Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT)
CERT was organized in the mid 1990s as a citizen adjunct to the Culver City Fire Department to help in case of disasters which overload the available time and resources of the Fire Department.
In a large scale disaster, individuals and communities may have to rely on their own resources for food, water, rescue, and medical assistance for up to 72 hours (or more if the disaster is very severe). CERT team members are citizens who volunteered for 3 1/2 days of training in disaster preparedness, light search and rescue, emergency first aid, and handling of psychological trauma. They are trained to
in that order. After the initial hours of a disaster, CERT members are contacted as needed by telephone (if the disaster is not an earthquake) or by amateur radio operators (if the disaster is an earthquake -- see CCARES on the Blair Hills home page) to help the Fire Department with trouble areas in the city. This help will be coordinated through a chain of command and facilitated by the CCARES radio communication.
Members of the Blair Hills community are encouraged to train for CERT. Whether or not you train for CERT, do get to know your community members who have trained for CERT and tell them about any needs as well as any emergency-related skills that you have, when you are likely to be at home, and how you would communicate with them if you are in trouble or if you are safe during an emergency. Also, if there is an emergency and you are safe, come out into the street and help your CERT members check on your neighbors.
Community members who have CERT training are: Jonathan Melvin (our Neighborhood Emergency Response Team Coordinator), Rosalie Kirsch, Lois Soter, Dorothy Steiner, Bill and Patricia Thomas, Cheri and Richard Sakai, and Paul Richter.
Detailed information about CERT training and be found at http://www.ci.culver-city.ca.us/cert/cert.html.
Information on S.T.A.R.T (simple triage and rapid treatment may be viewed at http://www.blairhills.org/START.htm.
A list of things never to forget if disaster strikes, from Dr. Marc Vetri, who taught at a CERT training on 3/15/2003, may be viewed here.