who reside in
the twelve
county area of the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG). This
includes Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe,
Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Medina, and Wilson Counties.
The primary qualification for volunteering with the CTCCC is making a commitment:
- To take classes provided by the CTCCC in emergency preparedness, response capabilities, first aid, fire suppression and search and rescue procedures.
- To educate your family, friends and neighbors on emergency preparedness and what to do in the event of an emergency.
- To help neighbors and co-workers take an active role in protecting themselves from harm by helping them develop a family disaster preparedness plan and preparing a disaster supplies kit, observe home health and safety practices, implement disaster mitigation measures, and participate in crime prevention and reporting.
- To participate in volunteer opportunities that will make the community safer.
- To maintain skills learned during CERT training.
How Can You Participate?
For more information or to request an information packet, please contact Deputy
Louis Lopez by email at louis.lopez@bexar.org
or by phone at (210) 335-0392.
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The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is an emergency preparedness program supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA began promoting nationwide use of the CERT concept in 1994 based on a model created and implemented by the Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD) in 1985. Following a series of earthquakes in the United States and Mexico that left hundreds dead, injured and without emergency services, the LAFD recognized that well-trained civilian emergency work force teams are vital for disaster situations when the scope of incidents overwhelm conventional emergency services.
