Woodbridge Township is offering a course in helping residents be better prepared in a civil emergency. 

 

Applications to take the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course are now being accepted by the Township Office of Emergency Management. The course offers training in fire safety, hazardous material and terrorist incidents, disaster medical operations, search and rescue and basic first aid.

 

Through classroom training and hands-on real-life exercises, CERT members learn procedures that allow them to assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help.

 

If there is a disaster that overwhelms local response capability, CERT members can apply their training to give critical support in the immediate area to their family, neighbors or associates until help arrives. When help does arrive, a CERT team can provide useful information to responders and support their efforts at the disaster site.

 

The CERT program was developed in 1985 by the Los Angeles City Fire Department to help prepare for earthquakes. The program is now implemented nationally by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

 

The course involves 20 hours of instruction in Basic Fire suppression, Medical Assessment, Light Search and Rescue Methods, C.E.R.T. & Emergency Management policies and procedures for volunteers, and other basic training to allow C.E.R.T. Members to help their families, their neighbors, and their community in the event of an emergency.

 

For further information or to obtain an application call (732) 602-7377 or send an e-mail to cert@twp.woodbridge.nj.