The Riverside Fire Department- Office of Emergency Management Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program trains people to be self-sufficient following a major disaster when first responders are likely to be over tasked and not readily available to respond to every emergency.
The CERT Program concepts and practices further foster a sense of “whole community”, a priority for the City of Riverside. Under the direction of local emergency responders, CERT teams can help provide critical support by giving immediate assistance to victims, providing damage assessment information, and organizing other volunteers at a disaster site.
The Community Emergency Response Team Basic Training course is a 20-hour class that provides some basic skills people may need to help them prepare for, response to, and recover from emergencies and disasters. It’s a combination of classroom instruction, hands-on practice, and an exercise that gives students the confidence to lead people in responding to an emergency as a safe and effective team.
CERT members learn how to organize to assist others in their neighborhood, school or workplace following a disaster when professional responders are not immediately available to help. Participants receive training in basic disaster response skills like:
- Disaster Preparedness
- Teamwork & Organization
- Post-Disaster Safety
- Fire Suppression & Safety
- Hazardous Materials Safety
- Light Search and Rescue
- Basic Triaging & Life-Saving Medical Treatments
- Disaster Psychology
From this class, we also invite the students to join the City of Riverside’s CERT Support & Outreach Team, a volunteer force that assists city staff in preparing the community and supporting our first responders.
Volunteers trained in CERT also offer a potential workforce for performing duties such as shelter support, crowd control and evacuation. The role of a CERT volunteer is to help themselves and to help others until trained emergency personnel arrive.
