OCEAN COUNTY – The CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. CERT offers a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks.
At the end of the free training, volunteers are issued a bag, containing equipment, to prepare them to serve their community during a time of need. In addition to the initial training, CERT provides members with ongoing training, such as advanced bleeding control, shelter deployment and CPR and First Aid.
Whether you want to become a CERT team member or learn the disaster techniques to help yourself and your family this training will greatly benefit you and your community. This is an all-volunteer organization, sanctioned by The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office.
During Emergency Operations and Events such as parades. fairs and festivals CERT Members:
- Set up and staff emergency shelters
- Staff Points of Distribution Centers (POD’s) to provide emergency supplies to residents
- Assist Police in performing crowd and traffic management
- Conduct missing person search and rescues Triage the injured and perform basic first aid if necessary
- Distribute food and water to emergency responders
- Help to educate the public in Emergency Preparedness
Training is conducted twice a year by the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, Office of Emergency Management as well as various municipalities. Total training time is about 20 hours, scheduled in 2 to 4 hour modules, over a 3 to 4 week period. All training courses, student material and equipment are provided free of charge. Training modules include:
- Disaster Preparedness
- Fire Safety
- Medical Operations
- Search & Rescue
- CERT Organization/l-100/NIMS 700
- Disaster Psychology
- Terrorism
- Hazardous Materials Awareness
To join Ocean County CERT:
- Visit co.ocean.nj.us/OCsheriff/ for more information on upcoming training.
- To sign up for training contact County CERT Coordinator, John Kirwin at 732-341-3451.
- Attend classes and graduate
- Sign up for Ocean County CERT!
