The CERT course consists of 21-24 hours of training, usually taught on two week nights and two Saturdays. Classes are taught by emergency responders, including firefighters, emergency medical technicians and law enforcement personnel, from the community.

Introduction to disasters, impact of disasters on infrastructures, personal safety and all hazards preparedness

Identifying and reducing fire hazards, hazardous material familiarization and basic fire suppression techniques

Treatment strategies for life-threatening conditions and principles of triage and head-to-toe assessment

Techniques for size-up and search, lifting, cribbing, removing victims, rescuer safety

Team organization and control of your team

Terrorist weapons and common sense

The goal is for emergency services personnel to train members of neighborhoods, community organizations, or workplaces in basic response skills. CERT members are then integrated into the emergency response capability for their area.

If a disastrous event overwhelms or delays the community’s professional response, CERT members can assist others by applying the basic response and organizational skills that they learned during training.