Following a major disaster, first responders who provide fire and medical services will not be able to meet the demand for these services. Factors such as the number of victims, communication failures, and road blockages will prevent people from accessing emergency services they have come to expect at a moment's notice through 911. People will have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life saving and life sustaining needs.
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program
educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. With real hands on training during the various classes, participants that take the entire course will use fire extinguishers on a real fire, perform search and rescue operations in the fire training tower and participate in a disaster exercise.