Have you ever heard of the “CERT” program? Neither had I until my local Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department announced that a CERT training course would be offered at a local facility. I signed up for the course, and this is some background information.

On September 19, 1985, an 8.1 earthquake hit the Mexico City metropolitan area, destroying 412 buildings and seriously damaging an additional 3124. Over 5000 people died and thousands more were injured, many seriously. First responders, including police, fire and medical personnel, were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the event. Hundreds of people who might have been saved died. One of the results of this was the revelation that citizen volunteers must be trained to assist authorities in the event of catastrophic events which, at least initially, are beyond the capability of local first responders to handle. This was the birth of the Citizen Emergency Response Team concept (“CERT”).

So, for the last two weeks, I have attended twice weekly evening classes, followed by a Saturday practical session at a local fire station where the class participants operated various types of fire extinguishers, learned how to use “cribbing” to free an individual trapped under debris, and finally how to enter a partially smoke filled building to find, rescue and triage individuals possibly trapped inside. In the process, we were taught what to do as well as what NOT to do. The concept is to do the most good for the most people. Much of the course material dealt with items and issues I had been formerly exposed to during my airline initial and recurrent training. CPR, first aid etc. But there was also much more that was new and useful should I ever be faced with a mass casualty event. I would suggest that people contact their local Sheriff’s Department and find out if “CERT” classes are available. They are definitely worth your time.