Active shooter incidents. Major weather events. Metro emergencies. Power outages. Would you like to be better prepared for and able to recover from disasters large and small? Individuals who live and/or work in Arlington County are invited to participate in Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) sponsored by the county's Citizen Corps, Office of Emergency Management and Fire Department. The eight-session, 26-hour course follows a national curriculum that covers disaster preparedness, disaster medical operations, fire suppression and utility shut-off, disaster psychology, light search and rescue, team organization and terrorism. Classes are taught by personnel from the county's fire department, police department, Office of Emergency Management and CERT members themselves. The class -- which meets six Tuesday nights and two Saturday mornings -- begins March 14 and concludes with a mock disaster on April 29.
To-date, nearly 800 county residents have completed this free training which is open to those who are 18 and older (16 and 17 year olds may participate if accompanied by a adult/parent). Many complete additional requirements to become active-duty, deployable members of the all-volunteer Arlington CERT and its neighborhood teams.
CERT members have been deployed a number of times during recent years to conduct damage assessments and mitigate hazards following major weather events and to provide support to the county's emergency management personnel, as needed. Space in this training is limited and assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact Arling...@gmail.com for additional information.
Read more at https://emergency.arlingtonva.us/get-involved/cert/
