Welcome to Skagit County

September 11, 2002

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Course Offered

Are you prepared for a disaster? What about other members of your family? Do you have the skills and supplies to help yourself, your family, and your neighbors in the event of a catastrophic disaster if emergency personnel cannot respond to help you?

The CERT course is designed to provide private citizens with the basic skills that they will need to respond to their community's immediate needs in the aftermath of a major disaster, when emergency services are not immediately available. By working together, CERT members can assist in saving lives and protecting property if emergency services are overwhelmed and unable to respond in a timely manner.

CERT training involves 21 hours of classroom and hands-on training in the following areas:

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
DISASTER FIRE SUPPRESSION
LIGHT SEARCH AND RESCUE
DISASTER MEDICAL OPERATIONS
DISASTER PSYCOLOGY
CERT TEAM ORGANIZATION

The next CERT course is scheduled to begin on Thursday, October 3, 2002. Class sessions will begin at 6:00 PM and end at 9:00 PM. For more information please contact Mark Watkinson, Skagit County Department of Emergency Management, at (360) 428-3250 or Cindy Wishert, Mount Vernon Fire Department, at (360) 336-6277.