Updates | Page 3 of 15 | West Orange County CERT (Community Emergency Response Team for Western Orange County California)

Fire Safety: The CERT Member’s Role

As in all CERT operations, the CERT members safety is always the number one priority.

Safety measures presented in the video include use of protective gear and the proper equipment to extinguish small fires, working with a buddy and a team, planning for safe entry and exit, maintaining a safe distance and position from a fire and using the P.A.S.S. procedure to operate fire extinguishers.

2019 in Review

We had a great December Team event and the food was outstanding. Thanks to everyone who was able to attend.

2019 was a terrific year for West Orange County CERT. As a Team:

Participated in 38 different events
We logged more than 2,500 hours on behalf of our communities
We had 50 members put in 20 or more hours (up a dozen from 2018) and 20 of those members put in more than 40 hours
Showed more than 50 community members how they and their families can become more “ready” for disaster
Held 5 Neighbor 4 Neighbor^® events and logged almost 150 hours in the process

And that does not include the hundreds of hours the Team has invested in both online and in person training and development.

It’s an incredible investment benefiting both our Team and the communities that we serve.

Thanks to each and everyone of you who participated in some way during 2019. It could have been at an event, taking a course, helping at the Academy or some other behind the scenes effort. We could not have done it without you. THANK YOU!!

And we are looking forward to an even better 2020. Make sure to stay connected and join us in helping our communities become more prepared and safer.

Here’s a recap of the year that was 2019

July 2019 CERT Academy – Week 1 – What an Amazing Group

We kicked off our 2019 CERT Academy* with an amazing group of community members and leaders. This is a great class representing all six cities who sponsor our program and a half dozen surrounding communities.

Our first weekend we covered disaster psychology, fire safety, utility control for your home, search and light rescue, and disaster triage and first aid. Quite a lot of terrific information. And thanks to the City of Westminster, we had a delicious Italian meal for Saturday lunch.

As special thanks to all of our instructors and to Dr. Heather Williams for coming out to talk with our class about disaster psychology and the emotional effects of disaster for everyone including responders.

Here’s a quick summary video of weekend 1

CERT Academy is for you too!

If you want to find out more about how you too can prepare your family for the next disaster that strikes your neighborhood or Southern California, please sign up here and we will send you an invitation to our next class.

* The West Orange County CERT Academy covers the basic FEMA CERT 20 hour training course and includes a full exercise following our graduation ceremonies on the second Saturday.