CERT Unit Forming To Assist In Local Emergencies

By Andrew Gorosko

The town has held an organizational session for about 20 local volunteers who plan to join a new Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), whose members would volunteer their time and effort to assist emergency services personnel during certain local emergencies.

The project is being overseen by Newtown Emergency Management Director Bill Halstead, as well as Deputy Director Donna Culbert and Deputy Director Maureen Will.

 Ms Will, who also is the town’s director of emergency communications, said that the recent CERT orientation session, which was held at the Sandy Hook Firehouse, went well.

Formal training sessions for CERT members are scheduled for August, Ms Will said. The adult male and female volunteers who attended the orientation session come from a variety of backgrounds, representing a cross-section of the community, she said.

Ms Will said she is impressed by the caliber of the volunteers who plan to receive CERT training in Newtown. Many of those people already have a knowledge of first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), she said.

The members’ upcoming training will include topics such as medical triage, which is a system of assigning priorities of medical treatment based on urgency.

Also, CERT members will learn how to properly use a fire extinguisher to put out small fires.

They also will receive instruction in general safety.

Subject matter of the course will include disaster preparedness, disaster fire suppression, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, disaster psychology, team organization, and terrorism awareness.

In this area, Bethel and New Milford have town CERT units trained to respond to emergencies, as needed, Ms Will said.

The Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard, which is stationed at Fairfield Hills, also has a CERT component, Ms Will noted.

The scope of the duties that CERT members would handle would be based upon the nature and the scale of the emergency that the town experiences, she said. The town hopes it never has to put the CERT unit into action, she added.

CERT members likely would aid emergency services personnel handle the problems posed by major storms such as those experienced during Tropical Storm Irene last August and Winter Storm Alfred last October.

During such intense storms, emergency services personnel need help in handling the many aspects of storm responses, Ms Will said.

CERT members essentially would serve as “support personnel,” she said.

Each CERT member will receive a backpack for their equipment, a vest, a shirt, a helmet, and a badge that identifies them as a CERT member.

Ms Will said she expects the new CERT unit to be operational on August 11, after its members receive suitable training. Various CERT members will have various roles in the organization, she said.

In order to activate the town CERT unit to work in an emergency, the town would need approval from the state, Ms Will said. CERT teams’ costs are covered by state and federal funds.