Neighbors Helping Neighbors
 With FREE training, you will be prepared to join Fort Lauderdale’s Community Emergency Response Team – CERT. You can make a difference in your neighborhood!
Day and night, Fort Lauderdale’s highly trained emergency personnel respond to calls within minutes. During a major disaster, first responders may need your assistance. Fort Lauderdale’s CERT program will train you to respond to emergencies in your neighborhood.
Following a disaster, it’s natural for citizen volunteers to offer help. Without training, volunteers can be ineffective, or even worse, they risk causing injury or death.
With CERT training, you will learn to safely assist yourself, your family and neighbors using basic emergency response and organizational skills. These skills will help save and sustain lives until professional rescue personnel arrive.
How CERT Training Works
Fort Lauderdale’s CERT is organized according to standardized incident management principles, including chain of command and span of control. As a volunteer, you will work closely with emergency personnel and other CERT members serving residents in your own neighborhood and if you choose to be involved further, you will be eligible for disaster assignments throughout the City.
When you complete CERT training, you’ll have a better understanding of the potential risks to your home, neighborhood and workplace. This knowledge will enable you to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from hazards in a more effective and efficient manner.
CERT training will enable you to provide critical emergency services, including:
- Establish a command post
- Basic first aid
- Fire suppression
- Assessing assigned areas
- Performing light search & rescue and triage
When professional help does arrive, you can provide useful information to responders and support their efforts.
As a CERT member, you can also volunteer to assist with non-emergency projects that improve the safety and welfare of the community.
How CERT Will Prepare You
Courses
Introduction to Emergency Preparedness
- Overview & course objectives
- Fort Lauderdale’s Emergency Management System
- Hurricanes & other potential emergencies facing South Florida
Disaster Psychology & Operations
- Understanding disaster psychology
- CERT Command Post operations
- Incident Command System (ICS)
Basic Fire Suppression
- Fire chemistry & fire suppression strategies
- Team & personal safety techniques
- Introduction to hazardous materials
- Controlling utilities
Disaster Medical Operations I
- Recognizing life threatening conditions
- Basic first aid
- Safety & sanitation
Disaster Medical Operations II
- Organization of disaster medical operations
- Simple triage and rapid treatment techniques
- Establishing medical treatment areas
- Recognizing & treating life threatening injuries
Terrorism
- Understanding weapons & potential targets
- Reporting suspicious activities
Light Search & Rescue
- Rescue safety
- Planning & sizing-up
- Searching, lifting & cribbing techniques
- Removing victims
Course Review & Graduation
Continuing Education Courses
Following graduation, CERT members are eligible to sign-up for continuing education courses such as CPR, advanced medical techniques, refresher courses, etc.
For more information about CERT, or to register for a class, please call the Domestic Preparedness & Emergency Management Bureau at 954-828-6700.
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