Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training  is available to those who live and/or work in Arlington County. You will learn how to better prepare for emergencies and help ourselves and others, and also meet a lot of great people and have fun.

 

CERT training started in California in the 1980s and found its way to Arlington in 2002. It’s intended to provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to be safer in their own homes and to help save lives when professional responders are unavailable or delayed in their response. It’s free, takes about 24 hours over a seven week period (six weeknights and two Saturday mornings) and is sponsored by Arlington County’s Citizen Corps Council, Office of Emergency Management, and Fire Department. Over 400 County residents have completed the training and more than half of them have continued as active members of their neighborhood teams.

 

Topics included in the training are disaster preparedness, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, fire suppression, terrorism, disaster psychology and team organization. Classes meet at the Fire Training Academy in Shirlington and most are taught by Arlington County Fire Department personnel.

 

If you’d like more information about CERT training, email ArlingtonCERT@aol.com. There are two classes beginning in early March and there are still spaces available.