+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # Acknowledgements                                                    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) concept was developed    |
| and implemented by the City of Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) in  |
| 1985. They recognized that citizens would very likely be on their own |
| during the early stages of a catastrophic disaster. Accordingly, LAFD |
| decided that some basic training in disaster survival and rescue      |
| skills would improve the ability of citizens to survive until         |
| responders or other assistance could arrive. The Whittier Narrows     |
| earthquake in 1987 underscored the area-wide threat of a major        |
| disaster in California. Further, it confirmed the need for training   |
| civilians to meet immediate post-disaster needs.                      |
|                                                                       |
| The training program that the LAFD initiated proved to be so          |
| beneficial that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) felt   |
| that the concept and the program should be made available to          |
| communities nationwide. In 1994, the Emergency Management Institute   |
| (EMI), in cooperation with the LAFD, expanded the CERT materials to   |
| make them applicable to all hazards.                                  |
|                                                                       |
| In 2003, President Bush asked all Americans to volunteer in the       |
| service of their country. The Citizen Corps program was created to    |
| spearheaded this effort to harness the power of every individual      |
| through education, training, and volunteer service to make            |
| communities safer, stronger, and better prepared to respond to the    |
| threats of terrorism, crime, public health issues, and disasters of   |
| all kinds. CERT was selected as one of the primary programs offered   |
| to the American public to meet this challenge.                        |
|                                                                       |
| EMI would like to thank the following people who participated in a    |
| focus group to review and evaluate the CERT material.                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lt. Stewart Anderson                                                  |
|                                                                       |
| Natrona County Emergency Management Agency                            |
|                                                                       |
| Casper, WY                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| Robert Bohlmann                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| York County Emergency Management Agency                               |
|                                                                       |
| Alfred, Maine                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| Lt. Bill Empey                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| City of Rochester Fire Department                                     |
|                                                                       |
| Rochester, New York                                                   |
|                                                                       |
| Chandra Fox                                                           |
|                                                                       |
| Emergency Services Coordinating Agency                                |
|                                                                       |
| Edmonds, Washington                                                   |
|                                                                       |
| Rachel Jacky                                                          |
|                                                                       |
| Portland Fire Bureau                                                  |
|                                                                       |
| Portland, Oregon                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # Acknowledgements (Continued)                                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Dale Kloes                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| Whatcom County Sheriff's Office                                       |
|                                                                       |
| Bellingham, Washington                                                |
|                                                                       |
| Captain Don Lee                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| Los Angeles Fire Department                                           |
|                                                                       |
| Sherman Oaks, California                                              |
|                                                                       |
| Frank Lucier                                                          |
|                                                                       |
| North American Emergency Management                                   |
|                                                                       |
| Napa, California                                                      |
|                                                                       |
| Captain Robert Palestrant                                             |
|                                                                       |
| Miami-Dade Fire Department                                            |
|                                                                       |
| Miami, Florida                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| Chief Harry Small                                                     |
|                                                                       |
| Pompano Beach Fire Department                                         |
|                                                                       |
| Pompano Beach, Florida                                                |
|                                                                       |
| EMI would also like to thank the following reviewers of draft         |
| material: Mark Penn, Arlington Fire Department; John Moede, LA City   |
| Fire Department, Corey Barton, Ogden Fire Department; Joel Kasprzak,  |
| Portland Fire and Rescue, and Kevin Shanders, Portland Fire and       |
| Rescue.                                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # About Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| If available, emergency services personnel are the best trained and   |
| equipped to handle emergencies, and you should use them. However,     |
| following a catastrophic disaster, you and the community may be on    |
| your own for a period of time because of the size of the area         |
| affected, lost communications, and unpassable roads.                  |
|                                                                       |
| CERT training is designed to prepare you to help yourself, your       |
| family, and your neighbors in the event of a catastrophic disaster.   |
| Because emergency services personnel will not be able to help         |
| everyone immediately, you can make a difference by using the training |
| in this Participant Manual to save lives and protect property.        |
|                                                                       |
| This training covers basic skills that are important to know in a     |
| disaster when emergency services are not available. With training and |
| practice and by working as a team, you will be able to do the         |
| greatest good for the greatest number of victims after a disaster,    |
| while protecting yourself from becoming a victim.                     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # When Disaster Strikes                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The damage caused by natural disasters and man-made events such as    |
| earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, and terrorism can       |
| affect all elements of society and government. These events:          |
|                                                                       |
| -   Severely restrict or overwhelm our response resources,            |
|     communications, transportation, and utilities.                    |
|                                                                       |
| -   Leave many individuals and neighborhoods cut off from outside     |
|     support.                                                          |
|                                                                       |
| It takes time for emergency response agencies to set up and prepare   |
| for an organized response, and damaged roads and disrupted            |
| communications systems may restrict their access into critically      |
| affected areas. Thus, for the initial period immediately following a  |
| disasteroften up to 3 days or longerindividuals, households, and      |
| neighborhoods may need to rely on their own resources for:            |
|                                                                       |
| -   Food.                                                             |
|                                                                       |
| -   Water.                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| -   First aid.                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| -   Shelter.                                                          |
|                                                                       |
| Individual preparedness, planning, survival skills, and mutual aid    |
| within neighborhoods and worksites during this initial period are     |
| essential measures in coping with the aftermath of a disaster.        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # Community Preparedness                                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Community-based preparedness planning allows us to prepare for and    |
| respond to anticipated disruptions and potential hazards following a  |
| disaster. As individuals, we can prepare our homes and families to    |
| cope during that critical period. Through pre-event planning,         |
| neighborhoods and worksites can also work together to help reduce     |
| injuries, loss of lives, and property damage. Neighborhood            |
| preparedness will enhance the ability of individuals and              |
| neighborhoods to reduce their emergency needs and to manage their     |
| existing resources until professional assistance becomes available.   |
|                                                                       |
| Studies of behavior following disasters have shown that groups        |
| working together in the disaster period perform more effectively if   |
| there has been prior planning for disaster response. These studies    |
| show that organized grassroots efforts may be more successful if they |
| are woven into the social and political fabric of the                 |
| communityneighborhood associations, schools, workplaces, places of    |
| worship, and other existing organizations.                            |
|                                                                       |
| Effective response therefore requires comprehensive planning and      |
| coordination of all who will be involvedgovernment, volunteer groups, |
| private businesses, schools, and community organizations. With        |
| training and information, individuals and community groups can be     |
| prepared to serve as a crucial resource capable of performing many of |
| the emergency functions needed in the immediate post-disaster period. |
| The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is designed to   |
| help communities prepare for effective disaster response through      |
| training and planning.                                                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # How CERTs Operate                                                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| As each CERT is organized and trained and in accordance with standard |
| operating procedures developed by the sponsoring agency, its members  |
| select a team leader and an alternate and identify a meeting          |
| location, or *staging area*, to be used in the event of a disaster.   |
|                                                                       |
| The staging area is where the fire department and other services will |
| interact with CERTs. Having a centralized contact point makes it      |
| possible to communicate damage assessments and allocate volunteer     |
| resources more effectively.                                           |
|                                                                       |
| Damage from disasters may vary considerably from one location to      |
| another. In an actual disaster, CERTs are deployed progressively and  |
| as needs dictate. Members are taught to assess their own needs and    |
| those in their immediate environment first.                           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| CERT members who encounter no need in their immediate area then       |
| report to their staging area, where they take on assigned roles based |
| on overall area needs. Members who find themselves in a heavily       |
| affected location send runners to staging areas to get help from      |
| available resources. Ham and CB radio links also may be used to       |
| increase communication capabilities and coordination.                 |
|                                                                       |
| The CERT program can provide an effective first-response capability.  |
| Acting as individuals first, then later as members of teams, trained  |
| CERT volunteers can fan out within their assigned areas,              |
| extinguishing small fires, turning off natural gas inlets to damaged  |
| homes, performing light search and rescue, and rendering basic        |
| medical treatment. Trained volunteers also offer an important         |
| potential workforce to service organizations in nonhazardous          |
| functions such as shelter support, crowd control, and evacuation.     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # The CERT Training Program                                           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| In the next 9 sessions, you will be trained in such basic self-help   |
| and mutual-aid emergency functions as:                                |
|                                                                       |
| -   Disaster preparedness.                                            |
|                                                                       |
| -   Fire safety.                                                      |
|                                                                       |
| -   Disaster medical operations (2 sessions).                         |
|                                                                       |
| -   Light search and rescue.                                          |
|                                                                       |
| -   CERT organization.                                                |
|                                                                       |
| -   Disaster Psychology.                                              |
|                                                                       |
| -   Terrorism and CERT.                                               |
|                                                                       |
| Classes are taught by trained emergency personnel, including          |
| firefighters and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel. The      |
| program consists of 20 hours of training and emphasizes hands-on      |
| practice.                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| # The CERT Traini      |                                             |
| ng Program (Continued) |                                             |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| CERT training is       |                                             |
| divided into 9 units   |                                             |
| covering the following |                                             |
| topics:                |                                             |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| #### Unit              | **Topics Covered**                          |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| 1\. Disaster           | -   Introductions                           |
| Preparedness           |                                             |
|                        | -   Recent Disasters and Emergencies        |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Course Preview                          |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Disasters and Disaster Workers          |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Impact on the Infrastructure            |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Structural and Nonstructural Hazards    |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Hazard Mitigation                       |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Home and Workplace Preparedness         |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Community Preparedness                  |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Protection for Disaster Workers         |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| 2\. Fire Safety        | -   Fire chemistry                          |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Reducing Fire Hazards in the Home and   |
|                        |     Workplace                               |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Hazardous Materials                     |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   CERT Sizeup                             |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Firefighting Resources                  |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Fire Suppression Safety                 |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| 3\. Disaster Medical   | -   Treating Life-Threatening Conditions    |
| Operations Part 1      |                                             |
|                        | -   Triage                                  |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| 4\. Disaster Medical   | -   Public Health Considerations            |
| Operations Part 2      |                                             |
|                        | -   Functions of Disaster Medical           |
|                        |     Operations                              |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Establishing Treatment Areas            |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Conducting Head-to-Toe Assessments      |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Treating Burns                          |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Wound Care                              |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Treating Fractures, Sprains, and        |
|                        |     Strains                                 |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Splinting                               |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Nasal Injuries                          |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Treating Hypothermia                    |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| 5\. Light Search And   | -   Search and Rescue Sizeup                |
| Rescue Operations      |                                             |
|                        | -   Conducting Search Operations            |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Conducting Rescue Operations            |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| 6\. CERT Organization  | -   CERT Organization                       |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   CERT Decisionmaking                     |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Documentation                           |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| 7\. Disaster           | -   Team Well-Being                         |
| Psychology             |                                             |
|                        | -   Working with Survivors' Trauma          |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+

+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| # The CERT Traini      |                                             |
| ng Program (Continued) |                                             |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| #### Unit              | **Topics Covered**                          |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| 8\. Terrorism and CERT | -   What is Terrorism                       |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Terrorist Targets                       |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Terrorist Weapons                       |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   B-NICE Indicators                       |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   Preparing at Home and Work              |
|                        |                                             |
|                        | -   CERTs and Terrorist Incidents           |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| 9\. Course Review and  | -   Course Review                           |
| Disaster Simulation    |                                             |
|                        | -   Disaster Simulation                     |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Upon completion of the course, you will receive a certificate and may |
| receive identification that will identify you as an emergency         |
| response team member during disaster response. You should maintain    |
| additional safety equipment, such as goggles, gloves, and basic first |
| aid supplies and have them available for use during a disaster. (If   |
| you are a member of a business or industry training group, your       |
| employer may supply these items for you.)                             |
|                                                                       |
| Training in disaster response should not be a one-time event.         |
| Awareness, commitment, and skills must be reinforced through          |
| follow-up training and repeated practice to maintain the edge         |
| necessary for effective response in the face of a disaster. To        |
| maintain your skill level and continually improve performance, you    |
| and your team members should participate in continuing supplemental   |
| training when offered in your area. Working through practice disaster |
| scenarios with other teams will provide opportunities not only for    |
| extended practice but for valuable networking with teams in the local |
| area.                                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+