Getting CERT-ified

Marisa O’Neil

Wildfires are raging, the city needs to be evacuated and fire

personnel are stretched thin. What do you do to help?

Members of Costa Mesa’s Community Emergency Response Team,

commonly called CERT, worked through that scenario Saturday morning

during a skills-and-drills workshop through the city’s fire

department. The exercise was designed to test the readiness of the

team, which is trained to back up safety personnel in a large-scale

emergency.

“This is your mantra: ‘How can I do the greatest good for the

greatest number of people?’” said Brenda Emrick, fire prevention

specialist for the Costa Mesa Fire Department.

The two teams of about six people each had to decide how to use

available resources, like volunteers, fire trucks, blankets and

first-aid kits. Wooden blocks, popsicle sticks and a map helped them

get a hands-on idea of how to prioritize a number of situations, such

as downed power lines, people trapped in an elevator or searching for

victims in a community center with no electricity.

Team members, who have received basic emergency and medical

training, had to decide which jobs they could handle and when to call

in the police or fire departments.

“This helps us organize our resources and the distribution of

people in different areas,” Mike Ouiatt said. “In a situation like

this, you don’t know what you’re getting in to until you get there.”

They also took part in drills bandaging each other, triaging

“victims” and sizing up a building, deciding if it was safe to search

and locate utilities to shut off, Emrick said.

Members of the team have gone through the Costa Mesa Citizens Fire

Academy for their training. But starting next year, Emrick said, the

Community Emergency Response Team training will be separate from the

academy.

Starting in January, an eight- to 10-week academy will focus on

fire prevention and suppression for community members. The Community

Emergency Response Team class will start in February and go over

three day-long Saturday sessions, she said.

After completing the emergency response class, people can be

certified team members, in line with Federal Emergency Management

Agency requirements. People can choose to go on for additional

training after that, Emrick said.

In an emergency, those people could be called upon to support

rescue workers. With their certification and activation, they would

be covered for workers’ compensation claims, she said.

Costa Mesa resident Luanne Bartholomew took part in Saturday’s

meeting, even though she is not a member of the Costa Mesa team. She

is involved with disaster preparedness at her office, but said she

now wants to take the actual Community Emergency Response Team

training.

Drills such as the one Saturday help drive home the training and

make it instinctual, Ouiatt said.

“It gives you a general idea of how not to panic,” he said. “If

you’ve gone through it, you see some of the things that can happen

[in an emergency].”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.