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Useful CERT Publications For Preppers, by T.L.O.

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program was created in 1987 by the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Los Angeles officials were asked to help Mexico City with a critique following an 8.1 earthquake that killed more than 10,000 people. It was noted that many “spontaneous volunteers” (people with no training who pitched in to try and help others) had saved over 800 trapped victims, but at least 100 volunteers were killed in the effort. They died because of a lack of knowledge and training that would have kept them safe.

LA officials knew they would have a similar situation happen after a big earthquake and decided to offer training to help protect would- be rescuers. It was very successful and taken nation-wide by FEMA in 1993. 

CERT groups are essentially local volunteers that have enough basic training to keep themselves out of trouble when helping out after a disaster. They can do the less technical activities that free the professional up to do the really dangerous stuff.

CERT provides free training to teach interested individuals and groups about disaster preparedness and trains them in basic disaster response skills. We have taught church groups, Scouts, Civil Air Patrol, and other interested people in our community. If I had my way, everyone in the county would take the training, whether they join the group or not. A CERT graduate can use that knowledge at home or work in everyday life and assist the professionals in an actual disaster response, even if they are not a member of the team.

Our program was started in 2003. Currently our group has three trailers equipped for disaster response. We have responded to assist with sandbagging and evacuations from a gas leak and from wildfire. We have done traffic control during emergencies and even responded to assist with a murder investigation. (They needed some of our equipment!)

In between disasters, our group provides traffic control for community events– races, parades, et cetera, which is good practice and gets us noticed. Our group also attends various events to provide disaster handouts and to promote CERT, and we make presentations to various groups about disaster preparedness. We are always looking for opportunities for training, as well. As the CERT Coordinator in our community, I am also gradually introducing the prepper mindset into the group and my community under the guise of, “You can’t help if you aren’t prepared”.

CERT provides a variety of continuing education material that is made available to the public at no charge. Studying the publications discussed below will provide you with a basic foundation in emergency communications, leadership, disaster psychology, traffic and crowd safety, first aid, incident management, and other facets of disaster response. This info is easily adapted for use by the average everyday prepper.

I highly recommend that everyone take the CERT course, which generally takes 18-20 hours to complete. It includes both classroom time and hands-on practice with a mock disaster drill at the end of the class. Various speakers present different parts of the class, such as Fire Suppression, which is conducted by our local fire department. You are not required to join a CERT group after completing the course. The curriculum is designed to teach basic skills to the average, non-professional, potential volunteer. Students are constantly reminded that personal safety is the first priority; if the rescuer is hurt, he can no longer help! Below are some of the sessions:

Disaster Preparedness. This is a basic introduction to basic prepping and includes why people should be prepared and how to start. I have actually scared people to tears with this presentation, because they suddenly realized how vulnerable they really are.

Disaster Medical Operations. This includes setting up treatment areas, recognizing life-threatening problems, triage, and basic first aid. (It is amazing to me how many of our adult students don’t know anything about first aid!) We do both classroom sessions and hands-on practice.

Fire Suppression. This is usually the most popular class session, since most folks are closet firebugs, though we have had students cut and run during the actual drill. Students learn about fire chemistry and the fire triangle, types of combustibles, and hazardous materials. Fire prevention, size up, and fire extinguisher drills end the session.

Light Search and Rescue. The first thing students learn is how to assess a damaged building to determine if it is safe for a CERT volunteer to enter. The student learns how to safely locate, rescue, and apply initial first aid to people trapped in buildings and other confined spaces. We also learn to recognize when a rescue operation is beyond our training and should be left to the professionals.

Disaster Psychology. Here we discuss how people react during and after a disaster; we learn what to expect from survivors and how to help them in their initial recovery. Working a disaster also effects the rescuers in a lot of ways. We present information on what stresses volunteers (both during and after an event) and how to mitigate the effects and work with a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team.

CERT Organization. This includes CERT structure and National Incident Management System (NIMS), decision making, and documentation (if it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen). CERT members are required to take a NIMS class after joining a group.

Terrorism. We learn what it is; how to recognize an event in progress; and what to do before, during, and after an incident. We also encourage our students to take a weather watcher’s class and a CPR Class. Note: CPR is not performed in a mass-casualty incident, so we do not teach it during our classes.

CERT Publications. There are many continuing education training manuals available to CERT groups that are equally applicable to preppers. Most are offered in both MS Word and PDF format. Some of the manuals offer PowerPoint slide shows, as well. Unlike EMI, most of the CERT material is aimed at the average person. Instructor guides are also available for some of the following courses. An instructor is supposed to have had the CERT Train-the-Trainer course before teaching this material, but the rules say nothing about self-study. All of the CERT material can be downloaded free from www.fema.gov/community-emergency-response-teams/training-materials.

There are other useful publications.

The Emergency Management Institute (EMI) is based at the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Among other things, they provide independent study courses to anyone who is interested. The course material can be downloaded free. You can, if you want, officially enroll, read the material, pass the online test, and receive Continuing Education (CE) and sometimes college credits.

EMI provides training materials for both professional responders and laymen, so not all of their publications are applicable to John Q public. I would recommend you start with the following:

These manuals can all be downloaded from http://training.fema.gov/IS/ Click on the course list and scroll down until you find the listings for the above manuals.

Another useful resource can be found at http://www.cert-la.com/education/preparedness.htm. This is the website for the Los Angeles CERT. They have many downloadable documents on preparedness and disaster response. It is well worth your time to visit this site.

I would suggest you make hard copies. There are better than 1500 pages of information available. I’d go to a local copy shop rather than use my home printer. Request double-sided copies, since it reduces paper use, cost, and bulk on the bookshelf. I watch for binders and folders at the thrift stores, which are much cheaper than buying new, and label each one.

Now that you’ve downloaded the files, printed everything out, and studied every word, the hard part begins– putting it all into practice. Don’t be discouraged, if things don’t immediately fall into place. Skills have to be developed by and adapted to the individual. Results must be constantly sized-up and new habits formed. It will come as you learn to recognize what theory or concept fits where and how it applies to real life.