'Tis The Season...

September is Emergency Preparedness Month.

I note that the City of Federal Way, WA, is conducting CERT (Citizens Emergency Response Training) classes from October 1 through November 14.

The City of Kent, WA, is offering CERT Classes from September 27 through October 31.

Auburn, WA's, CERT classes are in progress right now.

CERT:

On a normal day, emergency services personnel are the best trained and equipped to handle emergencies and we all count on them for their expertise. However, following a catastrophic disaster, emergency response personnel may not be able to help everyone immediately, because of the size of the area affected, lost communications, and un-passable roads. You can make a difference in our community by using the CERT training we offer to save lives and protect property.

Through a supportive and dynamic adult learning environment, citizens participating in the training will learn to work as a team with the Kent Fire Department (in cooperation with Fire District 37) to make this community a safer place to live and to work. The purpose of the this training is to prevent and/or minimize injuries and increase disaster preparedness within the families and businesses of the greater Kent Fire / District 37 and Covington areas.

You will learn...

• Disaster Preparedness The CERT members' role in disaster response, hazards most likely to affect their community and how to prepare themselves.
• Disaster Fire Extinguishment To reduce fire risks and engage in limited fire extinguishment using basic safety precautions.
• Disaster Medical Operations How to manage airway obstruction, excessive bleeding, treatment of wounds and shock in disaster victims and methods of prioritizing multiple patients. See CERT Triage Bears for training method.
• Search and Rescue To coordinate searches and rescues as well as searching a structure; debris removal; victim extrication and rescuer protection.
• Disaster Psychology To identify and relieve post-disaster emotional stressors in rescuers and survivors.
• Team Organization How to organize and function as a team with other CERT members during a disaster.

Is "extinguishment" really a word?

I note that Federal Way and Auburn mention Amateur Radio Operators in the context of emergency response/recovery--as does the City of Renton, which does not have any CERT classes on the schedule--but Kent does not. Seattle does not even mention CERT on their web site, but their Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) does get a mention, and they have some sort of web-based training for residents..

Auburn and Kent both talk about the Howard Hanson Dam, which is an earth fill dam up in the mountains that has recently been discovered to be leaking, endangering everything downstream of it, including Auburn, Kent, Renton, and potentially even Seattle. They sent us this really nice pamphlet: Green River Flooding - Are You Ready? (Mrs. Drang and I are up high enough that we should be safe from flooding.)

Possibly I should note that CERT* Training, while it falls under the aegis of FEMA, does not obligate you to even working as part of a team at the local level, let alone sign you up to work for FEMA. The idea is that the more citizens who know these things, the better off we all are; if a disaster or emergency does arise, you are expected--that is, "they" assume that you will--to first deal with your own situation, to take care of your own family, and only help out with response/relief efforts as your own situation allows. But then, the more citizens who know these things, the easier response/recovery efforts will be. Frankly, that's the kind of thing FEMA was meant to do all along, help local agencies to prepare, serve as an intermediary between different jurisdictions and other federal agencies, not be the Big Daddy Agency that would come in and Make Everything All Right.

By the way, here is a link to find CERT in your area: CERT by State.

*Note that this web site calls CERT "Community Emergency Response Teams.