Rescue team seeks helpers

What if a natural disaster strikes Newport Beach?

Impossible?

Hardly, if you ask Matt Brisbois, the city’s community preparedness coordinator.

“In the event of a disaster, city resources are going to be overwhelmed and we’re going to rely on volunteers to come in and assist,” he said. “We are a city of 83,000 residents with a diverse population and divided in half by a bay.

“We’re really going to be overwhelmed.”

With this in mind, the Newport Beach Fire Department is seeking participants for its upcoming Community Emergency Response Team program.

Coordinated through FEMA, the national program educates locals on how to prepare for and react to disasters so calamitous that they consume local emergency crews’ attention.

The focus will be on training residents in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and medical operations.

By working with each of the city’s 165 homeowners associations, the department hopes to tackle geographic issues.

Two of the city’s associations have already set up their own neighborhood response team. After tending to their own families, the group has trained to organize their neighbors and conduct systematic searches of nearby homes, Brisbois said.

Residents should understand that natural disasters, such as earthquakes, have occurred and will again, Brisbois said.

“We really do live in an earthquake-prone area,” Brisbois said, adding that trusting emergency crews to deal with those scenarios on their own is unrealistic.

Of course, Newport Beach firefighters and rescue workers have trained and prepared for nearly all emergency scenarios. But during a large-scale crisis requiring help from other outside agencies, waiting for assistance can cost valuable time in saving lives, Brisbois said.

The Fire Department offers the training to anyone who lives, works or attends school in Newport Beach. Newport Beach works closely with Costa Mesa and last week trained with seven other Orange County cities.

Newport Beach has certified more than 500 residents since it started the program in 1999. More than 250 citizens have completed the four-hour training program, and 150 of those remain active today, Brisbois said. To remain active with the program, graduates must attend at least one drill every two years.

Attendees: Be prepared for hard-core training.

The first class is from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning Sept. 13. A second class runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for three consecutive Saturdays starting Sept. 22. Both classes will meet in the newly finished Newport Beach Santa Ana Heights Fire Station at Acacia and Birch.

TO KNOW MORE For more information on the program in Newport Beach, including class schedules and applications, visit www.nbcert.org . To connect with Costa Mesa’s program, visit the city’s website at www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us . TO KNOW MORE For more information on the program in Newport Beach, including class schedules and applications, visit www.nbcert.org . To connect with Costa Mesa’s program, visit the city’s website at www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us .

KELLY STRODL may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at kelly.strodl@latimes.com.