May 4, 2019

By Randy Hudspeth
Interim Police Chief

Our annual Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) class graduated on April 27th, 2019. We are so proud to offer this training to the public and are grateful to those who volunteer to be a part of it.

The CERT effort is part of a national program to better prepare community members for disaster response and to make them more resilient. The Department of Homeland Security describes the goal of CERT as making communities safer, stronger and better prepared to respond to the threats of terrorism, crime, public health issues, and disasters of all kinds through:

Preparing the public for local risks with targeted outreach

Engaging voluntary organizations to help augment resources for public safety, preparedness and response capabilities

Integrating the whole community and integrate non-traditional resources to ensure disaster preparedness

Our CERT training program consists of nine 3-hour classes covering the following topics:
Emergency Preparedness
Fire Safety
Emergency Medical Operations
Light Search and Rescue Operations
Disaster Psychology
And more….

The graduation of our recent class brings our total number of active member to 49. These volunteers would be a critical component to our communities ability to respond to disasters, either natural or man-made. We are truly appreciative of their commitment to the community.

If you have interest in joining our CERT team, please be on the lookout for next year’s advertisements or contact Capt. Michelle Rogers at 816-737-6103.