CERT Info Page

 

What is CERT?
CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team.


Who first developed CERT?Image: Fireman
In 1985, the Los Angeles Fire Department began developing CERT.
Who makes up the CERT team?
The CERT team is made up of ordinary citizens.
What is a CERT course? CERT offers disaster readiness courses to ordinary citizens. These courses teach citizens how to respond to disaster situations, and how to cope with the aftermath. With training, CERT trainees are considered an extension of first responders who are capable of handling situations for victims until professionals arrive on the scene. FEMA has made CERT training available in one hundred and seventy communities. CERT participants are trained and maintained as part of a neighborhood or workplace response team. CERT members assist in their neighborhood or workplace.


Image: Briefcase CERT program instruction:
CERT instructors are first responders who all attend official Train The Trainer sessions. The training citizens receive is usually over a period of seven weeks, one two and a half hour session once weekly. Each week covers a new topic; and each week citizens bring the supplies for the lesson, gradually building their core Disaster Emergency Kit. Each program is designed around specific responder goals. Goals and training are designed according to the likelihood of local disasters, though classes tend to take on lives of their own, when trainers respond to each class individually. The whole CERT program tends to grow and develop over time.


First Aid Icon What will I learn in CERT classes?
Basic First Aid
Family Disaster Preparedness
Disaster Fire Suppression
Medical Operations (in 2 parts)
CERT Organization
Disaster Mental Health
Basic Emergency Management
Disaster Simulation -- Skills Review

 

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CERT Los Angeles Home Page
CERT Los Angeles Class Calender



Are you interested in being a CERT Battalion Coordinator? Los Angeles CERT is looking for coordinators for the West Side and the Northwest Valley in particular. E-Mail Link