YES! Please notify me when the next
West County CERT Academy
is scheduled.
The West Orange County CERT program has confirmed the 2026 CERT Academy dates as follows:
The Academy covers the 20 Hour FEMA CERT Basic training course (download here) and provides the opportunity to put those skills to the test during the full scale exercise on the afternoon of Saturday 8/8 after the Academy graduation ceremony and lunch.
On behalf of the West CERT program managers (Loree, Anna, Robert, Brian and Ed) we would like to thank and commend the following for their assistance during the CERT Mutual Aid Program (CMAP) training at the Orange County Sheriff’s Academy on January 24, 2026.
With their assistance, we were able to deliver the 6-hour CMAP course, along with Type-2 task book signoffs, for 64 CERT volunteers representing CERT teams from across Orange County. The following West County CERT Volunteers were instrumental in making this training and exercise a success:
• Willie Ortega, Evaluator
• Art Remnet, Staging Area Manger
• Kris Thomas, Instructor
• Lynette Van Voris, Registration and Controller
• Alexandria Van Voris, Registration and Controller
• Anna Bilyk, Controller
• Debbie Charland, Controller
• Jorge De Paz, Course Participant
• Laura Hancock, Course Participant
• Evi Nguyen, Course Participant
• Letty Zaragoza, Course Participant
It was our West County CERT’s 23rd Academy. It’s the same Academy that was postpone twice, due to the pandemic – the third time is the charm apparently – and things went sideways and almost derailed it at the very last minute. And still thanks in no small part to the dedication and resourcefulness of our City Coordinators, our 23rd Academy was….
Amazing!
We had almost 50 residents come together for the two Friday nights and Saturdays to work our way through the 20-hour CERT basic training program. Then Saturday afternoon, the graduates and current CERT members completed an awesome field exercise where we got to practice some of the skills we learned.
We had some great guest experts come in to share their experiences from the field too. Thanks to Carrie Scott for an informative disaster psychology session on our first Friday evening; Sgt John Krok for his medical assessment and bandaging instruction and the team from Falck Ambulance for the hands-on assist with each of our 8 teams of attendees. During our second Friday evening we had a sobering presentation regarding terrorism from Josh Goldmark.
Of course our Academy could not have happened without the tireless support from our Team Coordinators: Loree Erpelding, Ed Fleming, Robert Acosta, and Brian Gray. We cannot forget about all the team members who pitched in to help with the course: Kris Thomas, Debbie Charland, Michelle Charland, Jan Ridgeway, Dave Atkins, Anna Bilyk, Robin Fairman, Sandy McClure, Cathy Lopez, Emanual Aparicio, Candace Workman, Lance Smith, Art Remnet, Daniel Mahoney, Willie Ortega, Jean Daum, Richard Daum, Vicki Davio, Don Davio, Howard Neill, Lynn Selden, Tom Woodward, and Suzette Ryzner. If you pitched in and we left you off the list, please accept our apologies.
The Academy presented all sorts of opportunities for fun learning about utility turn off valves, how to put out fires (remember PASS, right?), and of course the medical triage and bandaging. Let’s not forget about patient transport, what to do in a terrorism event, and how to lift a dumpster with some wood and a crowbar.
