Fwd: Learn skills to help your community before, during, and after disaster
Diane Tokugawa
Begin forwarded message:From: City of Berkeley <ne...@news.berkeleyca.gov>Subject: Learn skills to help your community before, during, and after disasterDate: April 8, 2026 at 5:02:06 PM PDT
Sign up for disaster preparedness classes to learn how to extinguish fires, rescue victims, perform first aid, help others cope with stress
April 8, 2026
SERVICES. RESOURCES. COMMUNITY.
News from the City of Berkeley
Learn skills to help your community before, during, and after disaster
Sign up for disaster preparedness classes to learn how to extinguish fires, rescue victims, perform first aid, and help others cope with stress.
Take emergency preparedness classes with fellow Berkeleyans to learn practical skills you can use in your neighborhoods before, during, and after disasters.
These skills are particularly important in those early moments after a major disaster, when paramedics or firefighters may have to first address more urgent priorities away from your neighborhood.
These classes include skills such as:
- Extinguishing small, household fires
- Finding and rescuing natural disaster victims using basic tools
- Performing basic first aid
- Helping survivors of natural disasters cope with extreme stress
Take any one of these classes at the Fire Department’s training center in West Berkeley. You can also take all seven classes to complete the series to help increase your own resiliency, that of your neighborhood, and of Berkeley as a whole.
Each of these 3-to-4-hour-long classes will be offered two times in person from April 23 to July 25, 2026, with evening and weekend sessions available.
Register for all classes via Eventbrite as soon as possible, as spots fill up quickly.
Register for classes on Eventbrite
Community Emergency Response Team training (CERT) teaches you how to take care of yourself, your family, and your community until first responders can assist.
Sign up to attend CERT classes in person at the Fire Department Division of Training, 997 Cedar Street.
Some classes build on previous topics and knowledge and require prerequisites from the series, so it is recommended to take the courses in order.
Class openings are prioritized for first-time students. If you have signed up and cannot attend a class, cancel your Eventbrite reservation as soon as possible to open up a spot on the waitlist.
Disaster Preparedness
Learn about Berkeley’s disaster risks and get the key steps, guidance, and planning support you need to prepare yourself, your family, and your community.
Disaster Medical Operations I
Provide basic first aid for common injuries, and use simple, potentially life-saving interventions after a disaster.
Disaster Medical Operations II - (Prerequisite: Disaster Medical Operations I)
Build on your first-aid skills for treating a wide range of wounds and conditions.
Fire Safety and Utilities
Learn successful fire prevention strategies that can help your community in a disaster.
Disaster Mental Health
Learn how to help your community build emotional resilience for emergencies.
CERT Organization
Organize effective response teams and gather critical disaster information safely during an emergency.
Light Search and Rescue - (Prerequisites: Disaster Medical Operations I & II)
Assist your community in finding disaster survivors safely.
Create community connections
By signing up for classes, you will connect with a community dedicated to disaster preparedness, including the Berkeley Fire Department, other City staff, CERT instructors and trainees, and passionate neighbors.
Through these classes—and guidance from neighborhood CERT leaders—you will make connections and begin the important role of organizing your neighborhood to support your friends, family, and neighbors in times of need.
In CERT classes, you will:
- Learn from experts and people with lived experience
- Collaborate with other Berkeley residents and neighbors
- Practice and feel confident in your ability to help others
Sign up for CERT classes to build emergency networks with others, know what to do during disasters, and stay connected.
Links
- Sign up for CERT classes (Eventbrite)
- Disaster Preparedness Trainings (City of Berkeley)
- Get updates from the Berkeley Ready newsletter (City of Berkeley)
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Protect your home, use City services to remove vegetation
Prepare for wildfire season by using a free City of Berkeley program that will take away shrubs, limbs, brush, and other “hard” vegetation you gather from your property.
Make a Citywide chipper service appt Berkeleyans can sign up online for this service, known as our “Berkeley Chipper Program," to choose neighborhood chipping events or sign up to get an email when the next nearby event is scheduled.
In addition, those in certain higher-risk areas of the Berkeley Hills that pay a fire district surcharge can request a vegetation debris bin, which can help move even larger amounts and a greater variety of cleared vegetation.
To see if you qualify to receive a vegetation debris bin for your neighborhood, call 3-1-1 or (510) 981-2489 outside City limits.
The Berkeley Chipper program is funded by voter-approved Measure FF and is part of Fire Safe Berkeley, a broad effort led by the Berkeley Fire Department to create tools, resources, and partnerships with the community to reduce the risk of wildfire. Berkeley Fire’s comprehensive wildfire protection plan includes annual inspections of certain hillside properties to help identify fire risks, increased public education about fire prevention, and services like the chipper program.
“Each of us has a role to play in reducing the risk of wildfire,” said Fire Chief Dave Sprague, a third-generation Berkeley resident. “Thinning vegetation around our homes and removing all vegetation within five feet of structures, decks and stairs significantly reduces the risk around your home. Each of us doing our part can also build toward decreasing the wildfire risk of entire neighborhoods.”
Make your home less vulnerable to wildfires
Berkeley homeowners can upgrade their windows, roofs, eaves, and vents to prevent a wildfire’s sparks, embers or heat from setting your home ablaze.
Changing building features or materials to be more fire resistant is particularly important the closer a home is to undeveloped areas like forests and regional parks.
A wildfire’s heat and embers often surge ahead of a blaze and expose vulnerabilities built into a home.
- An ember blown by winds can fall through a vent to set a home on fire – so covering vents with metal mesh is critical.
- The heat alone from a nearby wildfire can be so intense that it ignites certain building materials. As a result, multi-pane tempered windows and fire-resistant roofs can help safeguard your home.
- Embers can collect on roofs, in gutters, and along the foundation, igniting vegetation and debris which can spread fire to the roof or other parts of the structure. Sealing gaps, clearing, and enclosing gutters lowers the chance of embers entering these vulnerable areas.
Sometimes the fire risk isn’t your building. A pile of logs, a wooden fence, wooden furniture, or other flammable objects placed near your home can also ignite and expose your entire home to fire.
Don’t stop at your house. Trim trees, cut back brush, and plant fire-smart vegetation outside the first 5 feet of your home to lower your fire risk even more.
Buyers and sellers of residential or multi-use buildings with at least two residential units in the highest fire risk areas may also qualify for a tax rebate when making physical upgrades to reduce fire risk.
Making the materials of your home more resistant to heat and embers – a term often referred to as “home hardening” – might save it from a wildfire.
Prepare for – and know how to respond to – winter storms
Winter rains and winds can lead to flooding, downed power lines, and fallen trees. Know how to reduce flooding risks near your home and who to call to report those hazards.
Minimize flooding and water damage around your home by clearing gutters, downspouts, driveways, and drains. If your property has ever flooded, use sandbags to help divert water. Residents and merchants can pick up some from the City.
You can also “adopt” a storm drain near your home to reduce flooding in your neighborhood.
Reporting hazards quickly can help the City and other agencies respond.
- Report fallen trees by calling 3-1-1 (510-981-2489 outside City limits)
- Report downed power lines to 9-1-1 and then notify PG&E
- For street hazards like clogged storm drains, street flooding, non-working street lights and traffic signals, call (510) 981-6620
Storm season is also a reminder to make sure you’ve signed up for AC Alert emergency notifications and have an updated emergency kit.
We're here to help
Use our Report & Pay tool to access City services quickly.
Or call (510) 981-2489, or 3-1-1 inside City limits.
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