Trained citizens can help save lives. Poway’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program not only educates participants about emergencies that may impact their area, it also trains them in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, simple search and rescue and basic first aid treatment.
Members of the Poway CERT team may be called upon to support the city’s Emergency Operations Center during a disaster, staff a care and shelter facility, or conduct damage assessment. Emergencies come in all forms – as we’ve learned the past few years – and CERT volunteers provided community outreach and education throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Applications are now being accepted for the May 2022 CERT Academy, which is the first step toward becoming a Poway CERT volunteer. The academy begins May 14 is open to Poway residents 18 years and older.
Class participants receive training in basic first aid, fire safety, simple search and rescue, terrorism, emergency preparedness and disaster psychology. At the conclusion of the classroom training, students participate in a practical exercise designed to allow them to apply the skills they learned. Classes are taught by Poway firefighters supplemented with guest speakers. A certificate of completion is issued at the end of the course. Attendance at all five training sessions is required.
Apply by May 6 here. For questions, please contact Poway’s CERT Program Manager Susy Turnbull.