What is CERT Training?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) established the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program, which educates individuals on hazards in their community and equips them with lifesaving skills. Following a disaster, CERT-trained citizens can help their workplace or neighborhood when professional responders are delayed or inadequate.
CERT members are trained to provide immediate aid to victims, coordinate untrained volunteers, and gather vital information to allow emergency responders to efficiently prioritize and allocate resources upon arrival.
CERT promotes a proactive, hands-on emergency readiness approach. It emphasizes readiness, neighbor assisting neighbor, responder safety, and doing the most good for the most people when communities are compelled to rely first on themselves.
Purpose of the Program
CERT fosters collaboration among emergency management agencies and the people they protect. Its overall goal is to equip residents and employees with essential emergency response skills. Once trained, CERT members become trained teams that enhance their area's disaster response capacity.
In the event of a natural or man-induced calamity that overwhelms or delays professional response, CERT members can intervene and assist. With the expertise they acquired through training, they save lives, provide simple aid, and ensure public safety until the professional services get there. CERT members can also aid in creating community preparedness by serving as volunteers for special activities and projects.
How it Works
The basic CERT instruction for local groups involves 24 hours of instruction in biweekly sessions of 3 hours each for a duration of 8 weeks. In the process of training, students acquire skills in disaster emergency readiness, combating small fires, and first aid—primarily concerning the management of the "three killers" of opening airways, controlling bleeding, and the treatment of shock. They also receive training in minor search and rescue, spontaneous volunteer use, and coping with disaster psychology.
The course also includes a Terrorism Module that exposes CERT members to CBRNE threats—Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-yield Explosives. Training culminates during the final week with a mock disaster drill, in which participants have the chance to practice and solidify the skills they've acquired during the course.