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LBFD Cert Graduation – A 7.2 Quake Hits SoCal…..Now What?
By JJohnson | June 28, 2009
On the morning of Saturday, June 27th, the Long Beach Fire Departments CERT program held yet another successful graduation at it’s impressive training facility. For those who don’t know what CERT is, it stands for Community Emergency Response Team. This program is put on by the LBFD at no charge to the public. Since the program began over 13 years ago, the LBFD has graduated over 4400 people.
The scene was played out as if the “The Big One” hit Southern California. The CERT class was utilizing the skills they learned over the 6 week course and were able to help the “injured.” The “injured” consisted of volunteers and past graduates who were given various fake injuries. The class had to handle the disaster situation until the Fire Department arrived.
Our goal is to provide you with valuable information that will benefit you, your family, and your neighborhood. Our commitment to you is to provide you an effective training program in a professional and safe manner. You’ll find that the Long Beach CERT team is comprised of members from all walks of life and experience. Our success is based on utilizing the varying talents from all our members, new and old. Furthermore, we encourage and expect an open environment where we can all share ideas and experiences that will benefit the CERT team.
CERT History
CERT originated in 1985 when the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) recognized a need to educate the community about disaster preparedness, especially as a result of a major earthquake. Living in Southern California, we are constantly faced with the potential of a significant earthquake that could severely affect Southern California.
LAFD began a program that educated individuals about what they could do to protect themselves and their families in the event of a catastrophic disaster. The CERT concept was well received and extremely successful. Eventually word spread. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) then worked with LAFD to create CERT guidelines to make the program available across the nation. CERT is now a 20-hour program that falls under the government’s Citizen Corps umbrella.
Long Beach CERT Program
Our CERT program follows the FEMA guidelines and consists of basic instruction in the following areas:
1. Disaster Preparedness
2. Fire Suppression
3. Basic First Aid
4. Search & Rescue and Cribbing (Leveraging)
5. CERT Organization & Disaster Psychology
6. Terrorism
CERT training is offered each quarter during the year. Each class is taught one day a week on 6 consecutive weeks for 3 hours each night. On the Saturday of the last week, we have a graduation ceremony that includes a disaster drill, which incorporates all the skills learned in the class.
For those of you that would like to be part of this program, you can check out http://longbeach.gov/fire and follow the link to CERT or you can email Firefighter Joshua Johnson who is the LBFD CERT coordinator at Joshua.Johnson@longbeach.gov or call 562-570-2516
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