About The Team

OLMSTED COMMUNITY CERT TEAM

Following a major disaster, first responders who provide fire and medical services will not be able to meet the demand for these services. The potential for an overwhelming number of victims, lack of phone service, and debris blocking the roadways will prevent people from accessing Emergency Services. People will have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life saving and life sustaining needs.

The highly successful CERT Volunteer Program is about readiness, people helping people, rescuer safety, and doing the greatest good for the greatest number. CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens will be initially on their own and their actions can make a difference. Through training, citizens can manage utilities and put out small fires; treat the three killers by opening airways, controlling bleeding, and treating for shock; provide basic medical aid; search for and rescue victims safely; and organize themselves and spontaneous volunteers to be effective.

Emergency planners, community officials and disaster service organizations have learned from recent catastrophic events, that additional resources may not reach local citizens for an extended period of time. These finding caused local emergency coordinators to recognize that in the event of a large scale disaster, there would be a need for additional trained personnel to staff shelters, provide immunizations or assist local first responders with other duties.

The Fire Chiefs from both communities worked closely with interested volunteers to put together the foundation for this team in 2003. From that core group of individuals, interest continued to develop and in January, 2005 the development of a multi-disciplined, FEMA trained, emergency response team was realized.

The Olmsted CERT Team meets the first Wednesday of each month at the Olmsted Township Fire Department at 6:30 P.M. New volunteers are always welcome. Applications can be obtained at both the Olmsted Falls and Olmsted Township Fire Departments; or send the Membership Coordinator an email.