This month I enrolled myself in the CERT course provided by our city. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team. The course is free and many cities countrywide make this available to train residents to be prepared in case of emergency or disaster.
The training was held at the Belmont Fire Station #14. Officer Christy Adonis was the officer-in-charge. The course started last Tuesday and it was heavily attended. There were 25-30 of us in there. For most part it was pure lecture. The course consisted of 2 days of lecture and half day field training.
Day 1
It was a night class and though I was tired from work I was too curious to find out what this training is all about. The lecture started with the objectives and what to expect in the course. There are lots of things discussed and the lecture showed me that California is prone to a lot of disasters – flood, earthquake, wildfires/fire etc. Christy told us to think about preparing for our 3-day supply kit which we need to have – in the house, in the car, and in the workplace.
All of this talk about disaster and the gravity of the aftermath made me think of the Book of Eli. Where people have next to nothing and will kill for anything. It
sounded very apocalyptic. I for one, wouldn’t know or don’t want to think about having nothing of the luxury I take for granted now. I don’t like being unclean or starving or without electricity or water. Although I was convinced that I needed to prepare my supply kit in case of emergency – I was in a denial and will actually not prepare myself…hahahaha.
Fire Station Tour
After the lecture, we were treated to a tour around the fire station. That night, there were 3 firemen on duty. They showed us the big red fire engine truck which had its hose, tools, medical kit etc. Firemen today also have training as paramedics and they have their complete paramedic (except the transportation of patient) set-up in their fire truck. One captain showed us their latest gadget – a thermal sensing camera which allow firemen to search victims easily and quickly without having to grope under the dark. The gadget cost them 15k.
Not do they only showed the truck, they also toured us to their rooms and lounge area. We saw the fireman’s pole which they said is seldom used because it’s bad for the knees. Fire station 14 is really nicely built. It’s large and well-maintained. According to the captain, none of the construction of the building was taken from the citizen’s taxes. The exercise facility and equipments, some firefighting gadget, one of the trucks – the firemen won grants to fund these things. One citizen also donated 4 flat screen TVs.
Day 2
This was a whole day lecture. Officer Jeff Thorne was the lecturer and he is a Hazmat specialist. I learned about fires, how to put away fires, identify the types of fire extinguisher, TRIAGE (which I enjoyed very much), and light and search rescue operations.
Christy also gave us our CERT kit which is a backpack having a multi-purpose wrench, a hard hat, a vest with reflect strip, eyewear, gloves, and clipboard. I’m now wondering where to put these things in the apartment. Though it’s exciting to imagine myself volunteering for disaster response operations, the officers always stressed that we should always think about our safety first. We can’t help other victims when we know we’re not in good condition ourselves or know that the risk is great. We can’t be heroes. They prefer us not to be heroes.
Unfortunately I won’t be able to join their day 3 lecture and field training. Hopefully I can participate in their next course schedule. Though my training for CERT is incomplete, I learned a lot. I learned common sense stuffs which I discovered was not common sense to me. I basically learned theoretically how to respond in case of emergency or disaster. I pray that I won’t use it my family though.
I encourage everyone to undergo this training because it will help a lot and preparedness is always good, no matter what. To learn more about CERT, this is the Belmont/San Carlos website.
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Calvin
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:38 pm
panoorin mo yung the colony na series from discovery channel. interesting sya. matututo ka on how to survive after a post apocalyptic event.
antonebraga
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:00 pm
When it comes to our property, what do we expect in case of loss (hurricane, tornado, earthquake, flood, fire, etc.)? The disaster itself is news. What happens after the dust settles is the story: the aftermath shock.
Insurance policyholders, and more importantly disaster survivors, need to be informed of access to equality–basic rights and information. The internet reaches far more people than anyone would have ever imagined, though difficult to gather those willing to pause, to inspect, to further…to think on their own. And yet, much is available gratis! It just takes looking: http://www.disasterprepared.net/info.html Can I get a little help here?
Antone P. Braga
PO Box 60
Montgomery, PA 17752 US
Tel. 570-547-1332
John
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Thanks for the summary of the CERT sessions. It would be interesting hearing about the rest of it when you have a chance to finish the course. I wonder if the material is standardized across the country. I assume they have to allow for local differences.
http://www.destinysurvival.com
John
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:53 pm
I don’t know if my first attempt at a comment made it through, so I’ll try again.
Thanks for sharing your summary of the CERT program sessions. It would be interesting to hear more when you’ve had a chance to finish the course.
I wonder if material is standardized across the country or if they have to allow for local differences.
Katkat
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:20 am
that’s the kit they gave us. it’s not a complete kit – it’s just a start-up kit which we can put more stuffs that we think we need into that bag. i don’t know if it’s standardized though.