City Offers Free CERT Disaster Response Training

With public safety as a top priority, the City has teamed up with the Los Angeles County Fire Department to offer a free Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training course.

The course will be presented as a series of seven classes that will take place on Thursdays, January 31 through March 21, 2013, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at City Hall. (NOTE: Class will not meet on February 28.) All classes must be attended in order to complete the full course. Missed classes may be made up at a later date.

The purpose of Malibu CERT is to assist the City by providing assistance, as needed, for emergency disaster response in Malibu and surrounding communities, and to educate and promote disaster/emergency awareness to all citizens.

Following a major disaster, professional first responders who provide fire and medical services may not be able to fully meet the demand for emergency services. Factors such as communications failures, road blockages and the number of victims may prevent people from accessing the services they have come to expect at a moment's notice when 9-1-1 is called. Citizens will need to rely on each other to meet the immediate lifesaving and life-sustaining needs, particularly in isolated neighborhoods that are vulnerable to being cut off from main roads.

CERT classes contain the following modules:

• Disaster Preparedness
• Fire Suppression
• Disaster Medical Triage and Rescue
• First Aid and Medical Organization
• Light Search And Rescue
• Team Organization, Disaster Psychology and Terrorism
• Disaster Simulation and Graduation

To sign up for the Malibu CERT training course, please contact Emergency Services Coordinator Brad Davis at (310) 456-2489 ext. 260 or bdavis@malibucity.org.

The CERT program was developed in 1985 by the Los Angeles City Fire Department to provide basic training in safety and lifesaving skills to the general public. It has since been adopted and enhanced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Fire Academy. The course is now recognized nationwide and over 50,000 citizens have been trained to date.

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