Free Public Program To Help Protect Your Family and Community

Emergencies and disasters are happening everyday to all types of people. But would you know what to do if it happened to you or to someone you care about? The Sacramento Metro Fire District wants to help our local communities to be better prepared by offering free safety trainings to community groups and organizations. This program will train you to become a member of a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

The CERT training program has been offered and provided to residents and employees within the Sacramento Fire District for over five years. Fire Station 21 in Citrus Heights is currently the site for the CERT basic training but in June there will be an off site basic CERT training class held in Rancho Cordova and a Sheltering Drill will be scheduled for later in the year. You can contact the CERT information line: 916-566-4381 or email at cert@smfd.ca.gov.

Teams are comprised of ten or more members from your business, neighborhood, apartment complex or any other group which will make up a community team. The CERT training will prepare you for response during and after a neighborhood disaster. There are several jobs and responsibilities within a Community Emergency Response Team such as physical response, like lifting and carrying, documentation and people needed for comforting others.

Allen Getreu, CERT Program Manager of Sacramento Metro Fire, reports that the program has provided Disaster Information Booths and First Aid Standby for many events in Rancho Cordova. They have also provided services regularly at all of the Capitol Air Shows at Mather and created the first Operation River Safe Life Jacket Loan Program. The Operation River Safe Life Jacket Loan program was first held on the American River five years ago. CERT also oversees and staffs three holiday weekends a year for the program; during the Fourth of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day. Getreu, who is also a Sac Metro Captain and Paramedic, says there are currently several CERT members who reside in Rancho Cordova.

Betty Taylor, Outreach Coordinator for Metro Fire CERT, states that although the program is free, the training is priceless, especially if it empowers a community to come together during a catastrophic event. It enables citizens to not only help themselves, but to help each other as well.

A local example of people helping others occurred in Rancho Cordova on Christmas Eve 2008 when a freak gas explosion killed one man and injured several others. In the latest CERT newsletter, Metro Fire CERT member Crystal Granite recounts coming upon the devastated section of Olson Drive and how she utilized her training in order to assist emergency and police personal. “Unfortunately, I have used my training several times and each time I am more grateful than the time before”, Granite stated in the March 2009 CERT Newsletter.

The above photo is of a recent group attending a CERT training.