El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services CERT Program began in 2007 with overwhelming success. To date, more than 150 individuals have received training.

The CERT concept is based on increasing disaster preparedness awareness within El Dorado County by having a group of trained individuals capable of assisting themselves, their families and their neighbors in the event of a disaster.

CERT training promotes a partnering effort between local emergency services and the people they serve. The goal is for emergency personnel to train members of neighborhoods, community organizations, or workplaces in basic response skills.

CERT members are then integrated into the emergency response capability for their area. If a disastrous event overwhelms or delays the community’s professional response, CERT members can assist others by applying the basic response and organizational skills that they learned during training. These skills can help save and sustain lives following a disaster until help arrives.

Upon successfully completing the training and application process, people will be registered as a CERT volunteer with the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. Registered volunteers are required to participate in monthly disaster preparedness training activities to maintain their volunteer status.

2011 training schedule for CERT Academy:

Sept. 16, 6-10:00pm, Emergency Preparedness and CERT Organization

Sept. 17, 8am-5pm, Fire Safety, Medical Operations

Sept. 23, 6-10pm, Light Search and Rescue, Disaster Psychology

Sept. 24, 8am-5pm, Terrorism, Course Review, Disaster Simulation

Training is at the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Training Room, 330 Fair Lane, Bldg A., Placerville.

If interested in attending the CERT Academy, contact Bob Todd at (530) 644.6955 or tcharles_2@netzero.net.