I think the idea of the CERTs is a great one, in fact on my last trip to Ecuador I made the a complete copy of the training material FEMA had published in Spanish and gave it to the fire department in Tosagua, with whom I have been working with for several years. I look forward to seeing how they were able to utilize the material. Do you or any one else know if their local Fire/Rescue departments have actually utilized any of the CERT’s? I have checked the course locations in Maryland and do not see one listed for our area. As one of the individuals responsible in our area for responding to disasters/incidents, I would like to know how to integrate the CERT’s into our overall sphere of operations. I would suspect that unless there is working relationship with county/state rescue teams prior to an incident, that members of CERT’s would not be allowed near an incident, for both legal and logistical reasons. Any information on how the CERT’s have already been utilized and the successes/failures would be appreciated. Pete