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| # Acknowledgements                                                    |
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| 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.                 |
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| 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                                                      |
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+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # 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.                                                               |
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+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # 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 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 after a disaster, while         |
| protecting yourself from becoming a victim.                           |
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+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # When Disaster Strikes                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The damage caused by natural disasters and manmade 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  |
| disasteroften up to 3 days or longerindividuals, 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.        |
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+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # 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                 |
| communityneighborhood associations, schools, workplaces, places of   |
| worship, and other existing organizations.                            |
|                                                                       |
| Effective response therefore requires comprehensive planning and      |
| coordination of all who will be involvedgovernment, 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.                                        |
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+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| # 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.     |
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