Wife and I are going to CERT training Wed & Thur this week (justifiably work-related for both of us for different reasons). All three sons going to same Sat-Sun this week, then the local agencies will be out of grant money for the year. At least 2 other Scout Leaders from our troop are going that I know of.

I'll post my/our observations and opinions of the training this weekend or early next week.

My wife and I did this a couple of years ago and it did more to get her involved and asking questions than all my talk for years prior to the classes.

I cannot wait to hear your impressions.

We had 8--3 hour sessions though spread over 8 weeks.

Cool! I know there are others here who have attended - we should be able to compare notes.

This is set up as two 8 1/2 hour sessions. One of the things I'm going to try to pry out of them is the curriculum and lesson plans. Can't hurt to ask...

What is CERT?

Sue

Sue - sorry: Community Emergency Response Teams. See http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/

Tom

Tom,

They have the complete student and instructor guides on their site.

http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/mtrls.asp

That is going to be a long couple of days.

I will wait until you post your impressions etc to discuss our experiences....but I am glad our classes were a bit more spread out I think. We generally had a classroom portion and a hands-on portion each evening. Best fun was putting out a huge gasoline fueled car fire.....most difficult was cribbing up a massive cement slab laying on a body (dummy).....more later.

Have a good time.

Susan,

Check back in for the discussion that I am sure will happen here, but in the meantime check to see if your community participates in CERT. Our community offers the classes for free and did a very good job of it.

http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/dir.asp

Schwert - I saw that right as I posted the link for Sue <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> - thanks.

Of course, it is free to the trainees here as well. "...and each trainee will receive $60 worth of equipment..." - well, we'll see - I'll inventory and post pics when I get thru it. The coordinator (happens to be an ARC staffer locally) chatted quite a bit with my wife today on the telephone, and one of their concerns is continuing to bring previously trained folks back to keep them current, bring as many as possible along for future more advanced training, keeping folks active and current, etc.

They want to reach as many folks as possible, and are talking with several area schools and colleges - many have mandatory community service (20 - 40 hours annually). And they are very interested in trying to coordinate with area Scouting units, especially Venture Crews (besides our crew, we're in a position right now to broker a deal with them for ALL the Crews in our council). And so on... I guess my primary interest is in extending the reach like that, although I'm looking forward to anything new and useful that I can learn personally.

I expect to enjoy this.

Tom

Part of my job is to work with my county Emergency Manager with their CERT. My main focus is a MRC (Medical Reserve Corp) it follows the same idea of CERT except the volunteers are from a medical background and will assist the hospitals and health departments in a disaster. This is what has got me into the preparedness mindframe. I am glad to hear there are others willing to work in their communities.

Jeremy

No CERT in my area. I checked. Apparently it's more common in smaller towns than large urban areas. Atleast thats what the city and county emergency officials and a CERT manager from a neighboring city (Fort Worth) told me.