Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Academy - Fall 2025

Established in 1947, the Santa Clara County Fire Department provides fire services for Santa Clara County, California (light green in the map below) and the communities of Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga. The department also provides protection for the unincorporated areas adjacent to those cities. The department's area of coverage is shown in dark green in the map below.SCCFD Area of CoverageWrapping in an approximately 20 mile arc around the southern end of "Silicon Valley", the Santa Clara County Fire Department has grown to include 15 fire stations, an administrative headquarters, a maintenance facility, five other support facilities, 19 pieces of apparatus and 3 command vehicles, to cover 128.3 square miles (267 square km) and a population of over 226,700.

Santa Clara County Fire Department

CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training academies are offered in the communities served by the Santa Clara County Fire Dept.

Monta Vista Park

The Santa Clara County Fire Department offers the CERT Academy to train residents on disaster preparedness skills. In the event of a disaster or public safety emergency, CERT volunteers will be able to assist their family and neighbors when first responders are not immediately available to help.Participants will learn disaster preparedness, disaster medical operations, disaster psychology, fire suppression, light search and rescue, and terrorism awareness. <ul><li>The CERT Academy is (3) evening/in-person sessions, (3) evening/online sessions, and a (1) final in-person skills exercise during the day. All in-person sessions will be at Monta Vista Recreation Center at 22601 Voss Avenue, Cupertino. </li></ul><ul><li>Students must attend all seven (7) FEMA class sessions to receive a Certificate of Completion. Should you have to miss a date, makeup sessions can occur in 2026. We understand that scheduling can be difficult. </li></ul><ul><li>CERT classes are held on Tuesday (in-person) and Thursday (online) nights, from 6:00pm-9:00pm, on the following dates: 10/7, 10/9, 10/14, 10/16, 10/21, 10/23, with an in-person Skills/Graduation: Saturday on 10/25 from 8:30am to 1:00pm. </li></ul><ul><li>Fee: $35 fee covers the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) you will receive in this course: hard hat, gloves, eye protection, vest, and N95 mask. </li></ul>This training course is open to individuals who live or work within the communities served by Santa Clara County Fire Department: Cupertino, Campbell, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, San Martin, Saratoga, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and the unincorporated surrounding areas.If you are interested in attending CERT and do not live or work in the jurisdictions served by the Santa Clara County Fire Department you can attend any of the CERT classes served by SCCFD, however, preference will be given to those who reside in any of the eight (8) SCCFD jurisdictions. For further questions please visit the web site or contact the Eventbrite organizer listed below for more information on how to attend a CERT Academy before registering on Eventbrite.Participants should be 18 or older. Teenagers should consider joining the Teen CERT Academy:<a href="https://sites.google.com/view/santa-clara-county-teen-cert/home" title="https://sites.google.com/view/santa-clara-county-teen-cert/home" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"> https://sites.google.com/view/santa-clara-county-teen-cert/home</a>Questions please contact: Gracie Hernandez at (408) 341-4425 or by email at cert@sccfd.org