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Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a free program that educates community members about disaster preparedness for hazards that could affect their area and trains them in basic response skills - including fire safety, search and rescue, and medical operations.
Trained CERT volunteers can help others in their community or workplace following a disaster, particularly when professional emergency responders are not immediately available.
Current CERT classes
Marysville Fire District and Marysville Emergency Management host a CERT course twice a year. If you would like to be notified when registration opens for Spring 2024 CERT, please complete the interest form.
Course description
The 8 session course provides a variety of disaster planning, recovery and survival skills aimed at assisting our community in disaster response and recovery. Marysville residents and business owners are encouraged to participate or send employees to these emergency preparedness classes.
Training sessions cover disaster preparedness, disaster fire suppression, basic disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, and team operations. The training also includes a disaster simulation in which participants practice skills that they learned throughout the course. The CERT course is taught in the community by a trained team of first responders who have completed a CERT Train-the-Trainer course conducted by their state training office for emergency management, or FEMA's Emergency Management Institute, located in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Requirements
Participants must attend all sessions. Basic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will be provided on the first day of class, but participants are encouraged to bring their own personal safety equipment to ensure proper fit. You must be 18 or older to participate. Individuals who are 16-17 may participate with parent or guardian permission.
About CERT
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) class consists of 24 hours of education, culminating in a final drill. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program helps train people to be better prepared to respond to emergency situations in their communities. When emergencies occur, CERT members can give critical support to first responders, provide immediate assistance to victims, and organize spontaneous volunteers at a disaster site. CERT members can also help with non-emergency projects that help improve the safety of the community.
CERT became a national program in 1993. There are now CERT programs in all 50 states, including many tribal nations and U.S. territories. Each is unique to its community and all are essential to building a culture of preparedness in the United States. There are over 2,700 local CERT programs nationwide and more than 600,000 who people have been trained since CERT became a national program.
If you have been trained and involved with a CERT program elsewhere but would like to join Marysville CERT, please reach out to us at preparedness@marysvillewa.gov.