Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training
Mission: To do the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
In the event of a major disaster, professional emergency services may be overwhelmed and unavailable for long periods of time. The widespread needs of the community will depend upon voluntary assistance. With this in mind, the local governments in Marin County have adopted a citizen training program called Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). CERT is designed to provide hands-on training to become self-sufficient for at least 72 hours following a disaster such as an earthquake, flood, or a wildland fire.
CERT teams are trained in basic emergency response procedures such as:
- Conducting an initial size-up of the situation in their immediate area
- Reducing immediate dangers by turning off utilities, suppressing small fires, and evacuating hazardous areas
- Performing immediate medical triage and basic treatment of injuries
- Assessing structural integrity and performing light search and rescue
- Collecting and recording vital information to be relayed to professional responders on damage, victims, and actions taken or resources needed
- Providing leadership to untrained volunteers
San Rafael Office of Emergency Services (OES) offers CERT classes to our community members through a variety of CERT courses: a Basic course (21 hours), a Refresher course (6 hours) for graduates needing to refresh their skills, and a CERT Light course (6 hours) for agencies and organizations that is focused on hands-on skills . San Rafael OES also offers Advanced trainings for CERT graduates on a variety of topics.
For more information, click on the link below for the course you are interested in:
CERT Basic
CERT Refresher
CERT Light
CERT Advanced