Board of Supervisors - Mount Vernon District Alert:
Scenario: Severe thunderstorms -- like 2012's derecho, only worse -- strike Fairfax County, causing widespread flooding, power outages, and road closures. Many buildings are damaged; people are injured; and 911 is overwhelmed and unreachable. If your neighborhood was affected, would you know what to do?
The Community Emergency Response Team program (CERT) teaches emergency preparedness and disaster response skills to regular people, so that they can safely help themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods during major emergencies where first responders may be delayed.
Taught by experienced instructors from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department and CERT volunteer instructors, the free training combines 25 hours of classroom learning with hands-on training.
CERT students learn disaster preparedness, light search and rescue techniques, disaster medicine, fire suppression, lifting and cribbing, and other necessary skills.
At the end of training, students put all their new skills to use responding to a simulated disaster in a realistic, half-day field training exercise.
* CERT 134 meets at Fort Belvoir's Motorcycle Safety Center, Thursday nights from 6:30-10:00 PM. (This class is being held on Fort Belvoir but is open to all. Arrangements can be made with a background check for access to the Post for those who do not have routine access.) Class dates are March 22, 29, April 5, 12, 19, 26, and May 3, with a final exercise on May 10.